Bleach 1. Prologue

Sequel to: Last Moments and Shattered, my original stories

**Sequel to: **Last Moments and Shattered, my original stories. Read those before this one, otherwise you will have no idea what's happening.

**Anime: **Bleach

**Genre: **Drama/Romance

**Pairing: **Hitsugaya/Hinamori, with a bit Renji/Rukia, Shuuhei/Masumoto, and Kira/OC

OC means Original Character.

**A/N: **that's right; I'm getting off my lazy bum and writing this story. I have two big assignments due tomorrow and I'm doing this. Be thankful. I know it took a really long time for me to post this, but hey, I've been pre-writing chapters too, so you don't need to wait as long for the next one, so there. HAHA! I WIN!!

**SPOILERS: ALL THROUGH THE SOUL SOCIETY ARC AND BITS AND PIECES OF THE ARRANCAR ARC!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!! WHEN YOU READ PA****ST THIS THERE WILL BE SPOILERS PAST THIS VERY LINE!!**

**Timeline: **Five years after the Winter War with Aizen and three years after the original stories.

**Dedication: **AddictedtoBleach, the first person to put me on their authors alert list. I SALUTE YOU!!

**Of Tears and Raindrops**

**Prologue**

Kira quietly finished off his paperwork, sighing sadly. He felt guilty for putting it off all day, but it was now or never.

He walked to the flower shop and bought some yellow roses. The florist commented on how his girlfriend would love them. He simply stated they weren't for his girlfriend and left.

Yes, Kira had a girlfriend. His lieutenant, actually. That's right. _His _lieutenant. For, you see, Kira was now Captain of the third division, while Shuuhei became Captain of the Ninth and Renji the Fifth division.

He was suddenly aware of the fact that he was standing in front of the grave of his old friend, the former Fifth division lieutenant Momo Hinamori. Kira blinked. How fast had he been walking?

He shook his head, defeated. As he placed the roses down, he took note of the large quantity of flowers that had been placed there by those who had arrived ahead of him. Not too surprising. Today was her date of death and birthday, and she was now three years dead.

Kra started talking.

"Hey Hinamori-kun, I've got a lot of stuff to tell you. Me, Hisagi-san and Abarai-kun all got our Bankais, and are now Captains of the Third, Ninth and Fifth respectively. Shuuhei's going out with Matsumoto-san and Abarai-kun's with that Kuchiki girl, the new Sixth Division Lieutenant. You remember Kaede, my third seat? Well, she's my lieutenant and girlfriend now, ya, I know, you've been trying so hard to get us together all this time. Neat stuff eh? Though I suppose Captain Hitsugaya told you all this already!" He laughed, and then grew very sober.

"Everyone misses you. The replacement for you is nice and all, but she's not you. Matsumoto-san is in really bad shape. I mean, Ichimaru left her to go to Hueco Mundo, then he died BEFORE HER EYES, then you, her little sister practically, died. Captain Hitsgaya took it worse, though. I mean, really, telling someone you love them and then dying? That's just cruel." He stood back up.

"Sorry, but I gotta go. Part of being a Captain is being in your division part of the time. See ya around." He turned and walked away, only to bump into someone. She whispered a faint apology before drifting past him to the grave. She wore a white cape that had the hood up so he couldn't see her face.

He shrugged and moved on. Momo had been a rather outgoing person and made tons of friends. This was just another mourner. Noting the storm brewing, he hurried on his way.

The girl reached the grave and froze, Kira's words echoing through her head. Touching the cold stone, she shivered involuntarily. Eyes landing on the flowers, one particular bouquet stood out. A single red rose surrounded by blue roses. Tears fell from her eyes, mixing with the heaven's rain.

She had no idea she had hurt them so much……….no idea at all………….

**A/N: **ok……….its 12:30 Am and I'm writing this. I should be sleeping, but I'm not. Sad eh? Yes yes, I know this chapter sucked. Personally, I hate it. It was moving along too fast for my liking, and was completely pointless. But, after this, everything will be moving ahead full steam and it would completely suck without some sort of introduction.

sigh I remember when Hisa/Matsu was crack…….

**Reviews would be appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Wondering why I'm updating a day later

**A/N: Wondering why I'm updating a day later? Me too. Actually, I do know. You see, on Monday, my laptop is being taken away for the summer for upgrades. I will not be able to update until I get it back because every other computer in the house is being used by the rest of my family. I swear in my stories, inappropriate for my little sister, my mother and father would eat me if they knew I was doing this, my ****brother wouldn't actually care until my parents were roasting me and then he would ask to join. Nope, I'm not taking my chances. So I'll be updating near every day, maybe two chapters a day even! Of course, knowing my luck, I'll probably leave the story with one or two chapters to go for two months so…ya!**

**Chapter 1:**

**Meetings and Stealings**

Throughout Sereitei, the soft tinkling announcing the arrival of a Hell Butterfly could be heard in each Captain's quarters at dawn the next day.

"_This is an emergency. A Captain's meeting has been called and it is of grave importance that all Division Captains __are there. The nature of the meeting will be described there. That is all." _Boomed the Captain-Commander's voice.

With that, each Captain of the Thirteen Protection Squads got dressed and flash stepped to the meeting, wondering why such an urgent meeting was being called so early in the morning.

_One week earlier….._

In the grand halls of Las Noches, a young Arrancar girl skipped through the hallways, humming a forgotten lullaby she knew long ago.

She wore a typical Shinigami outfit, only it was white where it should be black and vice versa. She also wore a white cape that was black on the inside with the hood up. She had shoulder length black hair which now flowed around her shoulders.

The strange thing about her was that her mask was falling off.

While she had appeared before the other Arrancar with a complete mask three years ago, she had no memory whatsoever of whom she was and where she came from. All she knew was the name Hina when asked. With that, they invented a name for her. Hina Sazuki.

As time wore on. Bits and pieces of her mask began to fall off and in return, she gained her memory. First thing she remembered was being promoted to Shinigami Lieutenant, though of which division she didn't know. Next to come were different places and events though the faces and names of those around her were blurred and unspoken. She remembered laughter, tears, angry words and even betrayals but she does not know who had sparked such passions inside her.

At the moment, the mask covered the skin around her left eye and part of her cheek.

Just as she reached the Espada meeting room, the part of her mask covering her cheek fell off and hit the ground with a soft thunk.an invasion of images entered her mind, and she clung the wall for support. As they quieted down, she shifted through the new information.

Red hair, tattoos, wild personality and blond hair, blue eyes and pretty docile. Renji Abarai and Izuru Kira, fellow Shinigami lieutenants, former classmates and good friends. Black hair, cocky attitude, the number 69, and the setting sun for hair, blue eyes, and a childish yet motherly air. Shuuhei Hisagi and Rangiku Matsumoto, equals, guides and friends.

White hair, hypnotic green eyes, and a cold yet caring personality. Yet….what was his name? Why did she care about him so much? What's this spark in her heart…?

Puzzling over this, she pushed open the door and took her seat at the table as Espada number five.

"Ah! Hina-chan! So glad you could join us!" the Espada numbered seven greeted her. She had given up long ago on keeping track of all the names of the Espada because they changed so quickly it gave her a headache. (**A/N: when, in reality, the authoress is too tired to bother with finding a Spanish name (or give him an appearance, so use your imagination on that) but she doesn't know that.)**

She nodded absently. "Yeah, yeah. So, did I miss something?"

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "No, actually. We were just about to start. Might I comment on how more of your mask is missing? Did you gain any new information?"

"Just a few faces and names. Nothing big. But, it is an interesting fact that my division number is the same as my Espada number. Has to be a coincidence, ne? It has also been brought to my attention that I am lacking a Zanpakutou. Why is that?"

He spoke slowly. "We have done research already. It appears that your sword is in the vicinity of Shinigami. To regain it, we must storm an attack upon Soul Society and steal it. That is why we are having this meeting. To decide if we should-"

"Please keep in mind this is my Soul Slayer we are lightly discussing. As such, I should like it back. Might I also ask how it is you did research on my past without knowing who I was?!" She began whispering, her voice getting higher and higher until she was screeching.

No reply.

"I see. You knew….all of you knew….and never spoke a word. In that case," she stood up, "I will now go to Soul Society and get my sword. Good night to you all." She made for the door, but was cut off by the Forth Espada's voice.

"Please return to your seat, Hina Sazuki."

"If I don't…?" she asked the man without turning around.

"We will use force to stop you. The Espada are weak now, and we cannot afford to lose you. Wait until Arrancars eight through fourteen return from their missions. You may attack then." Now, it was the third Espada speaking, the older women gazing at Hina out of the corner of her eye.

"When are they expected back?"

"In six days. I'm sure you'll survive until then without your Zanpakutou." The women closed her eyes, signalling the end of the conversation.

"Please return to your seat, Hina Sazuki." The fourth Espada repeated.

Annoyed, she left her side by the door and sat down again. At this, they continued speaking about unimportant matters that Hina had long ago learned to tune out of.

_Seireitei…._

"Thank you all for coming here on such short notice. It has been brought to my attention that overnight, Arrancar entered Seireitei and stole Tobiume, the Zanpakutou of the late lieutenant Momo Hinamori. This is the third time in the history of Seireitei that Ryoka entered here and caused mayhem. This is an urgent matter that requires immediate consulting." The Captain-Commander stated.

While every Captain, especially Kira, Renji and Shuuhei went into an uproar at this, Hitsugaya merely clenched his fists and grinded his teeth. That sword was one of two objects left that reminded him that Momo had been more than a dream. To violate her in death was unacceptable. Unforgivable!

The only punishment for this was death.

**A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter coming tomorrow!**

**Review please! I'll give you a hug if you do!!**


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: …………………………………

**A/N: …………………………………**

**For once, I have nothing to say to any of you. Just go read the story……..**

**Translations!!: **

**chan: **Added to the end of people's names. Has two meanings. It can mean "little" or "small" and is added to people's names as part of a nickname. Or it can be added to show familiarity with someone. Only used on girls in this instance. I.e. Hina-chan.

**kun****: **Typicaly added to boy's names to show familiarity. I.e. Hitsugaya-kun. Sometimes is placed with girls, although this is grammically incorrect. I.e. Hinamori-kun.

**san: **Used in Japanese the same way we use Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. in English. Shows respect for an elder or is used for someone you do not know very well. I.e. Rangiku-san.

**sama:** Shows respect for someone of higher ranking than you. I.e. Sazuki-sama.

**dono:** I don't know the meaning for this one. If you could tell, that'd be great!

**Reiatsu:** Spirit energy.

**Echoing Movement:** The methods used by Arrancar that is the equivalent to a Shinigami's flash step.

**Chapter 2**

**An Unknown Thief**

Hina sighed as she exited the portal along with six other Arrancar. This particular ay always made her feel sad and empty for the last three years. Toady was no exception. The only other time she felt this way was near the end of summer, but then her heart was in such pain she could barely move. To keep face, she would take those days off.

They were currently in a clearing in a forest somewhere in Rukongai. It was the dead of night, with no moon in sight. **(A/N: hehehe!!it rhymed!!XD) **the perfect kind of night to raid Seireitei.

Quietly, the seven approached the western gate and took out the guards. Four of the Arrancar forced open the gate and stood back to let their superiors past before following.

Using Echoing Movement, they quickly arrived at the Hall of Fallen Shinigami, where Shinigami Zanpakutou are kept when they die. **(A/N: it had always bothered me where their swords went, so I invented this place to put them. Its my imagination, not real.)**

Nobody was in a mood to fight, so they were extra careful when sneeking around.

After taking out a few more guards, they were in. she snorted. The lack of security was astounding. Did they really think they were safe now that Aizen was gone? How Soul Society has fallen.

The building had been conveniently set up so you could find each Zanpakutou with rapidty and ease. First,the halls branched by division.then rank, then how recently they had served. In their case, they went to the fifth division hall,then down lieutenant lane, and to the end of the hall because she was the most recent lieutenant.

Breathing heavy, she read the plaque. _Tobiume._

_Clunck._

A mask piece fell off.

She read on. _Momo Hinamori._

_Clunck._

Now almost her entire mask was gone, except for one small stragling bit.

"I suppose," she laughed, "that my mask falls off when I'm forced to remember things too!"

The Arrancar relaxed and nodded. They had been shocked she had lost so much of her mask so quickly.

Hardly breathing now though, she reached out and wrapped a secure hand around the sheath. As though she had pushed the "on" button ona radio, a voice started screaming in her ears many things at once. It was a shame Zanpakutou don't need to breathe, then maybe she wouldn't have such a headache.

Tobiume was saying many different things. "Its you, its really you!" "How did you suvive? I was sure you were dead!" "Why didn't you come for me sooner?!"

She sighed. All of Tobiume's comments were logical and made sense. However, the way she said them made it said like the wife scolding the husband for staying at the bar so late at night. Tobiume was just like her.

After calming the sword down, she expained the predicament she was in to her. The sword grew very quiet and reflective.

"I suppose that's why you didn't come sooner?" Tobiume asked finally.

"Yes, it does."

"You know now that Bankai is impossible to achieve?" **(A/N: When, in reality, the authoress has an awesome idea for a Bankai for her, but that's for another story.)**

"…Yes. The Hollow inside me has melded with my soul. So much to the point that it wll not disappear in seven lifetimes. It's a pain, but I'll survive. Once my mask is gone I can be a Vizard, which will make me significantly stronger. Don't worry. Itll work out. Youll see."

"I hope so, Momo….for your sake, and Hitsugaya's." The sword thought to herself as the seven Arrancar step through a portal na d to Hueco Mundo.

_After the Captain meeting…._

Hitsugaya tightened the sash that tied Hyourinmaru to his back. There were reports that the same Espada and Arrancar that had stolen Tobiume were raiding the eleventh district in Rukongai, and he had been asked to take his lieutenant and a few division members to deal with them. They were due to leave in two hours.

Silently he approached a music box that was set on his desk in his room. It had been Momo's when she was alive, she bought it in the world of the living the time befoe the last she went there, taken by it because it plays the same tune as a lullaby she sang to him every night when they were kids.

He winded it up then sei it down, letting it play. He crossed his arms on the desk and rested his head on them. He smiled lightly. He could almost hear her singing along….

The music stopped, spell broken. He sighed, deciding to go for a walk. As he stepped outside, a gust of wind blew through and he had to raise his arm to shield his face. When it calmed down, he lowered his arm and saw something red headed towards him on the breeze. Upon catching it, his eyes widened.

A hair ribbon. Momo had worn this a couple of years ago, then lost it when the wind carried it away when she tried to retie her bun. She wore her hair down the rest of th day. Hadit been flying around all this time?

A small smile crept acroos his face as he tucked it inside a shirt. He wasn't sure what it meant, but it felt like something good was happening tonight.

Just for one moment, Hitsugaya swore he could feel her reiatsu.

**A/N: Thank you for reading! Thenext chapter is kind of pointless, but you're getting it tomorrow! I hope you enjoyed! Review please!**

**FSA **


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Well…

**A/N: Well….this chapter is kinda pointless, but it must be done!! I'd like to thank Kalow and AddictedtoBleach for sticking with me thus far. Now, on with the story!**

**Translations****!: ****-dono: a cheeky expression for "sir"**

**Chapter 3:**

**Lying in Wait**

Sighing, the fifth Espada ran a hand through the mess she called hair and furrowed her brow impatiently. Why was she here again, sitting in a tree, when she could be sipping tea in the comfort of Las Noches?

Oh yeah.

To reconnect with Tobiume.

When she found out she couldn't perform Shikai, she had been horrified. Had she been stripped of any hope of performing Shikai, just like it's impossible to do Bankai?

No, Tobiume had whispered. We have been apart too long. Just train and our power will return. Just be patient.

She was famous for her amazing control over reiatsu and kidou. She was so good, in fact, that she could block out and stop the flow of someone else's reiatsu. Yup, that didn't really sound like any of those things were patience, were they?

So, too speed up the re-growth of her powers she had agreed to lead a raid on Rukongai and draw some Shinigami out. It would be good practice for her Soul Slayer and home her skills on the battlefield.

She stood up, stretched her arms, and jumped from tree to tree, branch to branch, even sometimes twig to twig…without snapping a single one.

She landed on the edge of a cliff, staring out at the horizon as four Arrancar appeared behind her and dropped to one knee, screaming "Sazuki-sama!" before gasping, attempting to catch their breaths.

Indeed, she had known they had appeared, and played a game of cat and mouse as punishment for taking so long to show up.

She gave them her instructions and dismissed them without giving them a chance to regain their composure. Another punishment.

She stared thoughtfully to the sky. All they could do at the moment was prepare an ambush for the Shinigami and wait.

_Meanwhile….._

Hitsugaya pushed a branch out of his way as he stepped through a bush. Recently an Espada and some Arrancar were terrorizing the people of Rukongai and destroying their homes. He, Matsumoto, and part of his division had been sent to deal with it.

They had sorted into groups of three; far apart enough to cover a lot of ground quickly but close enough that if he were to turn his head, he could easily see the two closest groups on either side of him.

Typically, the Espada would have noticed their presence by now and set up an ambush. Seeing how they hadn't met any obstacles yet, the Espada was probably watching them, calculating his next move. Hitsugaya realized they wouldn't be able to do anything until they attacked.

There was nothing for them to do but stand on their toes and wait.

**A/N: sigh This is the last chapter in a long while folks. On Monday I lose my only source of typing this up and posting it, so you won't hear from me in many weeks to come. I'll try and update during the summer, but I cannot guarantee quick results. Instead, I will entertain myself by finishing writing up this story, starting to write another HitsuHina story I have in mind, learn to play the acoustic guitar, practice my French, and finish up playing Cute Knight, one of the world's most addictive games. What a life, eh?**

**On a brighter note, I'm thinking about buying a game called Fatal Hearts for my PC. If anyone out there knows and/or plays this game, could you tell me if you think this game is worthwhile? Thanks.**

**On yet another note, my room is being demolished this summer. Yuppers, we're taking all the furniture out, putting in a wood floor, painting it, and rearranging all the furniture. Isn't that swell?!**

**Ok I'll stop boring you with my life. I apologize for such a bad, not to mention short, chapter, but the title of the chapter fits my predicament perfectly. In the dark corner….fidgeting impatiently, the ravenous authoress waits……the computer is set down on the table…..and…..SHE POUNCES!!**

**HAHA sorry about that. If you ever recover from that, could you leave a review? Thanks.**


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: I'm going to have to make this quick…

**A/N: I'm going to have to make this quick…..but, due to the longer wait, this is a rather long-ish chapter. Enjoy. By the way, this is where the T rating comes in.**

**Chapter 4: Fateful Encounter**

A cry brought Hitsugaya back to his senses as he turned right to check the group beside his.

They were gone.

Another group arrived at the scene and started searching in every direction for any clues as to where they went. A shake of their heads indicated nothing.

His bro furrowed in concentration. Obviously, the Arrancar did this. But how? Where did they put his subordinates? Where were they now?

Eyes widening, he told Matsumoto through the communicator to be extremely cautious now that the Arrancar had struck.

"Captain?"

"Not now."

"But Captain, I think I know where our division's members went."

Matsumoto swallowed, voice shaking. They were all dead. They had been beaten, stabbed or hanged. The usually vibrant green grass was now glistening a sickening red from their blood.

Now, they truly had gone too far.

--

Those Arrancar sure had nerve to kill his subordinates like this. Hitsugaya growled under his breath as he inspected the scene. They would have to clean it up later. Right now, they needed to focus on catching those Arrancar.

"Captain!"

He looked up to see his fourth seat beckoning him over. Upon arriving, his eyes widened.

An Arrancar had received the same treatment as his subordinates did. Hanging from a tree, hands clasping the rope as if trying to wrest it off.

But what did it mean? Was this the one that had killed his subordinates? Was he a traitor? Or an apology? No matter what, this was punishment, he was sure.

"Oi, Toshiro, why the long face?" Spoke up the easily recognizable orange haired teenager.

Hitsugaya groaned, annoyed. "It's Captain Hitsugaya. Why are you here anyways Kurosaki?"

"I heard from Urahara about what was happening here. Don't forget, Momo-san was my friend too, and I'm not about to let 'em get away with killing innocent people with her sword." Ichigo completely ignored Hitsugaya's comments.

"Fine. There's nothing I could say or do to stop you anyways." Hitsugaya sighed, resigned to his fate.

"Damn straight! So, what can I do to help?" He asked.

"What you did last time you broke into Soul Society. Run around and pretend you know what you're doing."

"Yes sir, Hitsugaya-dono!" Ichigo ran away before he could become a strawberry popsicle.

"Closer….but not quite there, right Captain?" Matsumoto teased.

"Shut up and get back to work." Hitsugaya ordered firmly.

"Well, here I am. Lost once more." Ichigo talked to himself as he looked around. Why did Soul Society have to be so big? It really pissed him off.

Switching tactics, Ichigo bellowed, "Hey, EspadaEspadaEspada! I'm over here! Come on out!!" What he hadn't anticipated was an automatic response.

A dark figure leapt out of the darkness and sent a powerful kick to his stomach. Ichigo flew back into a tree with a resounding crash, disturbing several leaves from their respective branches.

Catching his breath, he watched as the cloaked Espada landed gracefully on her feet and right hand. He grinned.

"Well well! The fifth Espada is a girl! Don't worry, I won't underestimate you. After training with maniac fighters like Ururu and Momo-san, I'm not taking any chances." As he spoke, he lifted Zangetsu off his back, the cloth unwinding itself.

She stood up slowly, shadows from her hood hiding her face. She almost reluctantly drew Tobiume and pointed it straight at him.

Ichigo scowled. "You sure have a lot of guts to steal that sword and use it."

His blue reiatsu began to form and swirl around him as he shouldered Zangetsu and deepened his frown. Her reiatsu glowed pink and swirled around her like falling cherry blossoms. Bending her knees slightly, she angled the zanpakutou and grasped the hilt with both hands, Ichigo following suit moments later.

Neither of them would know mercy.

**A/N: I bet everyone out there thought Hitsugaya would meet Momo from the title, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?! Well, no. not yet. Ok, next chapter, an epic battle scene! That will most likely SUCK!! **

**Ja ne!! **


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: Pokes stomach Hey, waddya know

**A/N: Pokes stomach Hey, waddya know? I'm alive! Well, here's your action scene! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 5: At the End of Logic**

Before the reiatsu flower petals could stop falling, she had disappeared.

Ichigo's eyes widened as his reiatsu dissipated. "Huh?" was all he could say before he was faintly aware of someone behind him kicking him in the back giving him a nice face plant.

An anger vein popped up on Ichigo's head before he got up on all fours and yelled at the smirking Espada, "That was a cheap shot!"

She jumped back to stand three metres away from him. He gave her a confused look when she grinned mischievously, shadows from her hood hiding her eyes. Ichigo decided to trust his instincts and run as a kidou spell formed on her hand. Good thing too, otherwise right now he would be fried Shinigami on a stick.

This time, he actually managed to land on his feet when the explosion sent him flying. He turned to face her, eyes narrowing. Now it was war.

Ichigo ran towards her, jumping and lifting Zangetsu over his head just in front of her. He brought it down on her head. To buy time, she dropped to one knee and raised Tobiume to block his sword, stabilizing the blade by using her free hand to support it. She ducked her head to conceal her face. Ichigo scowled.

"Why won't you….let me…see your face?!" He pushed off her and jumped away, giving her time to stand up before he rushed at her again.

He started raining attacks on her, leaving no space to do anything but parry.

She glanced around swiftly. She needed to get out of this position, fast. If this continued, he would surely kill her. Even as she thought, he was pushing her back and if he managed to corner her into a tree, that was it.

From everything she knew of him, he was constantly getting cocky during fights whenever it seemed things were going his way, which is how he got hurt. So, give him what he wants, then add a convenient twist to the game and it ended rather quickly. But, the question stands. How? He was so intent on beating her, he wouldn't notice…!

Ah. So that was it. The thing he doesn't notice will be his downfall.

Jumping unexpectingly, she planted her feet against a nearby tree firmly before pushing off. Twisting her body to face him as she landed behind him, Ichigo needed to do a half circle turn to face her, giving Hina the advantage.

Returning to the blocking-attacking fight they had before, Ichigo failed to notice the way she dragged her feet or drew a circle or an extra line in the dirt as they fought. He never conceived why she would change directions suddenly without any reason.

