Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Endurance ❯ Part III ( Chapter 3 )

Part III

 

Hitsugaya's grip on his meditation was failing. Cold breeze blew against his cheek, and he could hear Hyourinmaru's deep breathing; he was back in the cave. He wasn't sure if it was the dragon's call that brought him back there, or the fatigue and pain he felt. At any rate, he was back, and he would have to deal with the Hollow again, even if he wasn't ready to.

 

With a groan, he opened his eyes and tried to sit up, but Hyourinmaru shot him a glare. `Stay there.'

 

`This is my mind, dragon. I'm in charge,' he chided, but obeyed anyway. `Where is he?'

 

`Not far. He's been injured,' Hyourinmaru replied.

 

`Good. I hope it hurts. A lot.' Hitsugaya hesitantly pressed a hand to his side, hissed and flinched when he felt the bones grind against each other. `Yep, definitely broken.'

 

`You're not bleeding anymore, though,' the dragon pointed out. The captain gently rubbed his fingers against the sore marks on his chest, and came away with dried blood. At least that was a good sign, he decided. `Are you prepared?'

 

`To fight again? As much as I'll ever be,' Hitsugaya said, ignoring Hyourinmaru's renewed glaring as he slowly pulled himself upright. `You ready to help me?'

 

Hyourinmaru's whiskered lip curled up into a feral grin. `Only if you're ready to call on me.'

 

`Fair enough.'

 

Concentrating momentarily, Hitsugaya could now pick up the faint traces of the Hollow's presence encroaching upon his cave. With another sharp look at Hyourinmaru - who nodded - he slowly pushed himself to his unsteady feet with a grunt. Gripping Hyourinmaru's ice-scaled shoulder for support, he shot a glare at the entrance as the Hollow entered, a scowl etched into the porcelain of its mask. Trails of blood marred the white surface of the mask, tracing along a few small cracks.

 

“You're definitely stubborn, young captain,” the Hollow remarked morosely as it entered. “Though I like a challenge, you're getting on my nerves.”

 

“If you don't like it here, you can always leave,” Hitsugaya replied evenly.

 

“No, no… you misunderstand me, boy. I'm not backing out; I'm just going to have to try another way to get you to listen to me.”

 

“I told you before, Hollow - I'm in charge here, and either you leave or I make you leave. You don't have a choice in that matter.”

 

“Although I'd love to rehash an old argument, I'd much rather not waste time. Let's see what you have left, little Shinigami.”

 

Hitsugaya wanted to attack, but instead paused and frowned; this time he was able to sense Hyourinmaru's hesitation. `Not yet,' the dragon's smooth voice rumbled. `Let's see what he's planning.'

 

The Hollow's mask twisted up into a nasty grin just before it charged. Caught off-guard, Hitsugaya barely had time to yell to the dragon before the Hollow came crashing into them both. Though Hyourinmaru had moved in time to shield the captain from the Hollow's direct blow, it was just forceful enough that the dragon hadn't had time to gain traction, and Hyourinmaru barely bumped into Hitsugaya. The captain - unprepared for the imbalance - stumbled and hit the wall hard enough to jar his injuries. With a pained and frustrated hiss, he steadied himself with a hand on the cave wall.

 

`Hyourinmaru…'

 

`I know.'

 

The dragon roared as Hitsugaya raised his good hand in the air, palm open. As he dropped his hand in the Hollow's direction, Hyourinmaru inhaled and spat ice at the masked beast. The ice closed around the Hollow's arm, trailing up its shoulder and to its neck as it snarled and pulled back, frozen arm hanging useless at its side. Hyourinmaru leapt after it, claws digging harshly into the ground where the Hollow had stood. Hitsugaya tracked the Hollow with keen eyes, making note of every movement to the dragon in his mind as they pursued it.

 

`Dodging left, then down. Three paces back. Preparing to make a jump towards the cave entrance - no, now coming back this way.'

 

The Hollow continued to evade Hyourinmaru, though the dragon was coming closer with each attack. When it became apparent that the next blow would connect, Hitsugaya smirked.

 

`Souten ni zase, Hyourinmaru!'

 

But suddenly it wasn't the Hollow who would fall victim to the powerful shikai. Where the Hollow should have been stood the fifth division's vice-captain, Hinamori Momo.

 

“Shirou-chan?”

 

“H-Hinamori…?”

 

As he hesitated, so did Hyourinmaru - and then he realized that the Hollow's grinning mask was directly in his face before he could do anything about it. Another heavy blow to his gut, and he went flying back into the cave wall again, the impact sharply cutting off his cry. Wincing, Hitsugaya tried his best to catch his breath as he slowly got to his feet. Hyourinmaru moved swiftly to stand between his master and the Hollow, who was now shrieking with laughter as it approached.

 

`Toushirou…'

 

Gritting his teeth, Hitsugaya steadied himself with a hand on the broken wall of the cave, anger flaring dangerously in his eyes. The dragon nodded.

 

`Be wary. The damage that incurs here will not leave you unharmed once you wake as well.'

 

`I know.'

 

Hitsugaya's eyes closed, brow wrinkling in concentration. If he could buy himself a few more minutes, perhaps he would be able to heal himself some.

 

“Oh no you don't!” the Hollow screeched, lunging at him.

 

Hyourinmaru growled and braced for impact, but even the dragon hesitated when suddenly it was Hinamori again who lunged at the young captain.

 

“I'll never forgive you!” her voice yelled; even the emotional shakiness was there, just as it had been during the first fight in which Hitsugaya had felt failure.

 

His eyes flew open, and he barely had time to bring his arms up to block his face before the Hollow was there again, grinning in his face, just before it turned into his buxom, strawberry-blonde subordinate as she plunged Haineko's blade into his unprotected midsection.

 

--

 

Renji jumped when he heard Matsumoto yelp from behind the closed doors, breaking the long silence that had been nearly suffocating him in worried boredom for the previous hour or so. He heard a great deal of shuffling feet and cloth, and Unohana's quiet, smooth voice murmuring some sort of chant, or perhaps instructions to Matsumoto.

 

God, if only he weren't so helpless. He nearly rushed back into the room, but he knew he would only be in the way. Something must have happened again, and it didn't sound good, as far as he could tell. When he heard pounding feet approaching the door, he couldn't wait anymore and impatiently flung it open. Matsumoto looked haggard, eyes wide with terror. He thought briefly that she could use a good bottle of hot sake, but quickly dismissed the idea. Not the time for that.

 

“Renji, more clean cloths and hot water,” Matsumoto ordered, voice shaking.

 

Had this been any other situation, he would have chided her for ordering him around. Again, not the time. Behind her, he couldn't see Hitsugaya, but he could see Unohana's hunched back working over him, blood coating her hands. Without another word, he turned and rushed towards the store front, suddenly feeling like he'd been kicked. It looked bad.

 

In moments, he had a large stack of cloths draped over his forearm, and took care not to spill any of the hot water he carried in the shallow wooden bucket on his rushed return to the back room. Matsumoto fairly snatched it from his hands when he finally made it to the door. The side of him that once again wanted to grouse at her for her rudeness had to be stifled. She was stressed; shorty must be in really bad shape, he decided.

 

And that thought didn't settle well with him, either.

 

--

 

“M-Matsu…moto?” Hitsugaya gasped, eyes wide with horror.

 

Her lips were twisted up into a cruel grin, and that's when Hitsugaya realized what was wrong. This wasn't Matsumoto. These were merely figments of his own memory, fused with the Hollow's malicious devices. His memory. The Hollow had dared to sift through the locked