After three minutes of doing this, she suddenly took a hit with her left arm. Blade met flesh, and blood squirted out of the wound. He had cut one of her tendons, causing her arm to fall limply to her side. Useless.

After a moment of her surprise, Ichigo grinned triumphantly. It didn't last long, because a mischievous giggle escaped her lips, putting Ichigo on the defence too late.

She kicked Ichigo just under the chin forcing his head back violently and making blood flow out of his mouth. She cut his abdomen while he was in shock, not fatally wounding him but causing a lot of pain.

Jumping away swiftly, she landed just outside the kidou circle, allowing the hood to fall back.

Like this, it only makes sense once Ichigo regained his footing he saw her face.

"Momo-san?! What…" the sentence was never finished.

"Snap, Tobiume!" The katana straightened to represent something closer to the European style of sword before several prongs sprouted along its length. Feeding her reiatsu into it, pink fire ran down the blade. Rather than make an energy ball, she stuck the sword into the ground and pushed the energy needed to start up the circle's power.

Light glowed from each line and a quiet buzzing filled the air. Once it was fully charged blue electricity electrocuted Ichigo from the lines on the ground. Sparks jumped from line to line as Ichigo collapsed to his knees, in too much pain to speak.

Tired……she was too exhausted to keep this up. She'd….need to stop,…now.

As the sword was sheathed, Ichigo fell onto his face, unmoving. Grasping her injured arm, she made a swift exit, hiding her reiatsu as she left.

"Kurosaki!" It was that voice which made her pause. Sure enough, it was the mystery boy who haunted her thoughts and controlled the subject of her dreams. That nameless Captain, who she could not remember…not yet.

"Who….are you?" She asked no one. Without an answer to the silent question, she returned to the things she knew for sure in Las Noches.

**A/N: First things first, I'd like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed my stories. A special thanks to the seven people who placed me on their author alert list and to CS for the wonderful and heartfelt review. THANK YOU!**

**In other news, I need you to help me make two decisions.**

**#1: I have created the chapter that explains how Ichigo and Momo came to know each other and become friends. Out of fear it might start to look like Ichigo/Momo fanfic, I put in light mentions of HitsuHina. The thing is, should I even bother posting it? It's like a filler chapter, so it's kinda pointless….**

**#2: Besides the flashback chapter, I have the next three chapters ready. Two of them are rather short, so should I put them together as one long chapter, or as two short chapters?**

**Well, no flames please, constructive criticism is always welcomed, especially now, you can ask any questions you like, so PLEASE REVIEW!**

**P.S. SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT. To pass the time waiting for the next chapter, feel free to vote in Shinigami Idol and read my crack/parody fanfic of "Hitsugaya and the Candy Mountain." **


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: I hate math

**A/N:**** So…here we are, again. About the chapter! This is about the past relationship between Ichigo and Momo. Plus the first interaction happening between Hitsugaya and Momo since the story started. But since it's a flashback, I'm not sure it counts.**

**Chapter ****6: Training Partners**

"Ah…here we are." Ichigo stopped at the front of Urahara shop and looked around. Weirdly enough, neither of the overworked children, Jinta and Ururu, were to be seen. Entering the store, he noticed the cellar door open and invited himself in.

"Kurosaki-san! You really should knock before coming in, it's rude!" The random shopkeeper hyperactively bounced to Ichigo. He took a step back.

"Who gave you sugar?"

"Why, Hinamori-san did!" The familiar name caused Ichigo to look around quickly for his trainer. In the end, his eyes fell on a dark eyed girl watching them through half opened eyes. It was almost bored, but there was a glimmer of interest sparkling there, which horribly confused poor Ichigo.

"Hey…who's that girl there?" He raised a finger to point at her. One of her eyebrows twitched.

"Kurosaki-san! How dare you act so rude in front of Hinamori-san! Shame on you!" Urahara scolded him, but Ichigo's mind just froze.

"Hinamori is a girl?" NOW he was confused. "Kira called my trainer "Hinamori-kun" and Renji and Toshiro said "Hinamori"….WHAT?!"

"Hmm… indeed, I never really understood where that Hinamori-kun came from, he's just strange that way I suppose." The girl named Hinamori spoke up now, but her eyes had slid shut.

"Yes, well…." Ichigo stammered as he tried to answer but was cut off.

"Well, now that you know each other, I'll be off!" Urahara had almost gone out the door when Ichigo regained his wits and called out:

"What about food? Urahara-san? And sleeping?

"Ururu will bring you meals and you can come upstairs to sleep and mend to any injuries either of you may have!"

"INJURIES? HEY DON'T YOU CLOSE THE DOO-" and the door closed.

Footsteps padded softly towards him but he couldn't bring himself to turn around. When a sword was drawn, though, he just ran. Good thing too, or he'd be dead. **(A/N: sounds recognizable?) **

He skidded to a stop and yelled back at her, "What the hell are you doing?"

"They claim you're strong. I want proof. That's all." She gave him a bored roll of the eyes and shunpo'ed right behind him. The blade of her zanpakutou was pressed against his neck.

"Snap, Tobiume." The long blade seemed to glow pink with energy as the shape changed. Several prongs grew like tree branches off it. They formed around Ichigo's neck perfectly, so he couldn't turn his head without being slashed up.

"I thought as much." She seemed to muse to herself. The zanpakutou was withdrawn, but not unreleased. She turned and walked away as Ichigo fumed.

What the hell was wrong with her? Everyone had warned him how short her temper could be in battle, but this was not what he expected. She had dismissed him coldly without giving him a chance to redeem himself. What the hell?

Yelling violently, he removed Zangetsu from his back and dashed towards her. She seemed to expect this. But the power level was something different entirely. He brought the soul slayer down as she turned. Thanks to good reflexes, she managed to jump back in time to not be cut. He did, though, manage to cut open her shirt.

Oh, _crap._

Ichigo was a young teenager at the time. Even so, even _he _had a general idea of what a girl considered right and wrong. Ripping open her shirt defiantly counts as wrong. Unfortunately, hormones are pesky things so he couldn't help but look.

And he stared.

A scar travelled down her chest and between her breasts. It must have been a horrible wound to stand out so well against her pale, clear skin. It was pretty nasty.

Eyebrows twitching slightly, she took the two pieces of her shirt and placed them over the exposed flesh. A green light appeared from her hands, and when she removed them, the threads had been completely weaved together again.

Hinamori. The girl who was stabbed by Aizen. Isane's announcement of his betrayal mentioned a lieutenant – Hinamori.

He wasn't even aware of when he put his arms around her. All he knew was that she was crying on the shoulder of a stranger, and before long, he had joined her.

- -

Red sparks jumped out of Ichigo's hand as his eyebrow twitched. He had been told to shoot a blast of reiatsu at a nearby boulder. The results were disappointing.

"My god," she rubbed her temples with the index finger and thumb of her right hand as the left arm supported her other elbow. "They weren't exaggerating when they said you need help."

She gazed at him out the corner of her eye. The eyelids had drawn together, creating a cat like effect. Her eyes steeled over in determination.

"Time to fix that."

- -

The blast shattered Ichigo's shield without any sort of problem. Cursing, he turned and ran behind a boulder as lightning destroyed it. The whole purpose of their meeting was to teach him kido, and so, is being taught kido. But who ever said it was easy?

Momo had a natural talent for the stuff, he knew, but why was she working him so hard, if she knew he sucked worse than Renji! And she knew how bad he was. She even told him stories of failed attempts to try and cheer him up. In fact, he laughed….from relief. Renji had practically learned kido from her, so Ichigo asked for the same training program.

He should have asked about it first.

"Can we have a break?" Ichigo managed to gasp out between heavy breaths. He dropped to his knees and looked up at her hopefully.

"Nope!" She smiled sincerely at him, and a chill of doom ran down his spine. She had spent way too much time around Captain Unohana…

A look of pity now crossed her face. "Fine, I'll ask Ururu to bring you some wet towels."

She left quickly leaving him alone for a while. He considered how odd, two souls who mourn the loss of a parent, by blood or figuratively.

_SLAP!_

"You could have just handed it to me." He grumbles irritably, peeling the towel off his face. She merely shrugged.

"The impassive look on your face was interesting though. I never get to see you lost in thought. It's all focus, focus, focus." She glanced at him before turning with her back to him. "We can resume training when you're ready. Just call for me."

She jumped on to some rocks to sit comfortably at the top of a cliff. They gave each other their needed space, a rest after the whirl of activity they were so used to.

They drew each other into their silent worlds, while their real lives never stop.

- -

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! Truth and temperance, Upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Destructive arts number thirty-three, Blue Fire Crash Down!"

Ichigo's spell destroyed the target completely, and Momo jumped up and down gleefully. "You did it! You did it! Great job, Kurosaki-kun!"

He shifted slightly and stared at his feet. "It was nothing. I would've never done it without you, Momo-san." She couldn't help but get the impression that he didn't get compliments very often.

He was always working to get better, stronger, or he wasn't worthy of his friends. He was stronger than most captains, but he needed more. She found it sad, really. Despite anything anyone tells him, he thinks he's not good enough, all the time.

If anyone wasn't, it was her.

"I want to see you knock it down." Surprised, her eyes snapped back to him. He was watching her intently, a serious expression creasing his face. She only stared back.

"Do you really mean it?" She didn't want to hurt his feelings. Most people felt horrible about their abilities after they witnessed hers. She doesn't regret her talent, but it made Momo feel bad.

"Yeah. Don't worry, its impossible to hurt my feelings about this, so show me." He was so insistent, in the end, she gave in.

With a small glance in the target's general direction before raising her hand, she lazily shot a bolt of lightning and hit the target without watching what she was doing. What was scary was that the target was one metre in diameter **(A/N: Three inches) **and seventeen metres away. **(A/N: 55 inches)**

A small chill of fear ran up his spine. He had no idea she was that good. If he had this would've happened sooner.

"THAT WAS FANTASTIC!! I'VE NEVER SEEN BETTER!! I BET YOU'RE BETTER THAN MOST CAPTAINS!" He had picked up the innocent girl and twirled her around as he practically screamed in her ears.

Calming down, Ichigo smiled earnestly at the baffled lieutenant. "You did great Momo-san. Really."

Blink.

"Momo-san…?" She asked him, slightly dazed.

"Yeah? What did you expect me to call you? Hinamori?" He cocked his head at her. And then, speak of the devil…

"Hey! Hinamori! Kurosaki!" A painfully familiar voice called out to them. Upon seeing Hitsugaya, Ichigo smirked.

"Hey short stuff! What'cha doin' here?" He knew what'd come next.

"Watch it! It's Captain Hitsugaya, and I came here to pick up Hinamori." He looked over said girl, who had turned flustered…from what?

"A-ah! Hitsugaya-kun! You were the one sent to get me?" She sure was acting weird…

He looked her up and down. "Hinamori, why are you acting like you're guilty?" His eyes narrowed. Normally this intimidates people, but Momo seemed unaffected.

"I'm not guilty of anything. If at all, you're guilty of false accusation, Shiro-chan!"

_Thump._

They stared at Ichigo, who had hit the ground from laughing too hard. Really! Shiro-chan! That girl is a genius!

"Hey, how do you know each other?" He suddenly asked.

"Always have. We're childhood friends." Though Momo smiled as she spoke, her eyes screamed with regret. He cocked his head at them.

"Really? Just friends? Nothing…more?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and got hit over the head with Tobiume's hilt.

"Kurosaki-kun! Watch it!" She really should get rid of that blush dusting her cheeks, or it will become somewhat difficult to stop laughing from her obvious adoration of the younger boy.

A soft beeping noise penetrated through Ichigo's laughter, causing everyone to look at Hitsugaya's pocket. Pulling out a cell phone, he turned his back to them and started talking. With nothing better to do, the two watched him intently.

Suddenly, the phone snapped shut and he spun to face them. "Don't you two have something better to be doing?" Obviously staring at him unnerved him.

"No." Came the unified reply. He sighed, exasperated.

"Just wait here. I'm going to take care of some Arrancar. Don't go anywhere." He glares pointedly at Momo as he walks away. "This means you."

They waited until he had gone a good distance.

"Shall we?" Ichigo grinned.

"Lets go." She smiled back, and they earnestly stalked Hitsugaya.

Little did they know what was waiting.

- -

"WHY THE HELL ARE SO MANY ARRANCAR HERE?!" Ichigo cut down another evolved Hollow with ease. They were incredibly weak, but the numbers were beyond countless.

"Snap, Tobiume!" An explosion rocked the area, causing dirt to fly up into the air. The winds were extreme, and Ichigo, along with many others, were forced to raise their arms to block their eyes.

"Is that what your zanpakutou does?" Ichigo asked her wonderingly. "It's just like my Zangetsu's ability. If a bit more flashy." He grinned at her and Momo simply smirked.

An impending feeling of doom befell him again. He wasn't alarmed despite the fact that the smirk looked really weird on her normally kind face.

He should have been though.

An Espada was standing right behind her.

"'Ello, girl." He smiled devilishly down at the young lieutenant, and stabbed her neatly through a shoulder before she could even widen her eyes.

"What's da matta? Tha badge ya wear says five, like tha numba on mai back." Sure enough, as he turned his back to her and loosened his robes, the English form of the number five was revealed.

"What cha say ta a liddle game? First one ta draw blood, gets ta behead tha otha." In truth, he was insane. Coal black eyes set against a bloodshot background hid under unruly red hair. His mask only covered an area around the left eye, but if all the pieces had been in place, it could have been guessed that the mask of a bird once covered his face.

He was beautiful, in a hideous way.

He delivered a punch that broke many of Momo's ribs on impact. To try and maintain some dignity, she gripped her sword's hilt so hard, that after a while a deep cut formed. (Her sword was in her left hand.) Crumbling to her knees, the Arrancar sighed, as though in mourning.

"Ya no cap'tin. Too bad, so sad. I expect'd more. But ya is a good girl. Kneelin' ta ya killa, such a good girl." Raising his blade above his head, it froze in place.

An ice dragon reared it's majestic head and headed in for the kill. It suddenly shrank in size, so this way, it cut through his abdomen and out his back. Blood covered it as it emerged from the monster's body, and let out a roar to warn all other Hollows into hiding.

As the Espada fell, Momo reached out with her left hand and caught a mask piece as it fluttered to the ground like a feather.

"Hinamori you idiot!!" Was the next thing Momo could clearly discern from her swimming vision. Hitsugaya was understandably yelling at her idiocy, and was failing miserably to remain calm as he asked her why she had defied his orders and come.

"Hitsugaya-kun, I feel you don't trust me anymore. I needed to prove myself-"

"By getting killed?" he gazed at her sternly. "Don't rush into battle if you don't know what you're up against. Kurosaki can do it, only because he is an idiot who has bankai and a Hollow mask. You, on the other hand, don't need to take such risks." Ichigo couldn't help but internally smile at their predicament.

Momo was watching the ground, a sad expression controlling her face, fists clenched. Hitsugaya watched her with a worried relief. Their relationship, he realized, went far beyond friendship, though both parties believed it was one sided.

They love each to her.

"You don't need to prove yourself to anyone, Hinamori. Especially not me." Hitsugaya twirled quickly to face Ichigo as Momo looked up, to avoid showing her the loving flash in his eyes.

"We'll take our leave, Kurosaki." The gate appeared behind him, and helped Hinamori up to take her back to Soul Society. The mask piece had disappeared and her hand had healed.

"Take care, Kurosaki-kun. My partner in sharing similar names." They had been gone a whole six minutes by the time Ichigo realised what she implied.

"MY NAME DOESN'T MEAN STRAWBERRY!!"

- -

His eyes flickered open, and Ichigo was left with no time at all to consider the dream before he was faced with something of his nightmares.

- -

**A/N: After coming to the realization of how short my chapters are, I guarantee they'll all be longer than the last ones. **

**I wanna finish this soon, so I can start my GinRan story, then get through that quickly so I can start another HitsuHina. So see another update sooner than this one. **

**Thanks to: SunsetRainbow, Kalow, shiro1momo9forever, yuri-sentaria-5, xoxkutexox, unformidable trust, and the ever elusive CS. **

**A special thanks to Kalow about reminding me about the hollow hole business. -.-**

**Review Replies (my computer is wacked and won't let me reply):**

**SunsetRainbow: SHORTEST REVIEW EVER!! Ah well. Its nice being missed…I think.**

**Kalow: A long chapter? Probably a good idea, since they're all so short. Depressing, really. And, yes, I'm making you wait, cause I'm evil and lazy. A deadly combo. DARN, I FORGOT ABOUT THE HOLES! Gotta figure something out now….**

**yuri-sentaria-5: I'm glad you like it! Well, I'm updating now, does that make you happy? Here, have a virtually cupcake. **

**xoxkutexox : HEY, I HAVE A GMAIL ACCOUNT TOO! Sorry, just needed to say that. Finally, someone else who doesn't like facebook. Bebo? Hey, same thing happened to me, but I'm never on. Lolz. Anyway, thanks for reviewing. P.S. My real name isn't on my profile, so there's no point in checking….**

**s****hiro1momo9forever: Well, you get to imagine his face…NEXT CHAPTER! Ooops, spoilers?**

**CS: I found a reason to post the chapter! It's actually connected! Well, thanks for reviewing, you always leave the best ones too. :D**

**unformidable trust: Together? Oh, ok. Why not? I asked because I wanted to know if people wanted more chapters or longer chapters. One person askd longer, so longer they shall all be! Thanks for the review, and Hitsgaya and Momo meet very, very soon.**

**Next chapter: What is Ichigo's worst fear? Where is he anyways? How will everyone react to what had just transpired between Ichigo and Hinamori? Is that Arrancar even Momo? Stay tuned…**

**To ease the weight, see if you can guess the important clue that explains how this story ticks, and what Momo's little joke means. **

**Until next time, **

**FSA**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter!!!**

**Replies:**

**SunsetRainbow: YOU DID IT AGAIN!!! NUUUUUUUU!!**

**Zoelol: Thanks! I'm glad you like it! For the actual manga, I haven't seen any hints of Momo ever getting bankai. I just have a story in mind where I invent one for her in it. For the actual manga, we have just seen her recently beating Arrancar up, so I think it would be pretty awesome if she suddenly, during the final battle with bankai (she would have spent her time training) and beats Ichimaru up. That's my opinion of something cool and realistic that could happen. Despite how awesome it would be, I can't imagine Momo having the strength or will to kill Aizen, the poor dear. She DOES deserve more credit, so I actually made a C2 for her. Lol. Check it out. LONG LIVE HITSUHINA!!!**

**Animaebunny: See the note at the end of the chapter please.**

**Unformidable trust: I'm glad you found the chapter funny, since it doesn't seem like a lot did…Oh well!**

**CS: Thank you thank you thank you! The last chapter was really hard to write, since I have no idea how they would act together. As for the joke…took me a week to think of. Sad eh? And so, the questions shall be answered now! In this chapter! At some point! If I can shut up! **

**P.S. I'M NOT ALONE!!**

**Fin…..**

**I'm glad so many people liked the last chapter. It was hard, since I had no idea how Ichigo and Momo would act around each other. Urahara is actually really hard to write. I'm probably the first person to realize both Ichigo and Momo have names that will back up on fruits. YAY ME!!**

**I hope you enjoyed the lighter chapter, because things are only going downhill from here.**

**Now, I believe we left with a frightened Ichigo?**

**Chapter 7: Work Out the Details**

Oh god, it was _horrible._

It took everything in Ichigo's body and mind to not scream. But then again, his mind _was_ a bit foggy, and he couldn't quite remember what he did last night….

Okay, okay, calm down. Figure things out, one step at a time. He knew he was in a bed. A rather comfy bed, much better than the one at home. Maybe he should ask where the mattress came from, get one for himself. No, that is not the point here. The problem is that this isn't his bed.

He tried shifting around, only to flinch from pain. Wait…pain?

Just what did he do last night?!

He slowly turned to regard the situation. The scary situation.

Renji sat on his bed, or Renji's bed, whichever it was. He was looking at him with concern and relief. As unusual as it was, that was not the distressing part. Renji was shirtless, and captain cloak-less.

Let's put the pieces together, shall we? Bed + Shirtless Renji + Concerned Renji = What?

All colour drained from his face as a conclusion drew in his head.

Renji seemed confused for a moment, and then drew conclusions of his own.

"Oh my lord, how could you think that?! Geez…" He was honestly disturbed. I mean, how could Ichigo even let the thought cross his mind? That was just gross, and would never happen. Some people have the sickest minds… (**A/N: You know who you are!)**

Renji scowled, and turned to pick up his captain's cloak off the chair. Using that to cover himself he glowered at the younger man.**(A/N: Just occurred to me…Ichigo is twenty in this story, since five years have passed since the story ended. Renji, Hitsugaya, Rukia and all the other soul reapers look the same essentially, though.)**

"Ichigo, how could you be so careless?! When your spiritual pressure disappeared so suddenly, everyone got anxious! Even I could feel it, and I was miles away!" Twisting his head quickly to see the new speaker, bones cracked violently, and he flinched.

"I-Ichigo-san! You really mustn't move so quickly after sustaining such bad damage to your soul! Please, Ichigo-san?" Turning more slowly, he saw Rukia to be the original speaker, and Hanatarou to be the second speaker.

"Damage…to my soul?" A pounding headache overtook his senses, and Ichigo groaned as he shut his eyes closed. After it slowly subsided, he forced his eyes open again, to notice that it was now dark. Only Rukia had remained by his side, and Hitsugaya observed him out of the corner of his eye, facing the window.

Rukia spoke first. "Hanatarou says you're running a slight fever right now, so he gave you a sleeping pill to help. You've been out for two hours. You can blame daylight savings time for the early darkness." **(A/N: I know I do….Shutting up now.) **

He blinked. "Oh. Hey wait a minute, where'd Renji go?" he didn't dare turn his head to look around, but thanks to Hinamori's training, he could tell Renji's reiatsu wasn't anywhere nearby.

"He's a captain, idiot. He needed to do his job. Lucky for you, I took the day off, so you won't be stuck here alone."

"Why is that lucky? Ow!"

"And why do you feel the need to question everything I do?!"

"Geez, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just don't hit me again."

"Ugh. You're such an idiot Ichigo. But never mind that, what on earth happened to you? Even from the distance between us, I could tell you were in trouble with the amount of reiatsu you were leaking. Get talking."

Before Rukia's demands, the night's activities had been blurry and unclear. And they still were. No remembering magically at just the right moment this time. There was talking to Hitsugaya….the forest….a light, pain…

H shook his head slowly. "I can't remember. I do recall talking to Toshiro, and then I met the Espada, but…" What was wrong? The woman had something very wrong with her. Like she wasn't supposed to be her, but she was _her._ But that's how it's supposed to be, right? She was she, as she is. So why was it so very wrong…?

"But?" Rukia pressed.

Glancing at her apologetically, he shook his head again. "Sorry."

She sighed, disappointed. "I guess it can't be helped. Can you at least remember how you got hurt?"

Now, that he had committed to memory in a second. "There were these lines on the ground, you see. She took the sword and stuck it in the ground, and released it. But there was no explosion. The ground lit up, and next thing I knew, I was zapped." He snapped his fingers at the last word.

"Kidou circle." Their attention was immediately drawn to the tenth's captain, who had remained silent the entire time.

"They are special devices used by the most elite of kidou users. They allow you to focus energy in the circle – it can come from various places – and create a reiatsu reaction to occur, causing different results, depending on which circle you're using. The one you were inside was the "Circle of Lightning"; it creates of barrier of electricity that electrocutes anything within its proximity. You just so happened to be in its radius." He finished the scientific sounding speech with a direct statement to Ichigo. Now, if he didn't know they were talking about demon magic, then he would have said they were speaking of some forbidden science or something.

But since did these things exist? Ichigo had to ask. "How come no one told me about this? I'm sure if she knew, she would've told me during my training with her." He had learned long ago to not speak the name in Hitsugaya's presence.

"The first person to discover the potential of the circles was Yumi Akishima, the first captain of squad five." Rukia took over the speaking role. "They held great potential to be a weapon to wipe out Hollows in a gathering, but it had more drawbacks than benefits.

First off, it took a long time to draw, and if even one line wasn't in place, the spell could easily backfire.

Secondly, the amount of power needed to start it was level with about a fourth seated officer's and his zanpakutou's reiatsu.

And lastly, you must have incredible control over energy flow to be able to pull it off. Better than mine, even. About the same as…" She bit her lip.

"Its fine, I know you're talking about Hina…mor...i..." Realizing he had broken the silent law about speaking her name, he had something more on his mind.

_Jumping away swiftly, she landed just outside the kidou circle, allowing the hood to fall back._

_Like this, it only makes sense once Ichigo regained his footing he saw her face. _

"_Momo-san?! What…" the sentence was never finished. _

"_Snap, Tobiume!"_

When he slowly came back to reality, he took no notice of the medical Shinigami rushing about in worry. Hanatarou's frantic cries were lost in the whirling world around him as Ichigo could only think: "Holy. Crap."

After that, an overwhelming need to leave his room and find the kid prodigy controlled his actions from that point on. He stumbled to his feet, pulling the covers along in his first steps out before finally dropping them. Cries of "Wait!" and "Stop!" only dimly registered in his set mind. He had a mission.

Just before getting out the door and to temporary freedom, Hanatarou blocked the door. "Stop it, Ichigo-san! Whatever's the matter, we'll take care of it! Need something? I'll get it! Need to see someone? I'll fetch them! Just go back in bed."

The taller man stopped. The way Hanatarou was talking actually made him seem grown up. Maybe he had grown up…?

"Please…?" Hanatarou suddenly went into teary – eyed - chibi mode.

Never mind the grown up part, then.

Shoving past him with hardly any effort, the boy was flung across the room,…and out the window. Oops.

Deciding to apologize later, Ichigo left. No doubt Hitsugaya and Rukia had called in some medics and left when he fell into the fit. So the best bet was to find Hitsugaya and talk to him about the sudden revelation. Above all others, he deserved to know.

He _needed_ to know.

Running towards the tenth's barracks, Ichigo felt panic clutch his heart. He needed to find Hitsugaya and warn him…about what?

------

"_Lieutenant Hinamori? I finished making your food. Would you like some help?" The fourth's shy seventh seat pushed open the door tentavely. She was still healing from being stabbed by the traitorous captain. Hanatarou had been assigned to look after her._

_She smiled thankfully up at him. "Yes, I'll eat now. Thank you." Taking a small nibble, her eyes lit up for a brief moment, childhood memories flooding her mind. Now more earnestly, she said, "I love it. Just like how oba-san made it. Thank you, truly."_

_He shuffled his feet awkwardly. Wasn't used to receiving compliments, she supposed. "Y-you're welcome." He stammered. "I'll make you some more, if you like!" _

_She shook her head. "No, that's ok. It's already enough. But, would you mind making it tomorrow too?" _

_His eyes brightened, and a goofy grin crossed his features. "Sure, sure! I'll make it for you tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after, as much as you want!" She giggled slightly, which seemed to set him in an even better mood. _

"_Say," she started. "Why is it yesterday you were so grim when you visited me, and now you're so cheerful? Anything special happen?"_

"_Of course!" He looked at her with shock. "It's because you smiled! Usually you're so glum, but when you smile, everyone else is happy. When you're sad, everyone's sad. But don't let that bother you! Don't force any smiles. That will just make everyone sadder. Smile for yourself, ok?"_

_She stared at him for a while. Where did that come from?_

_Slowly, though, she nodded. He grinned again. "That's a relief. Just be happy, ok?"_

_Smile for myself, huh? Momo thought. That's a thought._

Smile for myself…

Slowly, the Arrancar girl opened her eyes to a brilliant orange light. Painfully shutting her eyes, only to push the unwilling lids open again sluggishly. She found her honey yellow eyes staring into cloudy gray ones.

"Thank goodness, Hina-san is awake." Orihime Inoue gazed into her eyes tenderly, relief washing over her face. This caused her to frown pitifully at the woman.

The poor girl had never gotten her chance to escape Las Noches. Aizen apparently had had a plan to ensure she never left. He used the illusion zanpakutou, Kyouka Suigetsu, to create a mirror image of the girl. Giving the then fourth Espada the job of destroying the illusion, it made it look like the girl had been killed.

Whatever happened to him, she wondered? He could have been killed during the fighting, or spending his time as a Fallen Espada. Whichever it was, he wasn't around to protect the human girl anymore.

Apparently, the girl had been capable of taking care of herself to a point. Her powers never failed her, creating shields, summoning Tsubaki to fight. She even escaped the castle of the sand and into the desert. But she came crawling back, realizing she couldn't survive alone.

They locked her up, and she was given meals and protection in exchange for healing and returning some beings to before they existed. The latter was dropped as one of her duties when she came under the fifth Espada's wings. Then, she had been allowed the freedom of cooking her own food, strolling around the castle at certain time intervals and coloured pencils and paper to pass the time. Thank the nonexistent gods for that, else she might've committed suicide in desperation. What would have become of the poor thing's soul then is uncertain.

But it didn't make an incredibly big difference, she mused. The young woman had wasted five years of her life here, sacrificed so much. And yet she was still here.

"How are you feeling, Hina-san? Have you been hurt?" Glancing around herself, she realized that the healing shield had been cast, and the shoulder wound had almost completely healed.

She quickly let her mind run through last night, and she growled fierily. "I'll be just fine. Just give me a moment or so." She strained a smile, but Orihime wasn't convinced.

"Are you okay?" She repeated slowly. "Who hurt you?"

Exasperated, she rolled her eyes. "Why, none other than Kurosaki-baka! The idiot is so going to get it when I…" Two raindrops, followed by more, fell from the stormy clouds. She, quite tensely, gawked as Orihime stormy grey eyes filled with tears. The weird thing was that she was smiling.

"Th-…" she wiped the rain from her face, "Thank goodness…he's alive…" After blubbering out the almost incoherent sentence, she launched into a full pitched wail. Throwing herself forward, the fairies dissolved the shield and flew upwards so she might throw herself onto the young Espada.

She didn't try moving at first, overcome with surprise. Managing to push herself up, though, she wrapped her arms around Orihime, the girl's shoulders shook as she cried freely. Likewise, she felt a small stream of tears fall down her face shamelessly.

It was an interesting sight to see. Two women, one a human and the other, an Arrancar, holding each other close. One with light hair and dark eyes, the second dark hair and light eyes. One screamed with all her soul, longing resonating with each cry, the other as silent as the grave.

Orihime eventually pulled away and gasped. "Hina-san, you're…!"

Tears of confusion continued to slide down her face as she miserably asked, "I don't get it. Who is that boy I keep seeing? Why, whenever I see him, does my heart ache…"She lowered her head to hide her eyes from the blonde. "…with such longing?"

A soft whimper tore her throat as the cruel memories of the man she embodied came back.

_As the body hit the floor, laughter echoed through the entire corridor. The shinigami watching was rooted to the spot, horror etched all over his face. He turned and ran._

"_Where're ya going?" The man's voice asked. "T'ink ya can escap?" He struck out, piercing the shinigami's organs. Blood spewed out of his mouth, and he threw back his head and laughed._

_And laughed…._

_And laughed…_

**(A/N: Yes, I deliberately misspelled escape.)**

Gasping for air, she jumped to her feet, and pulling the hood over her head, whirled towards the door. Hearing the girl's cries, she said a quick goodbye and left.

She traveled down the hallway and out to the courtyard. The cold night wind flew whipped through her raven black hair as she walked quickly through the night. Eventually, she stopped and pressed her back against the wall. Putting her face in her hands, she slid down the wall until she reached the cold tiles.

"Get up before anyone sees you, Sazuki." A few seconds later, a female voice broke her railway for her train of thought. Glancing up, the third Espada stood before her where she hadn't been seconds before.

"Adelaida Salazar." She greeted. The Arrancar had stunningly blond hair, cut straight a little above the shoulders, bangs fashioned like the second division's captain's. Two rubies had been set as her eyes, glinting dangerously in the moonlight. The shirt had a v-neck showing some cleavage, clinging tightly to her skin and creating two outward v shapes on her hands. A black strip ran down vertically on a diagonal, right shoulder to left hip. Then she had a white skirt, outlined in black, top and bottom connected with another black line on a slight slant. She wore the traditional black socks and white sandals to complete the look.

Stepping nimbly to her feet, she bowed her head in respect before turning a questioning eye on her superior. Without a word, Adelaida jerked her head in a motion to show that she should follow. Drifting gracefully across the courtyard, she could only follow.

------

Pulling himself up the "stairs from hell", as he called them (though strangely enough, no one else had problems with them), Ichigo ran across a road in the Seireitei. Turning the corner, he spotted the gates to the tenth.

Just a little further to go.

------

They had been walking for a full half hour now.

Once they had reentered Las Noches, Adelaida turned down a hallway rapidly, almost leaving her behind. They twisted and turned through the different corridors so fast that for normal people, they would get sick. But they weren't normal, especially not her.

------

Stumbling through the gates, Ichigo blindly ran right through a kidou training course. Spells whizzed overhead as he ducked and sprinted through the field. Most incantations hit the target, many not destroying it entirely like Hinamori had.

Somehow, after watching her practice, Ichigo held little respect for amateurs at kidou, boasting about their brilliance. Sometimes, he got the impression his soul reaper friends thought the same.

Stopping to catch his breath, nostalgia filled him up and he let the memory consume him.

------

_Walking through the sixth's divisional headquarters required some level of stealth if you didn't wish to encounter a certain captain or lieutenant whom you've been trying to avoid for doing The Thing that Shall Never Be Spoken Of Again. He had already been lectured by some seated officers for letting the accident happen, and he had apologized, and agreed to pay the damages, but he understood he needed to leave the area and fast, unless he wanted to __**die.**_

_An explosion resounded in the distance, setting him on guard out of surprise. A few more set off, coming seemingly from a nearby squad. The closest division was the seventh, but he didn't know of anyone there who would use kidou out of sportsmanship._

_The next closest squad was the fifth. Now that made more sense, since the squad was dedicated to kidou. _**(A/N: Lies! I don't know what is special about squad five, but I'm going to pretend this is it.)**

_Not to mention Momo-san was there…_

_Oh! Momo-san! Maybe she'd protect him! Of course, visiting would be nice too…_

_Reaching the squad unharmed (It's a Christmas miracle!) he slipped through the eerily silent halls with some apprehension. Going by a kidou training ground, he backtracked when he saw a dark familiar figurine standing there._

"_Hey, Momo-san!" He tried to get her attention, but she ignored him. Raising her arm, there was a flash of red light, and a target was destroyed. Turning sharply on her heel, she eliminated another one. She destroyed a few more, then kneeled over and grasped her knees, taking a few deep breaths before continuing. What she was doing was dangerous to her health, he knew. He needed to stop her._

_Grasping the handle with one hand, he jumped and swung his legs over the rail and landed on the other side. Using shunpo, he reached her just before she fired another one. Ichigo grabbed her hand, and pointed it skywards in case it set off. _

"_Hey! Momo-san! Cut it out!" Using his free hand, he grabbed her shoulder and spun her around so she faced him. Blinking, dazed, she stared up at him._

"_Kurosaki-kun?" She asked, confused._

"_Come on, let's get you inside." Steering her gently, he pushed her towards the building and she complied without resistance, not entirely comprehending what was going on._

_He stopped in his tracks, unsure of where her apartment was. Taking charge she drifted dreamily to her home. When they entered, she motioned to a seat before making them tea. He sat down, and let her recollect herself in silence. The clock read past one in the morning. _

_Placing the cup in front of him, he didn't drink until she had started. Upon finishing the cup, she drank another. She drank eight whole cups before she finally faced him. The hands inched towards two. _

"_Why are you up so late, Kurosaki-kun?" She asked._

"_I was escaping the wrath of an entire squad. What about you?"_

_She evaded that. "What have you done this time?" She pressed._

_He whispered in her ear, and she stared, shocked. "You are so dead."_

"_I was hoping to find you so I could crash in your living room or something. Only I found you attempting suicide. What happened?"_

_There. She can't escape that._

_Tears pooled at the edges of her eyes. "There was a mission I was supposed to do. Only I didn't. He did. He said it would be too dangerous for me, and that a captain should do it. He volunteered himself. And because of that, he's hurt. It should have been me out there; he should be sleeping safely in his bed, not in some fourth's room." She sniffed. "Right now, it's my-"_

"_No it is not!" he slammed the cup down and stared intently at her. "It's good he went. If it wasn't him, it'd be you. And since he, a captain, got injured during that mission, then it probably would have been too much for you, a lieutenant, and you may have died. Do you realize how upset everyone would be?" An unpleasant memory reminded itself to Ichigo, and he clutched his head. "Damnit…."_

"_What is it? Are you ill?" She leaned forward, suddenly concerned. _

"_Naw," he smiled bitterly. "I had a friend once. Name was Orihime Inoue. Nice girl, actually somewhat like you. I just remembered how she had died, and all I did was stand there like an idiot." He laughed mockingly. She watched with concerned eyes._

"_Did you love her?"_

_He turned to her, somewhat surprised. "Maybe. I can't really tell, since she's dead and all." He shrugged, like it didn't matter. "Don't miss what you've got 'til it's gone. And man, did Toshiro miss you while you were in that coma." She jolted out of her reverie, shocked by the news. He grinned._

"_So? How 'bout it? Do you love him or not?"_

_Now, to side along with the still pooled tears, a furious blush enflamed her cheeks as she developed a somewhat anxious look. All in all, it was a weird expression. After a moment, though, she closed her eyes and nodded fiercely. He patted her head._

"_Good girl, now, let me sleep on your couch in the living room, and visit Toshiro tomorrow. Also, tell him that it was nice knowing him if I'm gone before you wake up. 'Kay?"_

"'_Kay."_

_The next day, she woke up to find him gone. _

------

Rubbing her temples fiercely, she stumbled mid-step as a memory penetrated her vision. Why was she remembering this? It wasn't anything new; it had been among the first things she remembered.

Why was it coming to her now?

------

Breaking down the door to the tenth's office, Ichigo stormed in, ready for the onslaught Hitsugaya was sure to put up.

"Kurosaki! What are you-"

"I remember now! The fifth Espada is Momo Hinamori!"

------

"This is far enough." Adelaida stopped by a window and turned to the younger Arrancar.

"I have new knowledge for you. Unlike the other Espada, I encourage the return of your memories, for they may hold the key to our victory. You should know this though. You are not Momo are not that detestable fool either.

You are a perfect blend of both."

------

**A/N: Nyahaha! I like this chapter very much, so don't diss it! In any case, I need constructive criticism. Badly. Next chapter is special, and needs to be perfect as I can get it. Why? 'Cause Hitsugaya and Hinamori are meeting next chapter! W00T! W00T! **

**Sorry about the slowness. Next one is going to be slow too. But it will be edited until perfection! Sorry that they meet next chapter, but it would be really clichéd if they met in chapter three or something dumb like that. **

**Review and I'll update faster.**


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter eight:**

**Fire and Ice**

_Some say the world will end in fire,_

_Some say in ice._

_From what I've tasted of desire_

_I hold with those who favour fire._

_But if it had to perish twice,_

_I think I know enough of hate_

_To say that for destruction ice_

_Is also great_

_And would suffice._

Robert Frost

"What did you say?"

Her voice was incredulous and disbelieving. She could only stare at Adelaida as the older woman sighed impatiently.

"It's a very simple concept, really." She explained. "As Momo Hinamori you and _him _had a battle. He was defeated, and she grabbed a piece of his mask. Her hand had been wounded with an open cut and the mask piece went into the cut and fused with her normal reiatsu power. She died a few months later, while the _Hollow's _reiatsu still flowed strongly in her system. The spirit particles regrouped in Hueco Mundo and the Arrancar Hina Sazuki, you, was born, with the abilities and memories of both parties." She moved in kneel in front of Hina now, and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. The latter shuddered at the contact. "We could not let such powers, such potential, be wasted."

"Then her death was planned?" Hina asked, shaking slightly. "You ruined everything for Momo Hinamori, for power?" The memories she had of the Shinigami girl's life made her sympathize. Suddenly, her own life wasn't so important.

Hina had worked hard to regain her thoughts and feelings as Momo Hinamori, truly believed that that was who she was. To regain the life, the love she had thought she had lost, only to discover, in the end, it was never hers to claim. She had been trying to be Momo Hinamori, put all she had into being Momo Hinamori. She had no right to attempt such a thing.

But then, who could she be?

"Yes, that's exactly right." Adelaida brought her back to reality, and she discovered she had collapsed to her knees, and Adelaida had to lower herself to look her in the eye. "But what should it matter? She _was_ a Shinigami after all. She only got what she deserved, not to mention in return we got you."

Now Hina was confused. What Momo Hinamori deserved was to be alive as herself right now, not trapped in Hina's gross form. But what Adelaida said made perfect sense. Momo Hinamori had been a Shinigami, and had ruthlessly killed hundreds of Hollows where she had no right to do so. "Thou shalt not kill" was the basic rule among all of existence, and she was no exception.

That didn't change that Hina felt her pain better than anyone else alive.

"But how can I be two people at once?" She asked, despairing.

"Neither were people," Adelaida answered coolly. "_He _was a beast, a monster that lived for the kill. The Shinigami was the deceased soul of a girl and also killed mercilessly. Neither deserves pity, for they lived to the best of their abilities and met an unsatisfactorily untimely death. You are neither. You are _both._" When the girl shook her head viciously, the third Esapada switched tactics. "The Shinigami's heart is the more humane of the two, and rules your world. Don't let it. Balance them out. Don't let the scales tip, or else I may need to rip that mask off your face to make you realize hers isn't a good life to recreate." When she said nothing in reply, Adelaida nodded approvingly.

"Balance them. Balance both powers evenly, and let both zanpakutou spirits speak to you." At her alarmed expression, she nodded slightly, and Hina swallowed. Holding out her left hand, palm up, a small white flame materialised. It grew slowly, reluctantly, in size until its base was as wide as her palm and the flames almost touched Hina's chin. Suddenly, the heatless flame shot out to the sides, creating the shape of a katana. It glowed as white as the moon, until the light faded and the katana rested in her hand.

It was very plain. The sheath was a typical black, the hilt a normal bronze colour. The cross-guard had no designs, and the hilt thread a dull grey. Resting her right hand on the hilt, she drew. The black was black.

"Steal, BoketsuTouzoku."

Cracks formed at the cross-guard and spread like twigs on a tree up the blade. Light shone between the cracks, and the black coating exploded outwards. It dissolved in the air before it could start to fall, leaving behind a perfectly white blade. It glowed faintly and Hina dimly noted another presence joining her and Tobiume in her soul. The two voices were already discussing how her inner world was going to look now. She smiled, amused.

Both zanpakutou worked in correspondence with her personality perfectly. Tobiume could have the wickedest temper when provoked, and BoketsuTouzoku's first stage of release let her steal other people's identities. If BoketsuTouzuko got at least a drop of blood on his blade he could then use the reiatsu pattern imprinted on that drop of blood to reform himself to imitate that person's zanpakutou and its abilities. It even worked on herself, and she could only smile at that. Running around with two released Tobiumes would be such a nuisance to Soul Society…

"You are what Aizen attempted to create for himself. Be proud you managed to outdo him in his most desired field. That's really…an achievement for you." She left then, leaving Hina to wonder what the third Espada had meant by that. It was almost implying that she had known Aizen once…

But that's ridiculous. She's never met him. Only heard of him. As for the boy with the silver hair, developing the appearance of Momo Hinamori (minus the eye colour…) might actually work in her favour. After all, if he cared about Momo Hinamori, how could he cut down something with her face?

Standing, Hina unreleased BoketsuTouzuko and replaced him in his sheath and resting him beside Tobiume on her belt, where it belonged forever.

--

"What did you say?"

His voice was shocked and disbelieving. Ichigo prepared and retold the battle scene but this time inputted Momo's name instead of "she" every chance he got. Hitsugaya relaxed when he finished and picked up a piece of paperwork. His expression towards it was almost bored, much to Ichigo's dismay.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Ichigo yelled at him. "We can't just sit around! We need to find a way to communicate with her, find a way to Hueco Mundo if we have to! Get off your lazy ass and get to work!!" He was panting by the end, and pain had erupted in his chest. He staggered but refused to give up consciousness. Not yet.

Hitsugaya's venomous eyes flicked to Ichigo's, and suddenly his voice got dangerously low. "Has it occurred to you that Arrancar also have zanpakutou with unique abilities, and this one may have been able to look inside your memories and use someone close to you when they were alive to fight you? You said she refused to show her face at first. Isn't it possible it was because she was collecting data? Have you thought about that?!"

"No…" he admitted, "but I do think you're over thinking this. Why couldn't she have Hollow powers and be reborn in Hueco Mundo? Why is that impossible?"

"It's not, but severely implausible."

"Now you're being difficult!"

"As you are no better, Kurosaki!" The dragon's growl in his voice rose to a roar, and he stood up, his right hand slamming down on his desk. Ichigo flinched, but kept at it.

"I'm naturally difficult, dumb ass! You say you're a captain and that I need to respect your authority, but that's really hard to do if you act like a freaking _child_."

That did it. Hitsugaya's hands curled into fists, his fingernails digging into his skin. The captain grinned bitterly as cuts from his fingernails started bleeding. Suddenly refocusing on Ichigo, he growled. "Get. Out."

Ichigo complied.

When he opened the door, though, he didn't expect Matsumoto to fall in. Apparently she had been snooping on conversations again. It did nothing to help Hitsugaya's mood. He was never in a mood to deal with Matsumoto, but he did have limits, Ichigo knew.

Grabbing the busty woman's arm, he dragged her away from the danger that is her captain before he could blow and kill them both. Ok, maybe not kill, but rather seriously maim and land them in the fourth's infirmary for life. That was not beneath Hitsugaya, he knew.

What he didn't know was that Matsumoto would be the one to punch him in the jaw.

"Owowow!" He keeled over and gripped his head painfully. But it had been Matsumoto who had cried out in pain. Blinking away the stars, Ichigo watched her dance around, flicking her wrist wildly and blowing on it in vain. When the pain had apparently died away enough, she glared at him accusingly. Ichigo was tempted to say "Well, excuse me for hitting your hand with my face," But decided against it. What confused him was the way she was swaying so dangerously on her feet. What was wrong with her?

"Come," the older woman snatched his arm and half-dragged him out of the building. She pulled him on to the streets of the Seireitei with a clear destination in mind. The buildings never changed in décor style, so it was a wonder she knew how to get wherever they were going, even in her apparently hazy state of mind.

What he hadn't expected was a bar.

Ichigo had never seen Matsumoto in action before, only heard the stories. Renji said the amount of sake that could be consumed was unmatchable. Ikkaku had claimed her tolerance of the stuff formidable. Even Yumichika had admitted, albeit grugedly, that she was pretty cute when she consumed the vile drink. The truly impressive part was how composed she was the whole time. Cup after cup were consumed, with a steady supply coming from the bartender.

Finally, she slammed the cup down and glared at Ichigo. Matsumoto lessened the look a little though, and gazed directly into his eyes sternly. She seemed to be capable of reading his mind, or seeing into his soul, or deciding when to roast him over the fire, and whether or not to gag him, or - "You're an idiot."

Twitch. "That's it? You dragged me to a bar to watch you chug down some sakes and say I'm an idiot. Well, the world hates me and wants to bring me down in a mean spirited fashion, I know that." Trying to leave the room in a huff, he failed as he slipped on a banana that was without purpose on the floor. Needless to say, it hurt.

Matsumoto laughed, adding insult to injury. Then thinking it was funny to rub some salt in there as well, she made the comment, "And so, the mighty Ichigo Kurosaki, substitute shinigami legend with kick butt skills, is conquered by the random banana." Rubbing his jaw, he glowered at the woman.

"At least I'm not a drunk old hag." Matsumoto stopped laughing.

Black energy drifted like a disease around the lieutenant as a dark expression overtook her usually laughing features. A killing intent glowed in her pale blue eyes. Her face twisted into a contorted expression as fury bubbled through her veins. Ichigo was knee deep in shit, he knew. Even if he survived to complain to Hitsugaya, seeing as he was pissed off too, Matsumoto could only be rewarded. He could only pray for a quick death.

With a swift kick to the head, Ichigo was unconscious.

Recovering from her tantrum almost immediately, Matsumoto hauled Ichigo back onto his chair and kicked back. She raised the cup and toasted, "Here's to conveniently placed random objects!" Taking a swing of the drink, she slammed it down on the table, and the bartender appeared almost out of thin air.

"Need another one?" He grinned down on her, chewing on a piece of grass, complaining about cigarettes needing to make an appearance in Soul Society already.

"Naw, for once, I'll pass. Thanks for the offer though, Havoc." Shrugging, he left her with the corpse. **(A/N: Yes, that was just a random Full Metal Alchemist character. Don't ask.) **

For a while, she just watched him. He breathed gently in his sleep, snoring occasionally. When that happened, Havoc would shoot her a look and Matsumoto would kick him in the shin. Every time he would twitch in a dream, she'd giggle slightly. He was just so cute when he slept! Ok, that sounded wrong, especially considering she had a boyfriend. Remembering Shuuhei, she sighed and slumped.

"Hey, Ichigo," she started, "if you remember when you wake up, could you ask Shuuhei something for me?" At the lack of a response, she groaned and rubbed her temples. She flinched. "Oh yeah, I'm gonna feel that in the morning." Dreading the headache, she considered skipping work again tomorrow. It wasn't an unusual occurrence, and she had begun to suspect her captain didn't really care anymore. He understood her predicament to an extent, she supposed.

She was dating Shuuhei. She flirted. And right now, she was watching Ichigo sleeping. But the truth was, she really didn't want any of that. If she could, she would have Gin back. She would give it all up – her friends, her squad, her captain – to have him back. Despite all the flirting, she could never really love another like she did with Gin. Yet Shuuhei continued. He cared for her, about her, and continues to.

"Why?" Matsumoto could only ask.

"'cause it's the least I can do."

Whipping her head up, she stared at the now awake Ichigo, and he pointed behind her. Turning, the strawberry blonde saw the ninth's captain, grinning down at her. Wait, so she spoke out loud. Ah.

Ah, CRAP!!

"You're really hopeless, aren't you?" Shuuhei asked her. Ichigo respectfully turned away. He really wished they would keep the mushy stuff to themselves…

"Oi, Kurosaki, I called someone from the fourth to get you. It'll take a while, though, since they just found on of their seated officers unconscious and with a broken leg. They guess he was pushed out the third story window, but they can't be sure. Hey, Kurosaki, what's with the guilty look?"

"I need to go…and apologize…I forgot…" As he slinked out the door, Matsumoto screeched out to him.

"You left him?!" Ever since Matsumoto experienced Gin Ichimaru, she's had a complex about abandoning people. Gripping his head, he smashed his face into her cleavage and he squirmed. "Suffocate and die!"

"Oh, and that Ganju Shiba guy was there too, so you know."

"Oh, COME ON!!!"

"I get the feeling this Shiba man won't be very pleased with Ichigo…" Suddenly deciding that it could make a decent newspaper column, Shuuhei smiled self-satisfactorily at Matsumoto. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, though.

"That wasn't really an answer." She simply whispered.

"Do you need one?" There's a good question. Gin had never answered hers, and Shuuhei never asked any. Matsumoto supposed that, in the end, she didn't need to know.

"No." She turned and smiled at him. "Not really."

"Say, what was Kurosaki doing?" He asked after a long pause.

"Well, we saved each other from my captain before we could be strawberry popsicles and I dragged him here. Captain hates bars, so he would never search for us here."

"Well, Ichigo is at odds now, since he left the so-called sanctuary."

"Whoops. Well, he can take care of himself."

"Are you sure?"

"…No."

"What did he say?"

When she explained, Shuuhei actually didn't seem surprised.

"Why aren't you surprised?"

"Well, I never knew Hinamori as well as I could have, but I know her well enough to know she's stubborn. She has almost been killed many times, so why does it surprise you she's still alive somehow?"

"I don't know. I would be the happiest person alive if she's ok, but how? How would it work? I was _there_ Shuuhei, I felt and saw her disappear. I _watched _her being buried. Her grave shows no sign of disturbance, and her reiatsu isn't right. There were traces of it on Ichigo, if you were wondering, but there was something else…"

"Ichigo said she was the Espada terrorizing the Rukongai districts, right? Well, you need to be a Hollow to be an Espada, so what if she has some unexplained powers? What if she was a hollow when she was sent to Soul Society?"

"This hasn't happened to another soul in Soul Society before, so why her?"

"Who knows? Maybe the hollow that killed her made something stir. I don't know! I'm the ninth's captain, not Mayuri Kurotsuchi!"

"Well, why aren't you?!"

At that, they laughed. Shuuhei was one of the people furthest from being a Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

"Ah, I don't know." Matsumoto leaned against the back of her chair, a sad and bitter smile gracing her lips. "I just don't know."

--

Hina stood outside the door, counting the seconds that passed until she opened the door. This was not one meeting she was looking forward to. In this meeting, she knew, they were going to finally decide to make a move against the Shinigami for a few, last, battles.

Miserably, she opened the door to the inevitable. The way the Espada sat around the table had less to do with rank and more with tolerance she had discovered. Their first Espada sate at the end, with the former first and now eighth Espada Stark on one side, and the tenth Yammy on his other. Yammy had never gone into battle, so he survived, naturally. Stark had been the first Espada and had even gotten a number of hits on one of the original captains for Soul Society. He was strong, and his power had never diminished. More powerful Arrancar had just taken over, that's all.

Next to him was his old companion and the ninth Espada, Lilienette. She had grown and filled out so she now resembled a young woman. Next to her was Adelaida, and Hina sat next to her. Across from Hina was the fourth Espada, who was on the right of the sixth Espada Ildefonso Mauricio. On his left was the seventh Espada, and finally on the end was Narciso Vanceslás, the second Espada.

It had been fairly bleak meeting until the end. Nothing of importance is ever really said during such things, and Hina has two lifetimes to back it up. It was when the topic of the destruction of the Shinigami that she sat up in her chair, and even Stark showed interest.

After much conferencing, it was decided to destroy the captains one at a time. By doing this, the remaining death gods will lose the will to fight and will surrender, when they should pick them off as they will. Which captain to begin with, though? One of the original captains would be the best way to start, but they were also the strongest of the captains and the most difficult to kill. Stark and Lilienette could contribute to that.

For once adding her own memories to the conversation, Hina admitted that the captains of either eleventh or twelfth wouldn't affect Soul Society as they want them to. Kenpachi Zaraki was expected to die in battle and could be easily replaced while Mayuri Kurotsuchi simply wouldn't be missed. The captains of the third, fifth and ninth squads hadn't been captains long enough for their death to be mourned with the highest respects. In the end, the captains of the second, sixth, seventh and tenth divisions were left. Next was trying to figure out how to provoke one of those specific people out after them. It was Adelaida's idea that they ended up using.

Resembling a former shinigami could have its own benefits. By simply _being_ in the living world, Hina could provoke a captain to come out and confront her. "Not to mention," Adelaida added proudly, "if it is the tenth's captain to come after her, he wouldn't be able to kill her."

--

"Are you sure about this?" The healer, Orihime whispered out.

"No." Is all Hina could say at the time. "I'm risking the chance of running into that boy from my dreams, and I can't be sure of how I'll act around him. If anything, I wish someone else would do it, but nobody else, except maybe you, can make such a rise out of the soul reapers. It has to be me."

"As you wish." That was Orihime's only reply. As Hina left, she couldn't help but swallow the feeling that the girl knew something she didn't know.

--

It was a joined captain and lieutenant meeting and Ichigo had been allowed to attend. After the circumstances had been fully discussed, a decision was made.

"I'm going."

"No, you are not."

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're NOT."

"You are not a captain, Kurosaki. You have no right to stop me."

"If I put on my hollow mask, I can fight you and win."

"I don't need to put on a Halloween mask to need to win in a fight."

"I didn't need to train for years to get bankai."

"You cheated, not to mention I'm older than you are."

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm _taller._" **(A/N: Owned.) **

Before Hitsugaya could seriously maim Ichigo, Matsumoto stepped in. "Captain, you realize it's because of things like this nobody takes you seriously?"

"Shut up, Matsumoto." Hitsugaya said.

"But honestly Ichigo, you can't stop my captain. He has every right to go after the person that stole Tobiume. More reason than even you." Matsumoto countered.

"But if he goes, he'll _murder _her!" Ichigo said.

"And he has every right to, since that isn't Hinamori, and nothing more than a cheap copy!" Matsumoto had folded her arms across her chest protectively, showing absolute signs of defiance and effectively shutting herself off from any ideas of the younger girl actually surviving. Ichigo stared at the duo in shock.

"With the way you're talking, it's like you don't want Hinamori to have any chances of survival, do you?" He asked sceptically.

Matsumoto chose her next words carefully. "It's not that we don't want her back. It's just that it would be incredibly disappointing to get our hopes up for the impossible."

"Ichigo! Stop making this harder for them!" Rukia suddenly stepped out of line, and surprisingly enough, Byakuya didn't try to stop her.

"Rukia?" Ichigo asked dumbfounded.

"Ichigo, do you realize how frustrating it is to find a precious dead one alive, but inside, you have no idea if that's really them?! Aaroniero, the Esapada I killed, looked like someone who I cared about very much! To have to kill him again was-…was…." Her voice shook with emotion by the end, and she quickly hid herself behind her brother.

Yamamoto's large cane smashed down on the ground, and everyone froze. "Captain Unohana, see to it that Ichigo Kurosaki does not leave the fourth's infirmary until he has recovered completely."

"Understood." She bowed her head slightly.

"Captain Hitsugaya shall go and deal with the Espada as his lieutenant will act as captain until his return. That is my final order. Dismissed." He tapped his cane against the ground twice, like in a court room, Ichigo noted bitterly.

"Come on, Kurosaki-kun. This way." Ukitake tugged on his arm lightly, and Ichigo gave in. with Ukitake on his left and Unohana on his right, he was led away. The remaining all dispersed, leaving only Shunsui Kyoraku, Nanao Ise and Yamamoto behind.

The old man sighed gravely and opened his eyes slightly to peer at his student. "What is it, Shunsui?"

"Hey, hey now." He innocently waved his hands in front of himself. "I just wanna ask a question, no harm in that, right?" Yamamoto remained silent, and he continued. "Ok, let's cut to the chase. Why did you send Hitsugaya? Meeting with his old crush's look-a-like isn't going to do him wonders. He probably won't appreciate it at all in the end, to tell the truth."

"What happens in the future is not my greatest concern, but his current state of mind." The captain-commander explained smoothly. "It is fairly obvious that he cannot focus on anything other than this Espada's treachery. I will allow him to make a decision to kill her or leave it to another."

"Why does she have to die?"

"She is not the former lieutenant, obviously. She is a threat to Soul Society, and must be eliminated as soon as possible. Any memories she can draw upon will be used against us the moment it is acquired."

"How can you be sure that that isn't her? It could very easily be. Do a little research, and I'm sure something that proves her possible survival would show up eventually."

"I do not doubt that. The problem is that we don't have time for an 'eventually', for I feel some disaster even beyond Aizen's wildest dreams will be conceived this night." He left for his office afterwards, leaving the leaders of the eighth alone to swallow this new development.

--

It hadn't changed a bit since she had been here last. The cherry blossoms still bloomed in all their glory, and the moon stolen light illuminated the darkness dimly. Hina had been waiting for a long time now, and nothing had really changed. No captains had appeared, despite that she was letting her reiatsu run wild and undoubtedly affect a few souls around her.

Sighing in exasperation, she sat down on a rock near the edge of the clearing. She twisted her neck to gaze up at the moon when realization hit her. She whipped her head to the ground her feet resided on and recognized the area. This is the exact place where, as Momo Hinamori, she died. It was weird that she would place herself here, even unconsciously. An icy wind blew through, and she shivered.

The ice dragon had arrived.

It would be a matter of minutes before he arrived. Leisurely, she stood and brushed imaginary dirt off her hakama and kosode **(A/N: Hakama = pleated pants shinigami wear; kosode = outer black – this case white – shirt shinigami wear.)**.She glanced at the scenery around herself, trying to predict where he would enter, which turned out to be right behind her.

The twig snapped under his foot, but she didn't turn to greet him. He didn't bother being stealthy, because she obviously knew he was there. The wind started to howl.

"Espada." He said.

She turned, and his eyes widened. The wind died down somewhat, but picked up again even more violently this time. His eyes narrowed.

"So Kurosaki hadn't been bluffing. You really do look like her." He stated.

She smirked in turn. "Why thank you, it really is well done, isn't it?"

"Extremely so." Light-hearted conversation over, Hitsugaya frowned. "I cannot allow you to continue with your pretence, Espada. Tonight, for insulting her true image, you will die." He reached up and grasped the hilt of Hyorinmaru as a blue radiance formed around his body. The sheath dissolved partly so the blade could exit the sheath without hassle.

"You are absolutely right," she agreed. "I'm not the deceased lieutenant, but I have her power, likeness and memories." Hina's right hand drifted over to the hilt of Tobiume and started playing with the red hilt threads. "And then some." She drew the zanpakutou and called out, "Hajike, Tobiume!" the sword automatically transformed itself.

Hitsugaya quickly did the same. "Soten ni zase, Hyorinmaru!" the ice dragon swiftly constructed itself from the water in the atmosphere and let out a tremendous roar.

Hina quickly set off a blast of power towards Hitsugaya, which he defended by putting up a sheet of ice. He then rearranged the ice to form into spikes and sent them flying towards her. Most landed around her and kicked up dust. When it cleared, she was sitting in the tree's highest branches. She sent a barrage of spells down on him, but he avoided each one.

The summoned dragon suddenly attacked her from behind, but she jumped from tree to tree, eluding the dragon's claws. When she landed in one tree, though, Hitsugaya hopped onto the branch with her and swung the blade at her neck. She tried to jump away again, but the crescent chain hooked around her arm and dragged her out of the air. She hit the tree branch hard on her back and let out a gasp of pain.

Thanks to quick reflexes, though, she rolled off the branch just before Hitsugaya's blade pierced through her eye and into her brain. Landing gracefully on her feet, she glared up at Hitsugaya, who stared scornfully down on her, the dragon floating just behind him. She growled under her breath.

"You asked for it." She said.

Using her left hand, she drew BoketsuTouzuko. "Steal, BoketsuTouzuko." The black coating on the sword broke off, and she gave another command. "Unearth their graves, BoketsuTouzuko."

This was the second ability, and stage, of BoketsuTouzuko. From the cross-guard, skeleton bones extended and crept up her arm. The bones set on her shoulders and grew outwards create the skeleton of bird's wings. It also made neat sets of ribcages, plus bones attached themselves around her legs and made hooked claws at the ends of her feet. Finally, her Hollow mask completely reformed o her face. The mask was like a bird's face set in bone, the top beak half coming over her nose and mouth, but allowing enough space to speak. This was the second and final stage of BoketsuTouzuko, and it was powerful.

She pointed her finger at him, but bended her arm so her hand lightly touched her chest. With a fast sweep outwards of that same arm, bone splinters shot out at Hitsugaya. Cursing under his breath, he pointed the blade tip at the dragon and swept it in front of his body fast. The dragon followed almost immedialty after, taking the blow. The splinters completely broke the dragon, ice fragments glittering as they fell.

A few splinters managed to make it past the ice dragon though. One slashed through his hakama and cut his leg, one smashed into his left shoulder and another cut his left cheek. A small amount of blood seeped from each wound. He stood wide-eyed for a moment, but quickly narrowed. He pulled the splinter out of his shoulder, and more blood streamed out. It hurt to move his arm, but it wasn't immobile. He cursed under his breath. Why hadn't he initiated bankai the moment she released? Hadn't he learned his lesson with Halibel?

There was no time to waste. Gripping his hilt tightly, he said, "Bankai, Daiguren Hyorinmaru."

Hina smirked. She had seen him use bankai several times in her past life; she knew how to deal with it. The ice formed to create his wings, tail and claws…but not the four petaled flowers. She frowned, and then stiffened in shock. She had never considered he might have a mature bankai by the time she saw him.

Everything was bigger. The wings, tail and claws had all grown in size considerably, and another set of wings had grown in so he now had four wings. Sharp spikes had formed along his tail and back, the tail ending in an arrow point. Lastly, the dragon head no longer resided on his right arm. It had grown over his head to act like a sort of helmet. The lower jaw was missing, but the red eyes still shimmered in their sockets. The zanpakutou no longer had a steel blade, but now pointed ice.

She gritted her teeth. Recklessly, she jumped into the air and allowed the bone wings to carry her up to him. He then launched himself into the air, and flapped his wings once. Ice splinters rained down on her, and she had to stop and flap her wings twice to make enough bone splinters to match his own. They struck each other down in the air with Hitsugaya following after. She raised the two swords to make an 'x' and he struck them. He attacked viciously, leaving no space for her to hit. Finally, she managed to trap the sword between Tobiume's prongs and throw it away.

He didn't need it though. Ice weapons could be materialised at any given moment, giving him the upper hand. At least, until some of his blood got snagged on BoketsuTouzuko.

What she got was the immature version of Hyorinmaru. The flowers weren't there, but she only had the two wings and a smaller tail with claws. By trying to use one of BoketsuTouzuko's abilities while the other one was still in use left her with a weird blend of the two. BoketsuTouzuko's released form had only two wings, so the imitation only had two wings. But in the end, she had a chance to deal him damage as he stood there, shocked, in the sky. She twirled on one foot and smashed the tail into his stomach. As he hit the tree, she smiled triumphantly.

She floated down to where she estimated he had landed. Looking around, she didn't see him at first. What she did feel was the strain of using two zanpakutou abilities at once. So, she allowed the Hyorinmaru imitation to fall away, and Tobiume to unreleased. Sheathing the fire-kidou zanpakutou, she rolled onto her heels and glanced at the area. He didn't seem to be anywhere nearb-

He stared up at her intently, as he waited for her to fall after his claw had gone through her chest. She smiled mischievously at him. "You know, you're pretty eager, sticking your hand through my chest on our first encounter." She reached up and parted the shirt open. "As you can see, my heart isn't in the right place. There's only a hole."

He couldn't believe it. He had almost succeeded in killing her. If he had aimed a little lower, she could have bled to death. But no, he had to stab her through her heart. He glowered at her. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Hina Sazuki." She replied remorsefully. "What's yours?"

"Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya of squad ten." He said. Then it happened.

Her mask shattered.

Not a piece of the visor remained; just as not a piece of forgotten past was left out.

"_Hey, Shiro-chan! Do you have a minute?" "It's captain Hitsugaya to you!"_

"_Ne, Hitsugaya-kun, you haven't grown in a while, and I heard from Rangiku-san that the twelfth had a growth potion-" "Can you just let the idea drop, Hinamori? I'm not __**that**__ short." "Well, as long as Hitsugaya-kun admits he has a problem…"_

"_Honestly, Hinamori, how many times must I tell you? It's not Hitsugaya-kun, it's not Shiro-chan, it captain Hitsugaya! Why are you having trouble with this?"_

"_You are captain Aizen's murderer."_

"_Captain Aizen…why…" As she fell to the floor bleeding, she heard a voice calling out "Hinamori!"_

"_Aizen is a traitor Hinamori! You need to let him go!" "I know…" She looked up at him tearfully. "Why is that so hard to do though?" Holding her close, he whispered, "Well, __**I've **__always been here…"_

She sunk to the ground, **Boketsu**Touzuko's bones disintegrating as she fell.

"_Please…help him…I KNOW he's innocent, I KNOW IT!!!" "Hinamori…"_

The stab of self-hatred was so strong she threw back her head and screamed. Falling to the dirt, she let the darkness consume her in misery.

--

**A/N: What, did you expect fluff when they met? THINK AGAIN!!! ****But, this is a big turning point in the story, and from now on there is an actual plot. Yes that's right. There is going to be a plot:D **

**A little information:****Boketsu****Touzuko means "Grave Robber", in hopes of getting across the point of Hina feeling that she's stealing other's identities. "Identity Crisis", yup, that's her theme. I've also switched the genre of the story from "Drama/Romance" to "Mystery/Suspense", since I think it suits it better. **

**Cheers to Zoelol for bringing this up. Any and all side pairings are NOT to be taken very seriously. I claimed Rukia and Renji were an item, but there hasn't been any fluffiness. In this chapter, I implied GinRan, IchiMatsu and HisaMatsu. Despite what anyone may say, Orihime would never fall for an Arrancar (apologises to UlquiHime and GrimmHime fans) and would remain true to Ichigo, the last sane thing she knew. Bleach implies lots of pairings, and I'm keeping true to that. IchiRuki doesn't work for me for multiple reasons, but I won't say them. I know how annoying it is to listen to someone go against your beliefs. Trust me. I had to live through a HitsuMatsu rant without killing myself. It was horror.**

**/SPOILERS/**

**Anyone keeping up with the manga? Well, chapter 341 was a bit…predictable. I don't like reading battle scenes in the manga as much as I like watching them on the anime. It wins like that. What I'm wondering is about Loli and Menoly, and what Aizen's orders were…**

**/SPOILERS/**

**Zoelol: Your ideas are brilliant _. Thank you so much for bringing that up, it really made my life, and other's, easier. So, tell me how you liked his mature bankai. I want to know.**

**CS: Thank you for the review! I hope the weird sentences were TOO confusing…ah well. When the story's over, I'm editing. I hope that won't take too long. Their reactions were, I hope, as in character as I can get them. Plus, some HitsuHina fluffy stuff next time, so look forward to it!**

**Well, leave reviews anyways. I love hearing from you. No, I mean it. I LIVE for reviews. Questions, comments, rants, bring it on. I just hope the fight was epic enough. ****Oh yeah, more cheers to Zoelol for making the idea of mature Hyorinmaru stick in my head. It was brilliant. **

**PREVIEW!!!:**

Hitsugaya scratched the back of his head as he simply told her, "It's fine, don't worry about it. It's about time that I started letting her go anyways."

Hina looked up at him doubtfully. "It's been two years since you lost her, and yet at the same time, you never had her. How can you possibly get over her?"

--

"I'm seriously bored, this place sucks, and all you do is sleep!" Lilienette slammed her hand down on the table. "If I don't do something soon, I swear to god, my head will explode!"

Stark yawned.

"That's not funny!!" She roared.

--

Orihime hit the floor before being grabbed by her collar and hauled to her feet violently. She stared, frightened, into the ruby eyes.

"If you dare to tell her a thing, I will break bone in your body, pluck out your eyeballs and leave you to the Hollows. Do you understand?"

--

Renji felt his arm snap under the pressure this strange person was putting it under. He bit his lip, trying not to cry out. He sent a burst of reiatsu, to call out for attention. It lasted no more than a second before he was crushed under immense spiritual power.

"Be quiet, damnit, and stop struggling! I'm a friend!" A female voice rasped out. When Renji turned to address her, his eyes almost bulged out.

"Y-you're…"

--

"Tell me," Hina asked. "Tell me what good this will do anyone!"

**Reviews please.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine: Who Goes There?**

"_W-who are you?!"_

"_You're worst nightmare."_

A scene from the Disney movie "Mulan"

It was painful to open her eyes.

Gray blotches blocked her vision for the most part as she attempted the first time. She waited with her eyes closed until they settled for the most part. Cracking them open again, she groaned and pulled the pillow over her head. Damn sun…

Wait. There was no sun in Hueco Mundo. That means she was either in the material world or…great. Just _perfect._ She's in Soul Society isn't she? That Hitsugaya boy had obviously brought her back for an execution or something like that…

A headache completely blocked any thinking she could have done for a few seconds. Hina curled into a ball and bit her tongue. Those memories of Momo Hinamori's life really weren't pleasant. Sucks to be her. Good thing Hina wasn't too. Quite frankly though, they bothered her. The girl was so young and so fragile and so stressed and so…her own person. She didn't copy anyone, not even Aizen. She did pick up a few quirks from here and there, but they added to her originality.

Hina could only envy.

"What? Are you afraid of sunlight? I guess that would make sense, since you do live in a place of eternal night, you little vampire" An icy voice broke through the tense silence. Her eyes snapped to where he stood, arms crossed and leg propped against the wall. She growled in slight annoyance, and he quirked an eyebrow at her.

"You're quite the brat, aren't you?" Hina shot out of his bed and hit her arm against the desk that was placed inconveniently close to the bed. An object fell off the desk and hit the ground with a nasty _crack. _Hina looked over, and a broken music box lay on the floor. She flushed in embarrassment. She was an Espada for crying out loud! She's better than that!

"Sorry." She mumbled.

Hitsugaya scratched the back of his head as he simply told her, "It's fine, don't worry about it. It's about time that I started letting her go anyways."

"Was it hers?" She looked at it mesmerized. Hina then looked up at him doubtfully. "It's been two years since you lost her, and yet at the same time, you never had her. How can you possibly get over her?"

"I'll figure something out." He answered like it was going to be easy. Both knew it wasn't going to be.

She turned to the broken music box she had treasured so much before. "….Do you mind if I hold onto it?" She asked shyly, the little girl creeping back into her personality.

His eyes flared open in anger for a moment, but he quickly recomposed himself. If he wanted to get over Hinamori, the music box would have to go at some point. Better sooner than later, because procrastination never did anyone any good. Except Matsumoto. But she was special.

Trying to hide his stiffness, she shrugged. "Sure, whatever. I don't care."

"I think you do." She spoke quietly, but he heard her anyways.

"No, I _don't _care." Hitsugaya said forcibly. She put her hand up and waved it slightly.

"No need to get cranky. You weren't supposed to hear that anyways, you know."

"Yeah," he looked out the window. "I know."

A death butterfly fluttered just outside the window, and Hitsugaya opened it to receive it's message. After a second of silence, he nodded and it flew off. He turned towards her in slight irritation. "I need to attend a captains' meeting."

She smirked slightly in triumph. "You know there's no chance of my being here when you come back, right?"

"I figured as much." He shrugged his captain haori on and made for the door.

"So that's it? No spells to lock me in, no reiatsu binding charms?"

He shook his head. "No. None. See you."

"Bye…" she spoke softly. A moment of silence after he left and she wondered. "What the heck am I doing?!" She quickly gathered up Tobiume and BoketsuTouzoku and attached them to her belt before collecting the music box pieces in one hand carefully while she tapped the air lightly and caused a disturbance. The black line drew itself and grew open. After a final look around the room, she nodded.

"Time to go."

--

The door to Orihime's room opened suddenly, causing the poor young woman to choke on her tea in surprise. Hina stumbled in not terribly gracefully, blushing mildly. The younger of the two cocked her head in confusion as the other sunk to the floor, her back against the wall. Finally, the silence was broken by Orihime.

"What happened? Now that I think of it, where have you been?" Orihime's imagination went a little crazy after that. "What were you out doing? Making cake with the other Arrancar? Did you sleep in? Did you and Adelaida-sama have the talk? Did you do a Broadway performance? Did you watch a movie? Did you and Tobiume have a bonding moment?"

At Hina's glare of annoyance, she quieted down.

"But honestly though? What happened?" Her fists curled into balls at her sides.

"Well," Hina coughed somewhat awkwardly. "I was sleeping in the enemy's bed…"

"EXCUSE ME?!?!"

"NO! Not like _that!"_

"But you said you were in his bed…"

"_That_ never happened!"

"Then what did?"

"He just carried my unconscious body in and let me sleep there."

"Oh…"

There was a pause of awkward silence that passed by.

Orihime asked, "Why were you blushing then?"

"I just realized the…intimacy of the situation when I arrived here. Those stupid male Adjucas and their suggestive comments weren't much help."

"I see. I understand completely." Another embarrassed pause. The strawberry blonde seemed quite intent on breaking it though. "What do you need, Hina-san?"

The young Arrancar started out of her reverie with a jolt, and then nodded dumbly. Reaching into her shirt, she pulled out several pieces of a music box. It took a few more rummaging to find all the pieces, but eventually brought them all out. Orihime didn't even need to be asked to know what she was needed to do. "Is that all?" The girl asked.

"Yes." Was Hina's answer. When she made for the door, a hand caught her wrist. Looking down at the young healer, Hina noticed she seemed to be a little frightened. But of what?

"There's something you need to know." She finally managed to say. Hina cocked her head to the side.

"What is it?"

"Well, um, you see, it's-"

The door was pushed open discreetly as the third Espada made her entrance. She looked down at the two girls with a neutral face. She turned to Hina specifically, a sudden hint of satisfaction gracing her features. She spoke two sentences only.

"Congratulations. You've managed to open a direct portal into the Seireitei."

Orihime gasped. The healer put her hands over her mouth in silent horror. Hina's eyes widened before narrowing. Her fists clenched. She didn't know if she could rejoice or not. Adelaida gave no impression if she could tell. Instead, she stepped to the side and motioned towards the door with a sly smile. "Please inform the others of this."

Hina's eyes flickered to Orihime quickly, but left with a ballet bow. As the door clicked softly, Adelaida turned to the young woman.

"Thinking of telling my dear little pet about it, are we?" The tone of voice was friendly enough. She held an open posture and an entrancing smile. Nothing about the third Espada seemed anything but inviting. She had managed to win over the other Espadas' good natured hearts and their best wishes.

Orihime knew, though.

She couldn't be treated nicely because she knew.

She bravely stepped towards the still smiling Adelaida, and when the outstretched hand acted like a snake and struck quickly, it came as no surprise. As she hit the ground painfully, she was wretched up by her hair to stare into the two rubies.

"If you dare to tell her a thing, I will break every bone in your body, pluck out your eyeballs and leave you to the Hollows. Do you understand?"

Nodding more calmly than she felt, Adelaida released her hair and she collapsed to the floor. Pushing herself up onto her elbows, she gazed into the female's face. She was serene and motherly once more. "Do try your best to remember that, ok?" Without an answer, she had left.

--

The captains meeting wasn't anything as it turned out. Just Kurotsuchi complaining that someone 'stole' his work again. Like anyone had the guts.

Also, as it turned out, when Hitsugaya returned to his room there was no one there. Unsurprising. When he found the music box missing as well, he felt a flash of anger before quenching it silently. He said he would begin to recover, so he would. Looking around the room again, he wondered why he didn't take her into custody. It was standard procedure after all. Take an Arrancar hostage; you place them in your prison to be interrogated by someone from the investigation squad as soon as possible. Carry out the decided sentence as chosen by the new central 46. A simple procedure he failed to carry out.

All because of her face.

She looked like Hinamori, she fought like Hinamori and she could think like Hinamori. She never used kind words though, actually, she was rather harsh. She was capable of releasing Tobiume and using it to her full potential like Hiamori would. The mere whisper of her reiatsu was more than enough to relax his stressed shoulders slightly. It was always too much. She was always too much.

And now that she's gone, she's back, and he went soft again. It really was pathetic.

He was more bothered though by something else. Her escape did and didn't bother him. She was an Espada, and enemy. She had escaped. But what annoyed him more was the resemblance she had to Hinamori; he wished she hadn't gone.

But he was fine with it. She had escaped a place dangerous to her. She was fine. And apparently, according to his conscience, despite all the problems her escape would bring, it was fine as long as she was.

--

Lilienette was not the patient type. She could and already had killed hundreds of Hollows, Adjudcas and Gillian alike. She was an expert at Sonido, the Hollow equivalent of Shunpo for Shinigami. She had developed her Cero in the inspiration of beating up the white haired captain when she met him again. She also grew up to be a formidable young woman with exaggerated curves and one that didn't take any crap from anybody.

So when it came to keeping Stark awake, she didn't have the patience.

"STAY THE HELL AWAKE ALREADY, YOU LAZY BUFOON!!!" She delivered a swift and painful kick to his stomach, which sent him off the couch. He didn't wake up though. "Damn it." She swore quietly. Looking around the room for anything at all to help in her quest of keeping the man awake, she found nothing. He had been careful in the design of his room to ensure she couldn't harm him in his sleep. All there was was a bed, a couch, a table and a rug. Unfortunately, he forgot she had quite an imagination.

Cackling quietly, she took the pillow his head had been resting on recently and pulled out a handful of feathers. She turned to Stark with a cruel smirk on her face. Much could be done with feathers, you know. You could tickle their feet, noses, arm pits, or anywhere else they were ticklish. Or even eviller, you could find some glue and stick each feather to their face. Lilienette though, we mustn't forget, was not the patient type.

She stuck them down his throat.

He reacted immediately. Hacking painfully on the fluffy monstrosities, they were spat out and fell out of his mouth. He reached into his mouth to pull some out while he continued to cough mercilessly. When the last feather was finally pulled out, he glared at the younger girl.

"What the hell was that for?!" He yelled. She rolled her eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You fell asleep again, dumb ass." He growled in annoyance before climbing back into his covers.

"Oh no you don't!" She grabbed him and pulled him away from his sanctuary. She knew if he got under those covers again, he wasn't going to get up again. He easily managed to shrug her off and climbed under the covers. She huffed angrily.

That was a hard part about being an Espada. Originally, each Espada would be one level above the one over or under them in the scale, of there was one. Now there were huge gaps between each of their power levels. Stark was at least five levels above Lilientte, despite them being in descending order as Espada. He had only lost his position as the first Espada not because he lost any battles or there was a mutiny. Stronger Arrancar simply came along and filled in the positions and bumped some of the original Arrancars' numbers around until they reached what they were now.

Damn Adjucas had it easy. All they had to do was be born and presto! They were numbered.

"I'm seriously bored, this place sucks, and all you do is sleep!" Lilienette slammed her hand down on the table. "If I don't do something soon, I swear to god, my head will explode!"

Stark yawned.

"That's not funny!!" She roared.

"Take a nap," he called out to her. "Before you know it, hours will have passed…"

"No way in hell will I turn out like you!" She huffed and turned on her heel. As she headed for the door, it opened into her face. Hina stepped in, smiling only slightly apologetically.

"You really need to watch yourself Lilienette. You could get hurt," the fifth Espada joked. The green haired woman glared at her superior, but risked no comment.

"What're you doing here, Hina-chan?" Stark joked. The two were oddly relaxed with each other, despite the obvious power difference between the two. Some Arrancar claimed they may as well as been lovers, in a past life, at least. They neither confirmed nor denied the rumours. There was simply no point. Whether or not they said anything wouldn't stop the rumours.

"Just spreading some gossip," she drifted over to where he laid on his back. He grinned cockily at her and asked if she was even that type.

"No," she replied, "but this is front page news. There is now a portal that opens directly into the Seireitei from Hueco Mundo."

"Oh really?" he actually sat up of his own free will for once, somewhat surprised. "Well that just about screws all my plans up." She turned to look at him in surprise, but he made no indication as to saying anything unusual. Lilienette was now the source of concern.

"Hell yeah! Finally, Stark, I'll be out of your hair for a long time! Celebrate man!" She jumped about hyperactively, but Hina flinched. Oddly enough, she wanted to save Soul Society from the havoc this woman obviously was planning.

--

"How much longer must we deal with Aizen's leftovers?! My god!" Renji collapsed back into his chair in exasperation as the green haired lieutenant sorted through the papers borrowed from the archive. They had been researching the formation of the phenomenon known as Arrancar, and unfortunately hadn't come up with much. It was a slow and tedious task that proved to be unrewarding.

"Captain, maybe we should rest for a while?" Silver eyes inquired. "We can continue this tomorrow after we get some sleep and finish the paperwork."

He blinked quickly before whipping his head to the window. It was dark outside. "Whoa. When'd that happen?" Stretching as he stood, he left the young girl to clean up their mess while he went to visit his mess of an office. Then again, had the fifth division office even been neat? None of the past leaders seemed to be the organized type. Not Aizen, Ichimaru, Hinamori…hell, he didn't do a very good job himself….

A cold wind blew through the area as an unfamiliar reiatsu choked him for a moment. It happened so quickly though, Renji couldn't be sure it ever happened. He was quite positive that someone was there when they jumped on his back though. His arm was twisted behind his back as he bit the dust. Trying to raise his head, it was pushed down violently again.

Renji felt his arm snap under the pressure this strange person was putting it under. He bit his lip, trying not to cry out. He sent a burst of reiatsu, to call out for attention. It lasted no more than a second before he was crushed under immense spiritual power.

"Be quiet, damnit, and stop struggling! I'm a friend!" A female voice rasped out. When Renji turned to address her, his eyes almost bulged out.

"Y-you're…"

"The one and only!" The former Espada beamed down at him as he stared. In shock.

"Nel?! What the hell are you….?" **(A/N: I bet you thought it was Hina. C'mon, admit it…)**

"Sh! I'll explain how I got here later!"

"Not that! I want to know how you got ripped shinigami clothes! And what are you doing with that lieutenant's….badge…."

"It's a wonder you never noticed before. Yes. I'm your lieutenant. Do remember to breathe, your face went purple. Anyways, I don't have much time. I can only awaken for a short amount of time in this world, and only under the influence of a current Espada. Listen. The only way I could've gotten here was by losing all of my Hollow powers and we all know the impossibility of that."

"So wait. You're not…"

"I'm still an Arrancar. I just no longer possess Hollow powers. Someone had sealed them away so infinitely that all that is left behind is the shinigami. The process is slow, but I don't know how it was managed, but somehow, it was. Only two remain in this world who could at least subdue the presence of the Hollow so much that it simply would remain dormant. You _must_ find this antidote or else-"

With a sudden poof of smoke, she was gone. All that was left was a confused girl who was quickly sent home. Somehow, Renji thought, it was always the most significant part that was left out of speeches like these. With that, he passed out in the gutter.

--

**A/N: I'm not going to bother apologizing. You should just all know I disappoint myself with updating this story. I had another part of the chapter planned, but I wasn't going to finish it anytime soon, ****so I'm putting it up as is. I would like to thank everyone for their reviews, though I won't be replying this chapter because I'm too tired to. I would just like to ask everyone to PM/add another review every three days to bug me about the next chapter. I might get lazy again otherwise. **

**Gist of Neliel's speech: Someone, she doesn't say who, uses something, she doesn't say what, to put a seal on her Hollow powers. She cannot access them even if she wanted to, and she is now only a Shinigami. Strictly speaking though, she remains an Arrancar still. **

**Concept of Hina's existence: She and Ichigo are alike. Ichigo is more human than hollow though. Hina is an absolute, through blend of the two. They are similar, yet hardly the same. **

**Also, I must ask that you REVIEW. I turned off the emails telling me when I was placed on faves/alerts or my stories were, so I have no idea if anyone likes the story or not if you don't review. No matter how short it is, I want to hear it. Constructive criticism is even better. **

**//SPOILER//**

**ISHIDA FTW! Loly, Menoly and Yammy are dead (Goddamnit, and just when I claimed one survived the war in the last chapter too!). So sad. I loved those guys. Ichigo is being sexist towards Orihime again…I personally think he should get owned while fighting Ulquiorra, and while she's healing him, she owns Ulquiorra. :D. NEVER going to happen, but hey, I'm allowed to dream…FINALLY THOUGH! ULQUIORRA PWNAGE TIME!!!!**

**//SPOILER//**

**Finally, if anyone is a beta reader looking for work, here it is. I ****can't exactly edit my stuff thoroughly all the time, so the more people re-reading this and fixing it up, the merrier. **

**HITSUHINA PWNS BOTH ICHIHIME AND ICHRUKI!!! (And you know it, Zoelol!)**


	11. Chapter 10

**The Black Sun Rises**

_My pain unheard_

_As the scars lay hidden_

_- Bleach__ avatar_

Hina wasn't quite sure when the sudden change of heart had happened to the two lesser Espada, but she was grateful for the company. Stark and Lilienette had decided to work together with her for they believed that that was the smartest choice for them. Stark seemed convinced of darker tidings to come and she was apparently the one to side with. This made zero sense to her, but whatever. The job becomes easier when there are others to do some of the tasks for you.

At the very moment Hina was not in the company of the other two Espada. She was on her way to visit the mystic healer in Las Noches to check up on her and see if the repair of the music box was finished. She needed it soon.

"Hello, Orihime!" She poked her head in through the doorway, nearly giving the young woman a heart attack. Hina felt a small bop on her head as one of the fairies delivered the blow.

"Who the hell are you, to burst in here without so much as a warning and scare her out of her mind like that?! If I didn't have to wait for her command, do you know what I would do to you? I bet not! I would-"

The young man's ranting was cut short by his mistress's voice. "Tsubaki-kun, its fine. Really. We can trust her. Please stop…" She seemed quite honestly exhausted. There were no circles outlined under her eyes, but rather her entire body seemed to sag under the weight of her clothing. Heck, her _clothing_ sagged under the weight of her clothing. Everything about her body seemed to hang, even her drooping hair, even her eyes seemed down.

The small person 'hmph'-ed and flew over to Orihime.Hina took a quick look around her. All six fairies had been released from the hairpins, most likely to get some exercise.

Orihime soundlessly picked up something wrapped in cloth. Pulling it back showed the music box, damaged as though it had never been so. Hina picked it up and looked it over. She opened the lid slightly to look inside but to not start the music. She may remember, but she hated doing the actual remembering.

She inspected Orihime again. She nodded in decision. "I'll get Stark to come by and take you out for a while. I'm afraid I'll be busy for some time, so you'll be in his care until further notice. Ok?" She tried smiling slightly at the end of her sentence but gave up when she noticed Orihime was unconvinced. With a hasty goodbye, she left.

She travelled down the hallway until she reached her room. She needed to stay close to Orihime every chance she had, so she had accepted a room rather close to hers. Arrancar didn't need food and could go for extended periods of time without sleep, but would eventually require rest. She sent out a fast and complicated set of reiatsu bursts that acted like a key to the door. In the end, she just pushed it open.

There wasn't much to look at. There was a desk, bed, chair and a few odd objects to brighten it up from the constant white. Nothing special. The only thing that stood out was a small black device on her desk. Striding over to her desk, she sat down and placed the music box gently on the desk. She needed to place the communication device inside of the music box, but that would start the music. Biting her lip in annoyance, she finally decided to get it over with.

The melody was soft and gentle, but each cord struck a nerve in Hina's system. A memory came with each note.

"_Shiro-chan~! Its not funny, give it back!" A young Momo stomped her foot on the ground in childish anger as an even younger Hitsugaya stuck his tongue out at her._

"_No way! A bed-wetter doesn't need a great food like this!" Hitsugaya took a long bite of the watermelon piece that was supposed to be Momo's as she screeched in anger._

_--_

"_Are you okay Shiro-chan?" _

"_It's just a scratch! You don't need to make a fuss. I don't want the help of a bed-wetter anyways."_

"_That's mean!"_

_--_

"_Shiiiiiiiirrrrrooooooooo---"_

"_Don't call me that! Bed-wetter!"_

"_I don't do that anymore! Besides, you got us lost!"_

"_We're not lost. We're taking the long way."_

"_There is no long way!"_

"_Yes there is!"_

"_No there isn't!"_

_--_

"_You idiot! I told you, dancing in the rain will just get you sick! Why do I have to put up with this anyways?"_

"…_I'm the only one who knows where the watermelon fields are."_

"………………_I hate you."_

_The girl giggled before sneezing again._

_--_

"_Toshiro I….love you…"_

"_Momo! No!"_

_--_

As the music came to a halt, so did the pain. Groaning into her hands, she looked up and sighed in relief. The mechanisms had stopped turning.

Letting her hood fall back, she went to work instantly on attaching the device to the inside of the lid. Seventeen minutes later, she was done. Pushing it close, she went to find Lilienette.

She had a job for her.

--

"I don't get why you want to talk to the brat." Stark yawned and rolled over to look at the shinigami/hollow hybrid. She wasn't looking at him, but rather a spot on the wall that was apparently very interesting.

Not missing a beat, she replied, "I want to seal away my hollow side."

Stark sat up in surprise. "You know about it?"

"Not really," she glanced over at him from the corner of her eye. "That's what I want to find out. I never looked into it before because I wanted to regain all my memories first. I didn't know if it was a life I would want in the end. I do now."

"But why?! If you hate the Hitu…Histugi….Hitsuja…the kid, why do you want to go back to him?"

"I can't stay here." She sighed almost miserably. "I dedicated my being to figure out the shinigami girl's life. I knew I could never pick up where she left off but I wanted to know anyways! I really don't want to put up with the disappointment, so I might as well give her her life back. When my hollow is sealed away, Hina Sazuki will disappear."

"Wrong." He smirked up at her. "Sealing the hollow away doesn't mean killing it. It means you will just lay dormant as this shinigami girl restarts her life. Momo Hinamori will not remember her time as you, Hina-chan, but you will when you wake up from time to time. We already have one Espada as proof."

She gave him a weird look. "Proof?"

"A former colleague of mine didn't want to be an arrancar anymore. She was tired of this place, and wanted to be a shinigami. She loved those guys for whatever reason, so I let her be one. Her appearence took on an age between the two she had, and she lost any memories of being a hollow. She seems happy, at least." He folded his arms behind his head satisfactorily.

"Oh…" She blinked slightly and seemed to enter a sort of dazed trance. Suddenly remembering, she asked, "What did you do to change her?"

"Don't try," he just mentioned. "The hogyogoku isn't around anymore. We can't repeat what we did with her. Hey!" He glared at her childishly. "You distracted me! Answer the question!"

"The archives in the Seireitei are well supplied. It seems like a good place to start, and having a shinigami look into it sounds better than sending an arrancar in such a protected area, right?" She answered bluntly.

"What makes you think he'll do it?"

"He cares about Momo Hinamori obviously. Even if she was only his friend, I'm sure he'd like to have his friend back."

"You're cruel Hina-chan. Real cruel. But hey, you're better that way."

"What?"

"Have you thought of what Momo Hinamori would feel if she was in Soul Society and discovers she's been dead for two years? How would that feel?"

"She knows when to appreciate second chances. Think about this now; I have been in existence for a grand total of two years. Rather than making my own way in the world, I chased the lives of a mindless killer and the sob story of a shinigami child. I am prepared to give up anything I've known for sure so this girl can see how it should really end. Does this sound like the ideal lifestyle? Does it sound like I feel happy?"

"Touché. However," he pushed himself onto his elbows, "you can't do this alone girly. Sure, me an' Lilienette are helping you, but three isn't a very useful number in battle, especially when you don't know what you're dealing with. We need firepower!"

"Of course I know that. I already have someone in mind."

--

Lilienette thought the fourth division was the most screwed up place she had ever seen.

In one room, some Yamada guy was having the shock things used on him. Wonder what happened to the sucker.

In another room, some red head was being beat up by some raven haired chick for passing out in the gutter. Accusing him of drinking. He obviously had bad choice of girls.

In yet another room, he was there. She recognized him instantly. It was the same, infuriating bastard who refused to fight her five years ago! If not for the fact that she was on a mission (and would undoubtedly lose anyways), she would go in there and kick his ass.

It took her twenty minutes to figure out she was in the wrong squad.

It took her forty minutes to find the tenth squad.

It took her two to find Hitsugaya's room and get in and out before he noticed.

It was much easier than she thought it would be originally.

--

Funnily enough, it had been Hitsugaya to find the unconscious Renji Abarai.

After yet _another _captains' meeting in which Byakuya Kuchiki was filing a complaint against the rowdiness of the eleventh, resulting in _another _pointless argument, Hitsugaya was just about exhausted. Physically, he was perfectly fine. Mentally, he had been taxed by the stress of the last few days' hardships.

He had also been perplexed by the disappearance of the fifth's captain. Usually, he was quite confident that he could beat the sixth's captain still. He would attend every meeting, never minding how ridiculous the point of it was. He worked hard to keep the company alive and thriving, though Hitsugaya suspected it was more to Hinamori's memory than as a competition to his former captain. Missing out on something like this was completely out of character.

He guessed it made sense that he would only be delayed if he was unconscious in a ditch.

It was not his job to scold the former street dog. That was reserved for Rukia Kuchiki. Instead, he decided to find Matsumoto and demand if she had anything to do with it. After making sure the young noble girl was aware of the situation, he went on his way.

After a long discussion with her, he finally consented to her claiming to not have anything to do with it. Weird as it sounded, she was sincere.

He supposed it made somewhat sense though, when he found the music box on his desk in his private quarters.

He really should have suspected _her_ hand in almost everything he did from then on. It was fairly obvious he wouldn't be able to get any paperwork done either. He sighed. Putting the music box down, the lid popped open, and rather than music flooding out to drown him in memories, a holographic projectile created a very life-like image of Hina Sazuki **(A/N: Think Star Wars, but in colour!)**.

"Took you long enough didn't it?" She spoke out sarcastically, and Hitsugaya growled.

"I'm going to break this music box unless you have anything worth saying," he spoke in a low, threatening voice, the dragon baring his teeth.

"I have a question," she cocked her head to the side, as though waiting for him to do something. When he never said anything, she continued. "If there was a way, would you bring Momo Hinamori back?"

"Do you need to ask?" This was a serious blow to his heart and she undoubtedly knew it.

"I can do it. I know how," Hitsugaya snorted. Like hell she did.

"I'm not joking! I'm serious. There's a way for her to come back to her normal state. I don't necessarily know how to exactly," he rolled his eyes. She glared. "I know that archive slash library thing in Soul Society has a lot of documents. I can't go there, nor can I have anybody sneak in. therefore, you are a perfect candidate."

"I hold no loyalties to you. I have no reason to do such a thing." He turned to pick up the music box.

"For her then!" He froze. She saw her chance and ploughed on. "Why won't you help her, when she has another chance?" His fists were curling, but if she stopped now, the chance would be lost. "If you're really her friend, you would then you must save her!"

His eyes shot up to hers, wide open in frozen shock.

"Please." She used the child's voice. Her eyes filled with tears. She ducked her head, hiding her eyes behind unruly bangs. Her bottom lip quivered. It was the ultimate in pain for the young captain. She was using _the_ pout, the one that got her out of trouble, the one that could make him do whatever she wanted. It was a double whammy in that it wasn't Momo Hinamori talking to him.

Hina Sazuki could not for the life of her understand why she felt so guilty.

"Fine." She glanced up at him. Shadows covered his face. "Fine, I'll do it. Just get out of my face." His voice was cold. She deserved no better, but she felt odd…

The device was turned off, hiding the silver haired boy from view.

For the first time ever, Hina felt like a monster.

--

Rina Arakaki was shy. So terribly, terribly shy. She could hardly speak up for herself, much less for an entire division. It really made no sense as to how she became the third seat of squad three, but she was happy. When she was happy, she was assertive. She was happy because she was in a seat close to the third captain, Izuru Kira, the man she dedicated everything for.

And, she giggled quietly, her boyfriend.

How such a thing was conceivable she didn't know nor cared. She was with him, and she was happy.

It was on a favour to her captain that she checks up on the progress of Ichigo Kurosaki's healing. The two men had never been terribly close but Kira still found the man dependable.

As it turned out, he was running a fever, but nothing more.

She looked over the captain level shinigami in slight concern as he thrashed about in his bed. He seemed to be having a nightmare. She never knew how right she was.

His eyes shot open and she eep-ed in surprise. He didn't see her though. Inching closer bravely, she wondered if she should call for lieutenant Kotetsu. There was no need. His eyes rolled back as black crept into his eyes. The amber was tainted into a bitter yellow, sending her scampering out the door. Rina knew there was no need of lieutenant Kotetsu.

"Ca-Captain Unohana!!" She screeched as she ran down the hallway.

A white robbed male stepped into the room and looked down on Ichigo in slight surprise. "Well, who's more like a Hollow now?"

Ichigo stared at him in disbelief. "Crap, why'd it have to be you?" Were his last coherent words before the mask covered his mouth.

--

**A/N: The converstion between # 5 and 8 SUCKS. It must be there, but it SUCKS. **

**Well hi there! I hope you enjoyed this instalment of OTARD, despite it was only eight pages and 14, 597 words with spaces! **shifty eyes** **

**Uuh…right!**

**Panda-Fanda – What SONG does it play? Ah…I had the music box version of Lillium from Elfen Lied (never seen it) in my head when I added it to the story. And I am SO sorry you had to reread parts to remember what was happening. I'm such a bad updater…But glad you liked it!**

**hinatanaruto fan – Thanks! I'm glad you like it. Hmm…I don't think I'll say quite yet what it is…And yup, suppress the hollow. Exactly as it sounds. **

**unformidable trust – I'm happy you like it so far! And wow, that was a bad joke looking back, but hey, you like it, it stays! Thank you for the review.**

**Ai Angel – Yay! Another reviewer! Happy overload! ……………Wow that sounded dumb. Please ignore it. Well, I hope this chapter was good too!**

**butterfissticks – I'm very glad you liked it. Thank you for the review.**

**CS – Don't fret about it, I know all too well the troubles of the internet. But that's not the important thing. What's important is that someone actually felt sad from Hitsugaya's angst fest there. I wasn't sure if it was a wise idea to have it there, but I nervously left it there. No one mentioned it, so I was worried it was bad. And then THIS beauty of a review came along, and I was humming the rest of the day. **

**And the "calm" factor was thanks to Momo Hinamori actually. I'm only dusting over this in the next chapter, so I'll just say it. ****Her feelings of pain and self-betrayal when she attacked Hitsugaya on Aizen's behalf made her vow to Tobiume to cause Hitsugaya as little harm as possible. Since it was a promise to her zanpakutou it was a big deal, so when Hina lunged at Hitsugaya, she didn't have the heart to carry through. **

**Well, thank you so much! Really, truly, thank you! **

**CallMeNicole – Exactly! As the other pairings are battling it out in the forums, or sipping on some coffee laced with crack as they wonder how they came into existence, HitsuHina is slowly corrupting the minds of Bleach watchers everywhere, before long, they will have complete takeover! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!**

****Drools** Wow….I love you guys so much….look at all the pretty reviews…**

**So ****any who, I have discovered something of great importance. Why Bleach is called Bleach. These are the exact words of our god…**"_Soul Reapers (Shinigami) are associated with the color black, but it would have been boring to use "black." "White," on the other hand, can suggest black as a complementary color. __So I chose "bleach" to evoke the impression of the color white._

_**And since hollows are represented by white, it goes both ways.**_

_**Now, before I part with you all, I have a question I would like to ask you all:**_

_**What is your honest opinion of Hina Sazuki? Feel free to use colourful language.**_

_**Well, that's all for now folks! **eats carrot and disappears into the internet****_

_**- Full Shadow Alchemist**_


	12. Chapter 11

**Snoopypet – I'm glad you like the story so far, and I have multiple reasons for taking my time with these things. ****But, to sum it up: School. Hope that is a good enough excuse! :D **

**Zoelol – Ah, it's all good. I hate math with a burning passion too ^_^ So we can compare. I'm really delighted that you enjoyed the chapter! ….Delighted? Who says 'delighted' anymore? Oh, and of COURSE Ichigo is gay! I mean, Matsumoto offered him a look, and he said no! I'm a girl, so I couldn't say for sure, but at that age, he shouldn't have been able to deny her! Besides, in this story, from now on, HitsuHina is the ONLY pairing to be expecting from now on. So, continue with the ichiruki, for I shall not stop you. We agree on hitsuhina, so there's no trouble.**

**Also thanks to hinatanaruto fan, Ai Angel, SunsetRainbow, ..dawn., Tomoshibi-Chan, and FlareKnight for reviewing!**

**Merciful Dwelling**

_The black snuck into her eyes_

_Cold, unforgiving, unceasing, her life flashed before her self and_

_Quite suddenly, darkness fell_

Useless.

Most of these documents were useless.

Hitsugaya was in the main library, sitting at a table and rifling through every paper they had on sealing kidou, pendants, and different objects that had ever been in use. None of them suited the task he had in mind. They all either sealed the person or thing away completely or else part was sealed away, but the part remaining was rendered obsolete. What he wanted was something that sealed away part and left the other part completely unharmed.

There _had_ to be a way. Hitsugaya would never admit it to the Espada, but he did want _her_ back. Saying this, though, would be like openly admitting a weak point. No. He _would_ be admitting a weak point and right now he can't afford that.

Sighing in defeat, he gathered up all the papers before moving towards the shelves and replacing all of the manuscripts in their proper places. It has been three days he's been searching and so far, nothing worked. Three days since the agreement. Three days since Ichigo Kurosaki disappeared.

That was another baffling mystery the thirteen court guard squads had yet to understand. Then again, the gotei 13 had a way of letting things happen right under their noses. Aizen was an excellent example. Of course, he never invited hollows into the Seireitei when he worked there.

As he replaced one of the folders on the shelf, a single piece of paper escaped it and fluttered down to the ground. Groaning silently in frustration, he bent over to pick it up. _"…fore, the properties of kidou circles are unstab…" _Seeing the line caused him to pause. He read it over quickly, making sure his eyes didn't fail him.

The article spoke of a sealing kidou circle that, through careful reiatsu channeling and specific patterns played out, could carry out different sealing techniques. Including, he bit his lower lip, what he wanted. Taking out a small notebook, he sketched out the circle and made a few side notes before replacing the paper inside the folder.

He looked at the folder once more. Where had it even come from? It had not been part of original pile. But, quite honestly, did it really matter? He had his information, and that's what mattered.

After returning everything to its proper place, he grabbed a random book without looking at it to sign it out. This was part of the cover-up. After all, why would a captain come in, study a number of articles and then leave empty-handed? That would look suspicious.

Ok. Book was signed out. Now all he had to do was hightail it out of there and get to his room before anyone tried to stop him. Door within reach. Reaching. Grasping handle. Turning handle. Opening door. And then, he was free!

"Hey, Shiro-chan!"

God damn it all.

Hitsugaya sighed in exasperation. "What is it, Ukitake? I don't have the time."

"Just saying hi to my favourite Shiro-chan! So, how're you doing?" The white-haired captain smiled crookedly down at the younger of the two.

"Fine. Just fine."

"Just fine? That's all?"

"Yes. If all you were looking for was to annoy me, then please excuse me."

"I don't think you're fine, younger Shiro-chan." Ukitake spoke solemnly, and Hitsugaya popped a vein.

"Captain Ukitake, please refrain from using that name. You know very well I don't care for it. At all."

"Yes, yes, but well, Shunsui and I were talking earlier today, and we were planning on going out to a restaurant later today. We decided you're coming too."

"I have no say in this?"

"Nope!"

"…Fine. I'll come. Can I go now?"

"I suppose you can…" Ukitake said vaguely.

"Thank you." The two words were practically _breathing_ his relief. As he hurried away, he waved his goodbye over his shoulder. As he rushed down the street, he wondered idly how the folder had gotten into that stack of papers.

--

On the other side of Seireitei, the fifth's lieutenant was exceptionally pleased with herself and she didn't know why.

--

'_It's like she has nothing better to do, the way she answers without fail', _Hitsugaya thinks as Hina's figure is once again projected. They didn't taunt or provoke each other. It took everything they had just to look each other in the eye, so for both their sakes, they kept these meetings quick and to the point.

He explained stiffly that the kidou circle was a suitable candidate for what they wanted to do, and showed her the sketch. Her nose wrinkled and he arched an eyebrow in response.

"It's weird," Hina mumbled. "I can't recall her ever investigating such a thing. She never even knew it existed and she had thought she had found them all…"

His eyebrows drew together in confusion. "That is strange."

She nodded in agreement. "We should learn more about this circle then. If it was hidden for some reason, then there must be something exceptionally dangerous about it. Where did you find this note?"

He admitted that he had not actually found it, but rather it had found him, as corny as it sounded.

"That's never good." She said. "Things too good to be true often are."

"Couldn't be a more truthful phrase." Hitsugaya approved. He paused a moment to peer at her curiously. Did they just agree on something?

"Anyways, could you look into that? I have someone I need to speak to right now, not to mention I don't have the resources." Hina spoke somewhat awkwardly, obviously discomforted by the same conclusion.

"Tch. Fine." Was all he would say in response before she clicked out.

She groaned in annoyance. Working alongside him was aggravating, especially keeping in mind that Tobiume was upset with her.

"You promised that you wouldn't hurt him anymore," the zanpakutou stated harshly.

"I made no such commitment. That was the doing of your previous master." She whispered lightly in response.

"You're the same, practically. You need to uphold any and all vows you undertake at any time."

"As I said. I made no such commitment. Understand?"

"No. I can't say that I do."

"Tough."

Closing her mind to the sword, she started off on her way to visit the second Espada.

--

As it turned out, the three captains were going to a restaurant out in the Rukongai districts with their lieutenants. Or in Ukitake's case, his third seats.

Much to Hitsugaya's chagrin, the restaurant also sold alcoholic drinks.

"On top of spagettiiiiiiii, all covered in cheeeeeeeeeeeessssse, I lost my poor meeeeeaaaaatbaaalll, when somebody sneeeeeeeezzzzeeedddddd…" Matsumoto screeched the song with every ounce of energy she had. It was, unfortunately, karaoke night.

"Ah, sweet Nanao-chan, wont you please sing me a song too~? I know just the one too~. It's a pretty, pretty ballad for your love for your captain, sweet Nanao-ch-" the intoxicated Kyoraku was easily bopped on the head by an infuriated Nanao. Hitsugaya couldn't blame her. Normally, he'd be able to stay sober in _public_ at the very least.

"It rolled off the _TAAAAAAAAAAABBLBBLBLEEEEEZZZZ-" _

"MATSUMOTO!!"

"_CAPTAIN!!"_ She engulfed the poor boy in a crushing embrace, false tears welling up in her eyes. "The meatball ate my _cat!"_

"You don't have a cat, Matsumoto," he growled in annoyance. "Let me go."

"Yes I do! Yes I do!" She let tears drip down her face and soak Hitsugaya's silver hair, causing him to pop another vein.

"No you do not! Now put me down!" He just noticed his lieutenant had lifted him off the ground and was pressing his face firmly against her ample chest. He didn't blush. It had happened way too many times for him to be embarrassed anymore. It did bother him that other people were looking though.

On the other side of the table, Kiyone and Sentaro both reached for the last sushi. Their hands collided. Instantly, feral growls rose in both of their throats and they glared at each other. Unbeknownst to them, their own captain took the last piece to ensure no harm was done.

Matsumoto fell over, head down on the table, snoring ridiculously loudly. Occasionally hiccupping in her sleep, Hitsugaya stared in absolute confusion and relief. Shunsui grinned and waved it off. "She does it all the time," he said.

"So actually, Sentaro," Ukitake cut in, "could you take her back to the tenth? I really don't think she should remain here while unconscious like this. Too many things could happen if we get…distracted." He motioned towards the drunken Shunsui.

Sentaro stuck his tongue out at Kiyone. She hissed violently in response.

"And Kiyone may take me to the fourth, for I am not feeling well!" He nervously added, effectively popping Sentaro's ego balloon. Kiyone purred contently.

Ukitake helplessly mouthed 'I'm sorry!' to Hitsugaya as he was dragged off by Kiyone, followed closely by Sentaro with Matsumoto over his shoulder. Shunsui snickered at the two, and Hitsugaya rolled his eyes.

"Um, I'm sorry, excuse me, but…" the two captains glanced over at the distressed waitress. "Will one of you two be paying for their meals as well?" Her face paled in mortification as they scrutinized her heavily, obviously realizing that if they didn't want to pay, they could just leave and she wouldn't be able to stop them.

"Oh, I'll do it," Shunsui grinned wickedly, "for a price."

Her mouth opened and closed a few times as her face colour went even lighter.

"I'm kiddin'! I would never do somethin' like that to a pretty girl like you!" She nodded and scurried off quickly. Shunsui chuckled, "She's so much like Yumi-chan had been."

Hitsugaya turned his head so fast he was sure something popped. It didn't matter though. "Yumi? As in, Yumi Arishima?"

Shunsui mockingly applauded him. "The one and only! She had been such a delightful child too…"

That was when he _really_ understood the situation. Here was an intoxicated man with all the answers he needed out for free, and with luck, he wouldn't remember telling him a thing. This was not exactly the kind of opportunity you let pass by.

"How did she die?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh," Shunsui cleaned his ear with his pinky. "We don' really know. Disappeared into Hueco Mundo and never came back. All there is to say on the matter." He pulled his finger out and inspected it.

"That's it? You have no idea what happened to her?" Hitsugaya leaned forward.

"Well, no," Shunsui flinched. "We did find her. Or rather, the corpse. Back when we raided Las Noches, we found 'er newly killed, face down. Looks of it, she was in the middle of some kinda kidou circle. Nasty stuff I tell ya. Well, forget tha' newly killed part. Every drop of blood in her was sucked out, leaving a dry, dry body. All wrinkly like she was old. We – that is, me and Jushiro and Retsu and Yama-jii and those kidou corp guys – we all think the circle needs a sacrifice to work."

"Which one was it?"

"Which one was what?"

"Which kidou circle?" He gritted his teeth in frustration. He showed him the sketch. "Did it look like this?"

He scrutinized it closely, looking it over carefully. He turned it upside down, tilting his

head to the side. Every second he wasted almost made Hitsugaya reach over the table and strangle the older man, but he held back.

Shunsui stood on his head and looked at the sketch.

Hitsugaya gritted his teeth.

Barely.

"Yup!" The brown-haired captain pronounced. "This is the one!"

"Damn it." Hitsugaya couldn't help but curse. The one thing that looked like it could save Hinamori potentially needed a sacrifice. Just _perfect._

He got up and walked away.

"Hey! I'm old and drunk! You shouldn't leave me here!" Shunsui winked at a waitress before calling out to the boy.

"I think you'll be just fine, Captain Kyoraku," Hitsugaya replied dryly. Before Shunsui could say anything else, the long forgotten Nanao dropped her book on his head.

Hitsugaya had reached the Seireitei in due time, hardly even a breath passed when he reached his room after entering through the gate. In a second, he was working the mechanism inside the music box.

The hologram never appeared.

Instead, it showered him with brilliant blue sparks as a strange buzzing noise filled his ears. He watched with incredulous eyes as, with a _ZAP! _and a red spark flying upwards before fading, it went silent. For a moment, Hitsugaya was shocked. **(A/N: Not literally….)**

Had he broken it? But how? It had been working fine for so long that it seemed impossible for it to break like this. He heard it.

The buzzing noise hadn't stopped.

Something was interfering with it. Someone had not wanted him to contact Hina Sazuki.

Hitsugaya calmly put the music box down and took the device out. He carried the small object to his desk and sat down. Opening drawers, he looked for a few tools he had gotten from the twelfth division. He laid each on his desk and swept his gaze over them. Finally choosing the screwdriver, he turned it until the lid popped off. Miniature gears and wires were left on display. For the first time in a while, Hitsugaya used his genius to try and fix the mechanism.

If he couldn't, then he'd have to use the only other way of contacting her, and it was the last thing he wanted to do.

--

The shadows danced for her as Hina's cloak swept over the white tiled floor. Her feet made no sound, her eyes laid hidden under her hood. Her stance betrayed none of her emotions, and Tobiume and BoketsuTouzoku clanged together menacingly. She encountered few Arrancar on her way, and all stood back and bowed deeply from the waist. They feared her, and Hina revelled in that. Neither of her former lives cared much for protocol, so she pulled rank to instil a feeling of dread in them.

If they were too busy fearing, they wouldn't report any suspicious behaviour to superiors.

She did meet Yammy along her route. He was going in the opposite direction of her, and merely grunted in greeting. As they passed one another, her left arm effortlessly plunged into his stomach, knocking the big oaf off his feet and onto his back. He mumbled curses under his breath, but wisely didn't engage her. She never dropped her pace. She never looked back.

She didn't hide her reiatsu as she approached the wide doors she had been aiming for the whole time. She wanted him to know she was coming. She only paused outside the door to announce, "I'm coming in," before proceeding right through.

Narciso Vanceslás was not at the top of the food chain. He was pretty darn close to it though, not to mention he was more composed than the first Espada. He was the ideal choice for helping her find spare Adjucas.

His uniform consisted of black socks, white sandals, and white hakama. The shirt was skin tight, allowing every contour of his skin to stand out against the fabric. The back of the fabric hung down as extra cloth behind his legs. It was outlined perfectly in black, with what appeared to be black wings decorating the front of the shirt. His collar hung down in two triangles before smoothing out in a nice rectangle around the back of his neck.

Green orbs shone in their sockets, while his hair fell around his shoulders, ending at with his shoulder blades. It was black. Blacker than a bat's wings.

He approached her, hands in pockets, not flinching under her cold gaze. "What is it that you want?"

She levelled her shoulders and spoke in a clear voice, "I need some powerful Adjucas to work for me to help finish an assignment of mine. I was hoping Vanceslás-sama knew of some that I could use."

"What you need and what you want are two entirely different things Sazuki." He turned to the side, so he had to gaze at her from the corner of his eye. "What I asked was what you wanted."

Hina was taken aback somewhat by his behaviour, but refused to let her surprise dominate her features. Her eyes hardened. "My goal is none of your business."

"And now we speak of goals," he smiled somewhat. "You truly have perfected your ability to elude the question, haven't you?" She allowed her teeth to clench slightly. Unfortunately, although he was the best candidate for helping her, he was also the wittiest Espada, even leaving the first in the dust for all his mental prowess. She let an even smirk control her lips.

"Why thank you, I do try." She replied coolly. "However, it seems that you are the one eluding the question. Do you know of any Adjucas I can work with?"

"Interestingly enough, we just got a new one a few night ago." He nonchalantly strode through the doors Hina had come through, and she followed likewise. They weaved through the endless corridors of Las Noches as Vanceslás continued talking.

"He was a feisty one at first, but he managed to break him. I will warn you, however, we are unsure of his power level, so you must be cautious when taking care of him," he stopped talking after that. They remained silent as they travelled to a new set of doors. She didn't know what to expect. She had never seen these doors before.

She turned to Vanceslás. He turned to her. "Please treat him gently; we don't want him broken beforehand."

Her brows furrowed together in confusion. "Before what?"

A cold smirk played upon his pale lips. "All in due time." He pushed the door open.

She gasped.

The only light in the room either filtered in from the hallway through the open door or else trickled in by the pale moonlight through the window. Either way, she could clearly see the unconscious figure leaning against the back wall.

The orange hair was unmistakable.

"Wha…how…." was all she could gasp out. Pricks of tears sat on the edge of her eyes. Her mouth opened and closed soundlessly. She must look like an idiot but it doesn't matter because a hollow mask was on Ichigo and it shadowed his eyes and there was no air and he wasn't supposed to be here and it was wrong and she felt sick and she was crying and there was no air _and there was no air…_

"I shall leave you two be for now," Vanceslás closed the door, leaving only the moon to go by. But what did it matter? The moonlight showed her too much.

Her feet dragged along the ground. Shuffling noises. Was she walking? Being dragged? She didn't know. Her foot caught on a crack in the ground. There are no cracks in the ground in Las Noches.

She falls. She hits the ground and cries out.

She drags herself.

He doesn't move.

She can't breathe.

Where had the air gone? This room had no air. The hallway had air. Shed go to the hallway.

She wasn't going to the hallway. She was going to him. Why? She wanted the hallway. She wanted him. Oh, she didn't know what she wanted…

Pulling herself onto her knees, she hugged his head to her chest. She was getting his hair wet. "I'm sorry." Was she talking? "This is my fault." Yes it was. "All mine." Every bit.

Finally, she forced her eyes open (when had they closed?).

Blood. There was a blood stain on the floor.

Her eyes widened. She hadn't tripped on a crack earlier. The kidou circle Hitsugaya had shown her was etched into the stone. In the middle was a blood stain. A big one.

She gripped Ichigo's head harder. "What is going on…?"

--

Hopelessly, Hitsugaya let the device clatter to the floor. He couldn't fix it. For all his so-called genius, he couldn't fix the one thing he wanted to work right. He let his head drop into his hands. He was hopeless.

This really left him with little choice in the matter. Either let whatever foul play happening under his nose go on, or go to Hueco Mundo and work from there.

Could he really go to Hueco Mundo? Could he really just abandon his squad, Soul

Society, just like that, just for a chance to see Hinamori again?

He didn't know.

He rubbed his forehead. He had a headache.

The door slammed open as Matsumoto stumbled in, still half drunk from earlier in the day. He turned to sneer at her, causing the lieutenant to stumble back frightfully. She obviously planned on delivering her message though.

"C-captain!" She squeaked out. "We caught an intruding Arrancar! We're supposed to go to a meeting now!"

--

**A/N: :'D**

**That is my facial expression right there. The chapter is finally OVER. I almost want to put the darn thing on hiatus for all the trouble it causes me. *Shot by rabid fan***

**I SHALL PERSERVERE!**

**About the chapter title: It is the name of the song by Dax Johnson to which I am addicted to right now. It really suits the mood of the story, especially this chapter. It's really good; it has power behind each note plus a feeling of being under pressure. It does create a lonely feeling. Yes, that would have to be this story's theme song.**

**Quote: The bad poem is something I made up on the spot. Not too bad, considering I can't write poetry, much less haiku like this. Ah well, it's mine and you can't use it!**

**ADVERTISMENT FOR SOMEONE ELSE'S STORY**

**Go read "Twins of Soul Society" by ..dawn. Not only is her writing excellent, but it certainly is going to get interesting in the near future! Go support her!**

**AD OVER**

**Next chapter: **Vanceslás meets up with Adelaida to discuss, and Hina discovers what happened to Ichigo. Meanwhile, Hitsugaya meets the Arrancar and makes a decision.

**Kudos to the people who review! Constructive ****criticism, love, hate, flaming popcorn, it's all cherished!**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: READ THIS!!! IT'S IMPORTANT!**

**This is how the chapter is set up. We begin with Hina in present time and**** it remains present time until the first scene break. Then we go back in time to when Vanceslás stepped out of the room when he showed her the room with Ichigo in it. The next scene break is also in the past, this time with Hitsugaya. I'm sorry if it confuses you. Think: Present, past, past. And if you review, you get a special present! See the last A/N for it.**

**Music of the Night**

_Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams_

_Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before_

_Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar_

_And you'll live as you've never lived before_

Hina pulled the covers up to Ichigo's shoulders and rocked back onto her heels, wiping any lingering tears out off her face. He seemed to sleep peacefully for the time, so she relaxed. She turned her back on him, but whipped around again in a second. Her gaze flitted over him anxiously, before she sighed in defeat.

Every time she turned her back on him, she got the feeling he would disappear. Where he would go, she didn't know. Maybe to 'rescue' Orihime Inoue again. Like that would ever happen again. It was difficult enough to get her to take a walk, let alone…

Ichigo's hand twitched and Hina looked towards it hopefully. No luck. He didn't move again. She sighed disappointedly. She froze. If he did wake up, what would he do? What would _she_ do? What he would do was pretty obvious. He would try to kill her; it didn't matter if he was a hollow or a shinigami. He would try to kill her. For some reason, that made her heart ache.

No. it wasn't 'for some reason.' She had long figured it out.

His head limply fell to the side. She straightened it gently, her touch lingering.

When she had seen the kidou circle etched into the ground, she had been confused, and suspicious. Why the hell was it there? That was when she noticed the blood. She had panicked. She had looked Ichigo over, shaking slightly. He held no injuries at first glance, but she didn't want to take chances. After carefully looking him over, he showed no signs of harm. She had almost collapsed with relief.

She then had to carry him out piggy-back style. It was a pain, considering the height difference not to mention how awkward it was. But hey, the eleventh squad's captain being carried by his lieutenant was even stranger and it had been done.

What bothered Hina right now was the circle. What was it doing there? And if the blood didn't belong to Ichigo, whose was it? Something else that disturbed her was Narciso Vanceslás. He knew everything that was going on in Hueco Mundo. He knew who Ichigo was and what happened. She refused to ask though. He wouldn't answer.

By the time she had left the room, he was gone.

She had briefly considered taking the substitute shinigami to Orihime, but instantly cast the thought out of her head. Not only would the young woman have a heart attack, but she didn't know if Ichigo was stable. He might have tried and killed her. At least locked in Hina's room, he didn't have much to destroy and if she was there, she could knock him out pretty quickly. Maybe.

She gritted her teeth and stalked to the door. Throwing it open, a nonchalant Stark lazed by the door.

"You can't keep your reiatsu down, can you?" She hissed at the older Arrancar. "He's asleep! You mustn't wake him!"

"And you have become his mother," he lazily answered. He lounged into the room and Hina sent him a brilliant glare. Despite her anger, she closed the door and came over when he beckoned for her over his shoulder. She gave him the chair to sit on, while she positioned herself on the very edge of the bed.

"Okay," he clapped his hands together, "you know what a doppelganger is?"

"A double," she replied dryly. "A twin, the term usually reserved for decoys. What do you want?"

"Do you know where the word came from?"

"No," she stiffened slightly at his close scrutiny. "I can't say I do."

"Well then, it's an old legend from the humans. They say, or used to rather, that everyone had a mirror image of themselves. They looked, walked, talked, and thought like the person. According to the story, if someone meets their doppelganger then they will die pretty soon after. Now, from what I got from a reliable source was that this was half-true."

"What was?" She shifted uncomfortably. Talk of mirror images did nothing to sooth her already frayed nerves.

"The doppelganger legend of course! Weren't you listening?"

"Yes, now what is it?"

"It's half-true! There are mirror images of people running around, but they look nothing alike! It's just the personalities that match and even that is a variable! Don't you get it? Ichigo Kurosaki is the doppelganger of Momo Hinamori!" She stopped moving. Slowly, she turned to face the older man.

She shrugged.

"What difference does it make?"

"The piece of the mask Momo Hinamori absorbed wasn't enough to convert her into a hollow. Doppelgangers share things. If one is sick, so is the other. If one is happy, so is the other. If one is part hollow, so is the other." He waved towards the unconscious man lying before them. "Thanks to you giving up hope of ever being your own self, he lost his humanity with you, because to some extent, you are connected to him. So naturally, if you lose or else seal away your hollow side, this guy here will go back to normal."

Hina narrowed her eyes. "How do you know all of this information?"

"Like I said, a well informed friend-"

"About Momo Hinamori. How do you know about the mask, about her past?" She shook her head. "No. How do you know about her at all? How do you know her name?!" She started off quiet, but grew louder with intensity as anger and confusion flooded her senses.

He paused for a second, considering her quietly. His voice was as speculative as his eyes. "Have you ever noticed," a whisper, "ever since I entered the room, you've been crying?"

Her eyes widened in frustration, pupils contracting as the highlights vanished. With almost violent force, she wiped at the flowing rivers trailing down her face. Stark sniggered and she glowered at him. "What is it you find so funny?"

"Watermelons or strawberries?" He answered.

"What?"

"Which do you prefer? Watermelons or strawberries? Winter or summer? Speed or strength? Hollow," he smirked, "or Shinigami?"

"Momo Hinamori would have answered like this," he bent his elbows, palms up and he shrugged with a closed eye smirk. "Peaches. Summer. I don't know. Shinigami.

The Arrancar that died. Neither. Both. Strength. I don't care.

And you, Hina-chan. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know." He wagged his finger in front of her face.

"You need to let go of such thoughts. Loving the enemy you're sacrificing yourself for is a bad idea. You've seen your memories. You believe Ichigo Kurosaki to be the better man. You need to let such thoughts go or they shall torment you until you die." Sonido seemed to work faster these days. He was gone before she could even say it. She said it anyways.

"Why?"

--

Narcisco Vanceslás closed the door behind him without a sound. The air was cold.

The soft patter of female feet drifted to his ears as the woman behind him hesitated. He rolled his eyes slightly and let the corner of his mouth tug slightly up. He turned his steady gaze on the blonde before him.

"How is she taking it?" Adelaida spoke with something akin to concern but it wasn't for the girl. It was for her condition.

"I do believe she was pleasantly surprised." He answered coolly, and she smiled slightly.

"That's good. It'd be bad if she tried to kill herself before it was time. After all, you and I need to avenge her…"

"Adel, you know that you can't bring your friend back." He ran his fingers through the golden hair and she pouted.

"Who says? You said we could do anything when we're done with everything, so why can't we bring her back?"

"Dying is impossible; therefore, bringing back the dead is just as much. We'd only interrupt the reincarnation cycle."

"Now you sound like those hypocritical shinigami!" He pulled her to his chest and she tried to fight back. "It's all that stupid human's fault! That monster killed Loly!"

"It was her own fault." He held her in place. "Do as you will however. Just wait until we're done with everything." **(A/N: I made a funny mistake here. I had caps lock on, so it read "JUST WAIT UNTIL WE'RE DONE WITH EVERYTHING." Heehee. Ok, sorry to bug you…)**

"Soon?" She spoke childishly.

"Soon," he confirmed. Taking her hand, he led her out of the hallway.

--

The tenth' captain's cloak billowed about his figure as he entered the prison cell. The kidou corps had specially enforced the room with spells that seals reiatsu so the Arrancar could not escape. He seemed pretty angry about it too.

"Took you long enough!" The twelfth's captain sneered at the silver-haired prodigy and Hitsugaya just glared coldly right back at him. Despite how much the captain disgusted him, he needed to keep up protocol.

"My apologies, captain Kurotsuchi. I had other business that had to be tended to."

"Excuses! You could have been doing anything at that time, boy! Now then, can I continue interrogating him?"

"I will take over, thank you very much." Hitsugaya ignored his protests and kneeled down to the handcuffed Arrancar. Brown locks of hair fell around his face while blue eyes stared in rebelliousness back at the teal-eyed boy. Both hands had been handcuffed along with his feet, and the two had been chained together.

"What's your name?"

He pressed his lips together, but answered, "Espada number six, Mauricio Ildefonso."

He blinked in response. "I…see. What is your purpose here?"

"Nothing. Just doing a job."

Nemu brought out a black box with no apparent ways to open it. "He had this with him," she explained in her blank voice.

Hitsugaya didn't need to know more. The box looked just like the device Hina Sazuki had used, giving him a good idea that a higher ranking Espada had sent him. Who could it be? Either someone had discovered her activities or she had broken off the connection herself. Why would she do that though, if it was her?

"Who sent you?"

"Can't say."

"What do you have to hide?"

"I can say this since I can't say the other thing." He leaned forward with sadistic glee radiating from his face. He whispers in the prodigy's ear, "Orihime Inoue lives."

Hitsugaya backed off instantly, disbelieving eyes staring at the simper Arrancar. "You're lying," he managed to choke out after a while.

"Why would I? I have nothing to gain by doing this."

"What? What did he say?" Matsumoto stepped forward and addressed her captain. Confusion graced every line of her face.

"He said 'Orihime Inoue lives'." He looked over his shoulder impassively. The busty woman gasped and stepped back.

"He's lying." She squeaked out.

"Why do you shinigami deny everything that is the truth? Honestly, no wonder Aizen had deceived you all so easily." Hitsugaya rounded on the Espada angrily.

"You had better do well to remember your current situation!"

"Who cares? I'm dead no matter what."

"Not if you do as we say." Ukitake walked up, face serious. "Follow our orders and you'll survive."

"Oh yeah? And what're those?"

"Bring Orihime Inoue back to us." Ildefonso snorted.

"Like hell that'll ever happen."

"Lead the way then," Hitsugaya spoke up. "Take me to her and we'll leave with her."

And someone else, he mentally added.

It was time for him to enter Hueco Mundo for the first time.

--

**A/N: It's April Fool's Day and to me, this chapter is a bad joke.**

**Thanks: unformidable trust, Ai Angel, xKazumi, . awaken. the. dawn (M-my apologies. I don't know why it didn't work. And FINALLY, another anti-Ichigo…not that I'm quiet about it.)**

**PRIZE!!!**

**Leave a review with a comment on something in this chapter, and you can make a character say a line of your choice for the next chapter. You choose the line, not the character.**

**Review for me? Criticize me? **


	14. Chapter 13

"How can this be? My god! You're alive! I thought I lost you..." – Ai Angel(4)

"the muffins! Stop! The muffi—" – awaken. the. dawn. (1)

"I love you, Toshiro Hitsugaya." – larkinlover(2)

"What the... but you said... he didn't do..." – Traitor-Hero(5)

Why are you doing this? What is the use, what is the purpose? Why? TELL ME!' – SunsetRainbow(3)

**To Lie In the Rain**

"Captain! Captain, wait up!" Matsumoto ran after her captain when the meeting was adjourned, huffing breathlessly. He turned to her with indifference gracing every feature.

"What is it, Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya asked.

She felt her knees weaken at such a gaze. It was much colder a stare than anything he had directed at her before. They collapsed under her and banged together, while her upper body slouched over and her hands grabbed her knees to make sure she didn't give way and fall. Her head dropped. "Why, captain?" she breathlessly whispered.

"Why what? You need to explain yourself more fully than that, lieutenant." She flinched. He almost never referred to her by her title. He sounded somehow more distant than she had ever felt him be before. However…

"Why did you volunteer to go to Hueco Mundo?!" Matsumoto's head snapped up painfully as she spoke, but she didn't care about the nasty crick in her neck at the moment. "Why? _She's_ obviously going to be there, and considering how she escaped from you last time because you hesitated, how will you fight her now?!" Hitsugaya, until that moment, had been watching her closely with a level gaze. He turned away, flinching slightly, when she uttered _"escaped"_.

A lump formed in her throat as she realized the implications. He had lied to them.

"I will see you in the office in an hour, Matsumoto," he disappeared from her sight after that. She understood. He had lied, but he would tell her the truth because he understood the pain of not knowing the motives of someone you cared about.

The hour passed, and she found herself sitting on her favourite couch, listening to Hitsugaya's pen scratch on paper as he completed the work. Her back was to him due to the way the couch was set up. It was better for them both this way. Matsumoto didn't need to show her sad eyes, and Hitsugaya could protect his heart by hiding it from his voice.

The pen never stopped, but the silence did. "I did lie that she had escaped from me. I had captured her and brought her back to the Seireitei, but I could not restrain her, as you might understand."

Her fists clenched her hakama. "I cannot say that I do understand, captain."

He didn't answer at first. Even when he did, he was hesitating. "They look the same. Please don't make me explain myself further."

It took a moment for her to realize she was being asked a question. Softly, she replied, "I'm sorry."

The pen stopped moving. "You know, it's not just her face." He swallowed. "Her voice, the way she carries herself, her behaviour to some degree…" The pen dropped to the desk in a clatter. "The way they're the same…every time I spot another similarity, I just…I can't help it, no matter what…." He groaned, the sound muffled somewhat. His hands were probably covering his face, she presumed. "It's…its no good. _I'm _no good."

"You are good, but I do agree that it never is any good, captain," she spoke in a sad voice. "Have you two been communicating the whole time since…?"

Another intermission filled the air. "Yes. We have."

She shrugged, so he could see it. "That's fine I guess. What were you talking about, though?"

"We had…no, we _have_ a similar objective." She nodded her head in encouragement and squirmed in her seat. She had a feeling what it was. "We wanted to bring Hinamori back." She wore a big smile on her face, though he could not see it. She knew it.

"That's really amazing," she relaxed in her cushion as her eyes fluttered closed. "Getting Hinamori-chan back would be the best thing ever. No! Wait!" She sat up straight again, eyes sparkling. "Having Hinamori-chan _and_ Orihime-chan back would be the best thing ever! Did she ever mention Orihime-chan during your chit-chats?" She clapped her hands together in delight.

"Once. She said she was going to take Inoue with her when she left." Matsumoto didn't know what emotion was behind Hitsugaya's voice, but it didn't seem to be a necessarily bad one.

"Wow! That's terrific! A two-in-one package! We've not had one of those in ages!"

"Don't talk about them like they are merchandise! Especially…" She fell silent again. The pen went _scritch – scratch _again.

He didn't need to hear her apology to know she was saying it.

--

The crash and splintering of wood alerted Hina he had now destroyed the desk.

She had carefully erected wards so he could not escape while she stood guard at the door, not minding the odd looks wandering Arrancar sent her. They scurried fast enough when a roar erupted from Ichigo's throat behind the door. It was actually kind of funny. She would laugh, but considering Ichigo's state of mind, he might see it as a challenge from an unseen foe and become more frantic, no matter how hard it was to imagine it being any worse. The feelings of confusion, pain, and a sense of loss so great it tears you apart…that is the hurt all hollows must bear. Even Espada.

Nails screeched at the door, a low whiney making it way out of Ichigo's throat. Pity swelled within Hina, but she did her best to convince herself that he was fine. He was just lonely. He was just as alone as she was. It bothered her, that the only thing separating them was the thick door. She longed, no, her body _ached_ to open it and hold him.

She couldn't.

She was supposed to love Hitsugaya! If the sealing failed, she had sworn she would love Hitsugaya and set the pretence of Momo Hinamori. But now, she wasn't so sure. As an Arrancar, she had met countless Hollows, a lot of them like Hitsugaya. So many, in fact, the personality started to get on her remaining nerves. Ichigo on the other hand was different. He could be cold, loud and all around rude. There was a nice side to him as well. He could be gentle when he wants to and he sincerely cares about his friends. Nevertheless, Hitsugaya could also…no. Not like Ichigo. Hitsugaya looked upon the rules more so than anyone would ever admit. No. More than he himself would admit.

Ichigo was a free spirit, chained only by himself to his body that tears him apart as the hollow hole within him grows by the second.

It was wrong and unnatural. Just like her existence.

She needed to say it aloud however, or else she could never be sure if it could be done. "I love you, Toshiro Hitsugaya" **(1)**. Her stomach lurched painfully, hot bile rising to her throat. She swallowed it down again, disgust reeling in her senses. Her face heated up and she allowed it to droop suddenly, pressing her hand to her forehead. She had a headache again.

The whining stopped and all was still.

--

"The muffins! Stop! The muffi-" **(2)**, try as she might, Lilienette had to choke down another one of Orihime's muffins she fed to the younger girl. It was punishment for the Arrancar's foul mouth, and worse yet Stark was enjoying every moment of it.

He was pinning her arms down, a slightly foolish grin on his face. She struggled, tears threatening to fall down her face. She knew she deserved every moment of it for all the cruel ways she woke him up, but this was ridiculous! This was torture! The kind humans would be proud of! _That bastard sadist!!_

"Let me go! You'll regret this! I will eat your soul, girl, if you don't stop!!" Lilienette knew it couldn't possibly work, but she had to try. Orihime paused in consideration.

Lilienette waited hopefully. Oh, if only, let her believe…!

"Nope! You're lying! Have another muffin!"

"I-I'm not lying! I really will eat your soul!"

"I don't doubt that. But trust me, I'm a good cook! You won't regret this."

"ARE YOU STUPID?! YOUR COOKING IS HORRIBLE!!"

"OW! DAMN IT ALL, SAZUKI!!" Stark cut into their 'conversation.' His arms released Lilienette and reached up to grab his head. He then bent to the floor, growling in pain and annoyance. Lilienette danced away from his grasp but remained tense, ready to spring to or away from the eighth Espada. Orihime stood rigid as a statue, waiting to see what happened next, the muffin rolling out of her hand and falling to the floor with a thud, forgotten.

They remained motionless for a full minute; the only sound their quick and shallow breathing.

Finally, he let go of his head and stood up slowly. Letting out a huff of air, he scratched his head as he looked at the two women watching cautiously.

"Sorry," he amended, "No matter how many times I tell her, she breaks into my head whenever she feels like it like nobody's business."

"What did she want?" Orihime tentatively asked him, arms reaching up as if to touch him.

She glanced at the healer before gazing out the window. "She needs you to come with me and heal some idiot who injured himself. Not even in a fight, he just hurt himself by 'accident' because he 'didn't know better'." He rolled his eyes.

Her eyelids closed halfway before blinking and speaking, "Take me to them," determination ringing in the air long after she was finished. Stark cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Why the sudden change in mood?" he inquired.

"What sudden change in mood?"

"The one you just did."

"Me?"

"Yes, you!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I've always been like this." She gave him a clueless look and he sighed in defeat.

"Fine. Let's go. Lilienette can wait." He waved vaguely in the direction of the fuming ninth Espada.

"Why can't I come?!" She demanded.

"Because I told you you can't." His voice was unusually cold. She shrank away from it. He paid her no heed. "Shall we go?"

Orihime nodded with a little "Mm", and they set off.

--

Hina's lip bled as she bit into it. Crimson liquid bubbled out of the wound, trickling down her chin. She paid it no attention. It mattered not.

The hollow mask resting on Ichigo's head was cracked at his forehead. Some blood dripped out between the small fractures and effectively staining the bone white mask. He was still conscious and kicking, but held down by a spell she had erected. He squirmed a bit on the bed she had placed him, but otherwise was still. A relief, since she had just gotten in touch with Stark through mind contact and instructed him to bring Orihime. It had been a few minutes so they should have arrived soon.

Speaking of the devil, impatient rapping came at her door. Grinning softly yet, mischievously, she stood up off her knees and breezed to the door. Opening it, she found Stark, Orihime and Adelaida.

Stark stood between the two women, waving lazily. Despite the easy posture, uneasiness dominated the air. Orihime stood straight; eyes fixed straight ahead, not so much as glancing at Hina. Adelaida seemed undeterred by the tense atmosphere. She smiled as easily as ever, eyes as warm as ever. Hina was discomforted. To smile at such inappropriate times was unnerving to all others around her.

"How have you been doing?" she asked in that same sugar-coated voice. The same one she had used since the day Hina met her. "What is it? You appear troubled."

Hina shook her head twice and beamed just as unnervingly back at her. "There is nothing to trouble me but your presence, my lady. What is your will?"

"I wish for nothing but your content Hina." The younger of the two bristled at the common language used with her, but managed to cover it with a smile.

"That is very reassuring thing to hear from my superior," she sidestepped so the doorway was now passable, "however, if Orihime-san could see to my subordinate…"

The strawberry blonde nodded once quickly before hurrying inside. Stark sent the two a masked glance as he followed suit. Adelaida made to move inside as well only to find an arm blocking her path. Trailing up the contours of the clothing to its owner's face, she found adoring and threatening golden irises staring back. "I would like to speak to you for a while, if I may." Hina semi-explained. When the blonde nodded her consent, Hina abruptly shut the door in her face.

"What are you playing at?" she hissed through her teeth. Adelaida's ruby eyes widened in surprise and involuntarily took a step back. Hina went on, "Why are you doing this? What is the use, what is the purpose? Why?"**(3-1)**

Adelaida laughed good-naturedly, but her eyes were worried. "You really must calm down. You will understand when the time is right."

"TELL ME!" **(3-2) **

Adelaida flinched.

"Now now Sazuki, that's no way to address your better." Vancelás stole from the shadows to slide up beside the jittering third Espada. Two rubies collided with the two emeralds mid-air, the green abyss soothing the blonde's nerves. He returned his look to Hina, curiosity etched on his pale skin. "How has he been? Behaving properly?"

Taken aback by the sudden change in atmosphere, she gave him a startled look as she rolled back on her heels. Her eyes closed resolutely, feet landing flat again as they reopened. A dark gaze penetrated through his eyes, but made it no further than the top layer.

"He's been doing fine. He just splintered his mask, but Orihime-san is fixing it now." _Unfortunately… _

"How fortunate. I do hope that he recovers soon," her ears may have been deceiving her, but Hina swore she could hear mockery in his voice. "If you'll excuse us," with a sly smile and a small bow, he took Adelaida's hand and held it up at arm's length as he led her away. Hina scowled after them.

She pushed the door open then, the fairy shield was glowing brightly as its effects took place. The shadows were intensified with each flicker of the light, rather than fading as they should have. Somehow, the light was darker. When Hina approached the healer, she heard muttering. Straining her ears, she found it was Orihime herself that was speaking. Looking at Stark, he shrugged, clueless.

Hina made sure to step lightly and slowly, hoping she wouldn't alarm the young woman. As she got closer, the words mumbled soft became clear, turning her blood to ice. "How can this be? My god! You're alive! I thought I lost you...",**(4)** and on and on like that. The blankness in her voice was what was frightening. Her words were filled with desperation and relief; however, they held no meaning behind them.

"What the…" **(5-1)** Hina Stared at the girl in utter confusion. Casting a sideways glance, Stark shrugged again.

"But you said **(5-2) **that I wouldn't get hurt, right? I believe you. I always have…" Orihime continued.

"He didn't do **(5-3) **anything, right?" Hina addressed the eighth Espada. He shook his head, and she started.

Orihime had wrapped her thin arms around her middle, puppy eyes staring up at her. "I can stop it, you know."

Hina smiled sweetly down at her. "What can you stop, Orihime-chan?"

"Everything," she snuggled into Hina's fabric, "I can stop the pain. I can stop the tears. I can even stop the screams. What do you stop?"

--

Ildefonso Mauricio tugged at the neck line of the shinigami uniform he was forced to wear. It was damn itchy! With the Arrnacar outfit, you could style it as you pleased. But with Shinigami you had to wear the same damn thing as everyone else. That was part of the reason why he hated-

"All right everyone! It's all set!" The hat-sandals guy was waving his fan at the white coats. The garganta was open behind him, sustained by the weird contraption.

--

Hina's smile waned, "The smiles. The laughter. Lives."

The head bobbed in understanding. "I can make that go away too." The golden eyes drooped to be half-lidded as her hand patted the strawberry blonde hair.

--

Mauricio was made to go first. They wanted to keep an eye on him. Directly behind his was silver-haired-white-coat-shorty. Mauricio glanced back at the kid, finding nothing but frozen determination set in the teal orbs.

Suddenly, they moved forward as one unit, even though Mauricio heard no command. Did they all have telepathy or something? Groaning in annoyance, he turned away from the young white coat and moved forward with them.

--

"I can make you go away too."

The smile dissolved into a smirk as Hina glanced at Stark out of the corner of her eyes.

"I would like that more than anything."

--

**A/N: FlareKnight, how did you know?**

**Thanks: hinatanaruto fan, Ai Angel (NO WAIT DON'T FAINT!!! Ah darn…), . awaken. the. dawn, Traitor – Hero, xKazumi, AznVKai, larkinlover, unformidable trust, and SunsetRainbow.**

**If you want, you can suggest another random quote for me to include.**

**About three more chapters people. *deep breath* WE CAN DO THIS THING!!!**

**LOOK!!! THE GREEN BUTTON WANTS TO BE CLICKED!!!**


	15. Chapter 14

**Shadow Games**

_What he had been no longer he was, for all that remained was a pile of dust._

The tail wrapped itself around the roof beam as red eyes evaluated each figure in the hallway. All but two wore the same uniform, the ones missing out having no white coat, the grand total number of soul reapers at seven. When the furry creature narrowed its eyes and twisted its head just to the left, one of them looked like an Espada. It was about to shake it off as nothing when it paused.

Nope, defiantly not him. No chance of that. None at all. Nada. _Nonono. _It did have to admit though, that guy almost managed to trick him but it had outsmarted him! Nobody could out-think the great Mamoru! Besides, what did Mamoru care if that was number six or not? He had an important mission to accomplish. Mamoru's mistress desired something and he was going to bring it.

His mistress desired "something to eat" and by the gods Mamoru would find her "something to eat"!

Turning its head to the intended target Mamoru twitched in aggravation. That….it would say monkey but that would be insulting to its kind…._baboon _(what else had red as part of its natural complexion?) was guarding "something to eat" exceedingly well. One paw was clasped around the "something" firmly with the other hand pushing off a Black Jacket in arrogance. When the Black Jacket called the Baboon a monkey Mamoru flinched before allowing a scowl to settle in his features. How incompetent were these inferior souls?

But, but, there was no time to waste! The Baboon had lifted his arm above his head in an attempt to escape Black Jacket. Mamoru tightened its grip on the beam and with gleaming eyes, fell forwards so all but the tail were suspended in mid-air. Snatching the delectable treat from the Baboon, it quickly pulled itself up before examining the "something". _What a catch!_ It thought. _Mistress will love what Mamoru has brought!_

Letting out a chatter of glee, it screeched when a shot of magic gave its arm's fur a little trim. After a short moment of shock, its fur bristled angrily. How dare someone even so much as think of attacking Mamoru! The fiend! Quickly leaning over the edge, it chattered crossly down at the Baboon. The single-minded fool would learn not to mess with Mamoru and his mistress' businesses!!

A red fireball flew past his face and it shrieked at the Baboon a last time before making off with its prize. Mamoru had no time to mess around with low-lives. His mistress had requested "something" of him and "something" was what she was going to get!

Disappearing around a few corners, Mamoru sighed in relief. If that Baboon had followed him, then surely its life would be forfeit. It was then a thought occurred to Mamoru. Was what Mamoru picked up even "something to eat"?

Lifting the "something" to eye level, Mamoru cocked its head in confusion. A long yellow "something" rested in Mamoru's paw. It curved slightly, reminding Mamoru of the eternal crescent moon that hung over their heads. Little brown blotches dotted the "something" and it had a light shade of green near the ends. The "Something" was imperfect, so how could Mamoru be sure that the "something" was safe? After carefully considering his options, Mamoru came up with one solution only:

He'd have to sacrifice himself for his mistress and test for poison!

Mamoru gulped. Mamoru would do anything for his mistress….but it never had to do something like this before! Mamoru didn't know if it could do it!

He took a deep, shuddering breath. It wouldn't be that hard. All Mamoru had to do was bite a chunk of it, swallow and cross its fingers. It's not difficult. Just the most nerve racking thing Mamoru has ever done! Mamoru has never even considered surrendering his life for anyone's sake before. It was unthinkable. However, if he ever wanted to fulfill his self-proclaimed duty as his mistress' bodyguard, then Mamoru would have to valiantly sacrifice Mamoru's life in order to do so!

Breathing heavily, it brought "something" to Mamoru's mouth. It was time. No backing down. Can't be a coward. Must face fate with a determined face. Must be brave. Must be strong. Mamoru licked its lips. It. Was. Time. Before it could have any second thoughts, it brought the "something" to its mouth and ate a chunk.

Mamoru's lips puckered.

The inside of this strange food was delicious! The outer shell was crunchy and nasty, but the creamy, sweet inside was heaven! Mamoru reached his fingers in and pulled out the yucky skin of the wonderful "something" and gulped down the rest. Focusing its attention then on what remained of the "something"; it peeled away the unnecessary skin and gobbled the rest. Mamoru's tongue licked the stragglers off its lips and paws in a satisfied fashion.

The Baboon sure had good taste, Mamoru grudgely admitted. Wondering faintly if the Baboon had any more, Mamoru picked itself up. Darkness covered its vision for a moment before it fixed the precarious mask. About to go on its way, something yanked its tail and suddenly, Mamoru found itself hanging upside down and staring into the Baboon's bloodthirsty eyes.

"There you are, you little punk," the Baboon sneered. "Now that I have you right where I want you, you wi-"

"Renji! What the hell are you doing with that monkey?!" Mamoru sagged in relief. Black Jacket had arrived.

"Taking revenge Rukia! Now let go of my arm, this brat needs to pay!"

"For what?"

The Baboon growled. Were Baboons supposed to growl? "Damn monkey took my banana!" **(1)**

The 'Rukia' rolled its eyes in annoyance. "You are the most hopeless man I have ever met," it said matter-of-factly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the redhead demanded. Mamoru wasn't paying attention though. It was doing its best to become as heavy as possible and slip through the Buffoon's grasp. It was working! With each passing second, Mamoru was lowered to the ground as its tail slid through the Buffoon's hand. Mentally patting itself on the back, it watched the ground come closer.

Freedom!

Mamoru hit the ground with a small "oof!" but wasted no time. Scampering away s fast as its small legs could carry it, it managed to turn eight corners before the world's largest "HEY!!!" could be heard. Mamoru had never faster in its life. Freezing air whipped past its face as it ran and its lungs burned for a rest. However, Mamoru could not stop! Mistress would protect Mamoru!

Although all the doors looked the same, making finding a specific door near impossible, Mamoru sighed in relief when the door it knew its mistress would be behind came to sight. Mistress would not have left the room, Mamoru had to remind itself. Mistress was told to stay there so mistress had to be there! Mamoru didn't want to think of what would happen if mistress was not there.

Performing a perfect running jump, it latched onto the door handle and threw its weight against the door. It swung open with ease. Letting go, Mamoru jumped into its mistress' arms just as footsteps reached the doorway. Mistress barely acknowledged the surprised Baboon.

"Well, well," mistress Lilienette stated, "look what the monkey's dragged in.

Mamoru pulled a face.

--

"A splitting shield…?" Hina left the question hanging in the air. Orihime nodded.

"Right. By combining the power of five of my six fairies, I can create a hexagonal shield. It takes what it is shielding apart into the separate pieces that make it up. So, if you were to be under its influence Hina, then theoretically we could make the you now into the two people who made you up!" Orihime concluded happily. At the last sentence, her shoulders hunched up, as if she were shrugging and her arms bent at the elbows so they were level with her shoulders. Her wrists flicked outwards and a helpless glint entered her eyes.

Hina crossed one arm over her stomach while the other tugged her hood down. "That's only a theory though. It could end up that we could have a mass of spirit particles on the floor by the time we are done."

Orihime's arms fell limp and she shuffled from foot to foot awkwardly. "Well, theoretically that could happen too. But you said that it would be fine! That we could do anything with your life and that you wouldn't care! You said that!" Hina softened up a bit. It was amazing how Hueco Mundo hadn't completely shattered the poor girl's mind yet. She respected the young woman very much.

"And you can. I just hope, for everybody's sake, that it turns out like we intended." Smiling broadly, she rested her hands on her hips and declared, "Well, no time like the present!"

"Because the present is the only time we have," another voice butted in. Hina craned her neck to glare at the other Espada.

"Oh yeah. You're here too," she deadpanned. Orihime giggled and Stark rolled his eyes.

"Like I could have gone anywhere. This is way too interesting to miss anyways!" Hina couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. "Look, I do agree that we should try this out. But we need to plan. Yeah sure, Shinigami girl'll be back, but what of her worse half? What do we do with him?

"I mean, consider this. Snow White's prince comes barging in to find his love sleeping on the bed, waiting for true love's first kiss to wake her from the witch's evil spell-"

"You're mixing fairytales. That's Sleeping Beauty, not-"

"That's beside the point. Anywho, while he's snuggling with her and going 'Oh Momo….I missed you…' **(2) **an' she'll be all 'I missed you too, my love…'"

"She's not that cliché…"

"_Meanwhile _(and stop interrupting, you fiend!), an axe murderer is raising his knife and kills them both! The end!"

"Of your pathetic speech," Hina rolled her eyes too much, so it hurt a little, "You fell asleep standing up again didn't you? If you were awake, you would've known that Orihime was going to use her inner shield to destroy the Arrancar. It's all figured out, so go back to being a mindless Hollow, will you?" The words were harsh, she knew. But this was not the time to waste…uh…time!

"Well, sorry," he scoffed. Hina winced. Doing her best to ignore him, she returned her attention to Orihime.

"We should do it before time runs out."

"For who?" Stark pointed out. He hadn't missed the glance she had stolen at Ichigo.

"For both of us."

--

"If you don't mind, I will be taking my leave now," it was insulting to turn your back to your superior, but that was the point.

"W-wait! Remember who you are talking to, don't walk away! Turn and face me! Look at me, damn it!" Adelaida turned as was requested by the first Espada. She looked at him, as he requested. She smirked as he trembled. She returned to his side and captured his throat, strangling his voice and effectively silencing him.

"You have no real authority," she reminded him softly, "you are a false king. You take my and Vancelás-sama's orders only. You should be honoured too, that a mere Gillian such as yourself was given the illusion of power. Don't abuse that, or you may be worse off than you were to begin with."

Dropping him, he coughed horrendously, trying to regain control of his breathing pattern. Between hacks, he informed her, "Such a waste."

Taken aback slightly, Adelaida demanded, "What is?"

"Your time," he grinned at the blonde cheekily. "All of this to recover the sealed Hokyogoku? Seems like a complete waste," blood dripped out of his mouth. "An army of Arrancar can't stop the Shinigami now. They've already penetrated the inner walls. It's only a matter of time before they get you, Meno-"

A zanpakutou sliced through his hand. Adelaida's eyes were wide, her pupils lightless and dilated with rage. "You _never_ will speak that name, maggot."

"That does not change where I stand."

"That's because you're wrong," she purred. She kneeled on her knees. "What use is an army to us now? They would be uncontrollable. No. we want to strengthen what we already have.

"I will convert the Hokyogoku to a single mass of energy, which will then be transferred between me, Vancelás and Hina. You were going to be a part of it, but now I see there's no point." She sighed. "Too bad really. You would have become the fourth most powerful being alive.

"But of course, I cannot help but wonder why I even bother telling you all of this." Her expression sobered as she picked up the sword. She pulled herself to her full height and observed the once-man. What he had been no longer he was, for all that remained was a pile of dust.

"You can't hear me anymore anyways."

--

"Look, I've told you and I've told you, the corridors can shift! They shift frequently! Of course I don't know where anything is!" Mauricio huffed in annoyance. How come no one ever believed him? Was it because he was an Arrancar? The racist bastards!

Snow Bird in front of him just scowled. Even more. But then again, he was always scowling…ah, what the hell!

"Might I be your partner, since you seem so bored?" Ugh. Yami again. That guy had no life, did he?

--

**A/N: ****(1) Ok, xKazumi! There it is!**

**(2) How's that larkinlover? Got any other evil quotes?**

**Huh….feels short. Then again, as much as I love Mamoru, my OC monkey-Hollow, he was painful to write. Not sure why either…**

**Any who, the truth is, Bleach is dying a horrible, bloody death. The latest chapters are boring as hell. No. even hell is more entertaining. Because of such, I am drifting to other animes for entertainment and beginning to care less and less about Bleach. Conclusion? The storyline now sucks, but I love the characters. I will continue writing Bleach, no matter how painful.**

**The title of the chapter is another song, this time from Yu-Gi-Oh! Falling in love with a childhood favourite right now. The quote is a line from this chapter. **

**Thank you: . awaken. the. dawn. , Traitor-Hero, xKazumi, Ai Angel, AznVKai, larkinlover and SunsetRainbow. Finally, three cheers for Dwellin for her awesome three reviews!**

**Did you know?: Yami means 'darkness' in Japanese. **

**I didn't do this last time, but I WILL reply to your reviews! **

…**?**

**What's**** this? A green button? What does it do?! Why don't you click it and find out?!**


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

**The Space between Reality and Opinion**

" Some people are afraid of what they might find if they try to analyze themselves too much, but you have to crawl into your wounds to discover where your fears are. Once the bleeding starts, the cleansing can begin." – Tori Amos

BANG BANG!

The wall crumpled behind Hitsugaya. Swearing under his breath, he ducked behind a column only to watch it be demolished a second later.

The captured Espada was nowhere to be seen but quite frankly Hitsugaya didn't care much. The giant tank of a Hollow in front of him was destroying everything he could get his hands on. This made things difficult since Hitsugaya was now dodging instead of strategizing as he would have preferred. The place was a mess and for the life of him he couldn't see past the dust clouds that now dominated the air.

It was suddenly very quiet. Hitsugaya allowed himself only shallow breaths in case he gave his position away. No thunderous laughs filled the air. No screams of rage. Not even crumbling stone. Just silence.

Senses on high alert, Hitsugaya cautiously treaded through the terrain on light feet. His cloak ghosted over the ground causing swirls of dirt to follow in his wake. Other than that, nothing moved.

Eyes flicking to the right suddenly, a dark figure became prominent against the fog. Instinctively his hand reached for the blade hilt resting against his shoulder blade but relaxed again. Soi Fong picked her way through the mess to him, a nod her only acknowledgment. Things were a little safer then, but they didn't let their guard down.

The giant Espada seemed to have left the vicinities. Why, they couldn't fathom.

Passing by a smashed wall revealed the night sky. Moonlight poured its contents into the building bringing along with it a whiff of cold air and steely blood. They hurried past.

The sound of breaking bone finally snapped through their hazy minds. It lured them to its source but kept their presence hidden.

The sight of Ildefonso Maricio, still in shinigami uniform, snapping Yammy's neck greeted them with a twisted smile.

Mauricio "I'm going to kill you, and then wake you up, just to kill you again! **(1) **Bastard!" Yammy groaned under before being silenced by a quick stab with his bare hands. "Nervous? No need to be. We don't wait for orders here." Mauricio suddenly turned to face the two bewildered captains.

"You knew we were here?" Soi Fong doubtfully inquired.

Mauricio snorted. "Of course. We don't wait for things to solve themselves. We fix them once the problem arises unlike you wimps." He stalked past them and made for the door. Pausing only a second and never looking back, he asked, "Are you coming?"

Hitsugaya and Soi Fong traded looks.

They followed.

--

"Cold…its cold…" Orihime shuddered and squeezed her eyes tight. Her arms wrapped around herself and dug into her sides. Nails pierced flesh and blood broke through the gaps. Hina gently pried her hands off and held them above her head. Noticing how her nails pierced through the skin of her palm in turn, Hina pushed the fingers up and slid her hand underneath. The sharp edges cut her instead.

She didn't flinch.

To pull of the unique shield that would separate the two masses of souls, the fairies needed to be at their strongest. The two healing fairies had the three protective fairies under the inner shield, returning them to a younger and more powerful and energetic age. To Orihime, though, it felt like a part of her soul was on fire.

"It's all right," Hina vainly attempted to whisper reassurances in her ear. "You are doing fantastic. Just hold on a little longer."

Orihime nodded weakly.

Hina turned to Stark helplessly. "Isn't there something to ease the pain?"

Stark gazed at her evenly. "If there is, I don't know what it could possibly be."

She huffed in frustration. "What do we do then? Just sit here?"

"That's the idea." He answered promptly.

Orihime interjected. "Please stop talking. I have a headache."

Hina cooed softly. "I'm sorry."

The room was silent except for Orihime's soft panting and the low buzz of the healing shield.

--

"The corridors shift? How the he…….ck do you find your way around?" Renji was interrupted mid-sentence by Rukia's glare, changing his statement slightly. He looked away bashfully, and instead felt his neck snap forwards as a brown fur ball of a hollow monkey lost its footing on the ceiling supports and fell on his head. Flushing furiously, he shook his fist at Mamoru.

Comical tears falling from its eyes, it leapt into Lilienette's arms.

Lilienette said, "Don't worry about that, he's just a freak to his kind. Mamoru has no sense of balance." She swung her right arm out in annoyance with the left resting on her hip. Mamoru shrieked and wrapped all four limbs around the extended arm. Lilienette rolled her eyes.

"You never answered my question….why are we following you anyways?" Renji grumbled. Rukia slapped him over the head.

"Idiot!" she hissed quietly. "We don't know our way around, and this Arrancar, while she doesn't look trustworthy, is our only chance of finding our way out of the mess _you_ got us into! We wouldn't be here if that banana didn't mean so much to you!" Renji's shoulders slumped. Every word stung because it was all true.

--

"So very, very true."

A trickle of saliva leaked from Orihime's mouth before Hina whipped it away with her sleeve. Orihime's eyes were squeezed closed tight with her mouth partially open. The three fairies under the shield were glowing faintly, their power growing with each passing second. They would be done soon, but Hina's mind was only half watching. She was nodding distractedly along with what Stark was saying.

"Yes, I know," she answered. "We need to get Orihime to the shinigami once the splitting process is done. What I don't get is why you can't take her there yourself."

"I'm a very busy man," Stark breezed, "I need to take care of the shinigami girl when you separate. After all, she'll still retain your memories."

"What?!" She whipped around to face him. She swallowed the lump in her throat before continuing in a calmer voice. "…Did you say?"

"Why is this such a surprise to you?" Stark raised his eyebrow at her. "You retained the memories of her life, so vice versa is true. Wouldn't you agree that it makes sense?"

"Well, yes, but…"

"You're ashamed."

"Perhaps."

Orihime made a strangled cry and all of Hina's attention was focused on her again. Stark watched them both with a careful eye, finally pushing off of his space on the wall when the two healing fairies finally finished their spell and flew up. Orihime slumped and almost fell, but Hina caught her.

"I'm so tired…" the human female murmured.

Hina leaned forwards to whisper in her ear to sleep.

Orihime obliged.

"What are you doing?" Stark demanded. He tapped his foot impatiently. "She can't exactly split your soul when she's asleep you know." Hina ignored him and picked Orihime up bridal style. With a few quick strides she reached the bed and laid her beside Ichigo. It wasn't until she answered that Stark knew she was paying attention.

"I know."

"We have next to no time left, actually. The shinigami are already here!"

"I know."

"The silver haired captain's here!"

"I know."

"My god! You're sad, Sazuki! Pathetic even!"

"…I know."

--

Mamoru twitched.

Mistress wasn't being very fair. She had given him a task, which he failed, then said it was fine. Then she said he did a good job bringing the Baboon and the Black Jacket to her, muttering after about 'why Stark made her stay' when really he shouldn't have been able to know about this happening. Next, he just followed her around when really he had no idea as to where she was going and finally when he got a ride he was dropped on his behind. Really not fair.

But, no time to worry about that now. Mamoru had another mission. He ran through the halls quickly, ducking and swerving around oncoming Hollows. He felt like a fish going upstream with the amount of distance he was covering. Btu once again, it didn't really matter. Mistress had given him a mission and he was going to complete it this time.

"Outta the way, shrimp!" A particularly nasty looking Arrancar kicked Mamoru away from his feet. The small monkey-Hollow hit the wall and dropped to the floor, not moving after the assault. Feet pounded past him until the hallway grew quiet. It was only then Mamoru got up and ran faster than before. There were no more interfering scoundrels to stop Mamoru, but he had lost quite a bit of time waiting for them all to pass.

Time was something that couldn't be wasted. Mistress needs Stark, for they're stronger together.

--

Orihime had never been more exhausted in her life. She crouched on her hands and knees, gasping for air. Every muscle ached and every nerve screamed for rest. She couldn't allow a moment to pass by wasted; if Hina didn't get a rest, then she didn't either. It was only right as far as her logic went.

She struggled to her feet, trying to ignore the prickling on the back of her neck. She knew Stark and Hina were watching, though at her request not doing anything. Limping, she pushed herself more than ever before. She released a huff of air she didn't know she had been holding in. her legs were shaking. She leaned over and gripped her knees suddenly, breathing fast.

How pathetic had she become? She was better than this! She had fought Hollows, fended off Shinigami, talked back to Arrancar! Or had she lost that courage that had saved her so many times before?

Both hands were raised and pressed against her hairpins. Okay. Good. Next, she summoned the five of the six sprites. So far, so good. The tricky part of attaching them all together to form the hexagonal shield was next. Once that was done, Hina would just lie under it and the magic would do the rest. Simple, safe, and nearly foolproof.

Nearly. The trouble of splitting fused souls was not re-creating the original bodies. Of that Orihime had no doubt. The problem of the mind was hard. She'd have to separate memories, character traits and personal opinions from each other and considering her lack of knowledge of either of them in their original lives this could mean some…unusual quirks for them. It could be small, like a preference of the colour green over orange or something big, like a taste for killing. Either way, she would have to be careful.

Being careful was hard though when a monkey jumps on one's head.

"Eep!" she yelped out.

"Ook!" the monkey replied.

"Aah!" she retorted.

"All right, enough with this," Stark grabbed the monkey off the top of her head and held him by the tail. "What are you doing here?"

Mamoru emitted a long string of long monkey-ish sounds that left the small creature panting for air by the end. Stark nodded along the whole time and acted as translators for the bystanders.

"The Shinigami came…Ildefonso was with them…they split up at the outer courtyard…huh. No kidding? The dumbos…the hell? Is that even possible? Whoa, back up. Whitey, Melony and others met up? Damn it! There's no time!" He whipped his head around to face the two females. "This will have to wait. We have no time left. Grab anything important and get ready to run like hell."

"We can't!" Hina stepped forward, panic setting on her face. "The Shinigami will capture us for sure and they'll never allow her to separate Us! She'll be locked up as an imposter and I'll be experimented on…" Stopping directly in front of Stark with the coldest eyes Orihime had ever seen her with, she declared, "No. We'll do it right now!" stalking back to the strawberry blonde, she pointed a finger a few centimetres from her nose. "Make your shield in the fashion of the outer shield instead of the inner shield. I'm going to run through it."

"But that's-" Orihime started.

"Completely ludicrous." Stark finished. "The breaking will take under a second, and it's questionable if her poor mind can handle the pressure." He pointed Orihime with his thumb, and then turned to her. "No offense."

"None taken," she reassured him.

"Well, what do you suggest then?" Hina hissed. She was getting frustrated, fast. "If we don't do it my way, then we won't be able to do it any way. Personally, I don't care what happens to me. I do care about my inhabitants, though." Her voice shook with an unrecognizable emotion.

Stark scorned, "Fine. You know what? I don't care anymore. Go shatter your soul for all I care. I mean it. Go ahead." He turned his back on them but refused to leave.

Orihime summoned the fairies into the correct formation and suddenly Hina wasn't so sure she wanted to do this. She would literally cease to exist once she stepped through it.

She was going to die.

Was it worth it? Was it worth losing everything to satisfy her personal demons?

She knew the answer.

She saw the future in that golden glow. And ran through it.

--

**A/N: Out of guilt I give you what I have done thus far. Forgive me.**

**I'm going on a two week vacation starting tomorrow, so you can expect nothing. **

**THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE ARE BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING AND YOU SHOULD KISS THE GROUND THEY WALK ON FOR BEING SO AWESOME.: **

**xKazumi, Sugar Angel-Momo, Traitor-Hero, AwakenTheDawn, Ai Angel, lil' katie, larkinlover, sapphire wind.**

**larkinlover: The quote will be next chapter, so don't you think I forgot. **

**As a final note, vote in the poll please! The last poll on which fandom I should write for next dictates crossover won with four votes, Yu-Gi-Oh! with three, Bleach and Princess Tutu with two and Special A, Inheritance Cycle and Full Metal Alchemist with one. This new poll is for which crossover story it is. Please and thank you!**

**Now then, review! Studies show it's good for the author AND good for the reviewer. So do it! It's good for you (and me).**


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Bleach, Mystery, Suspense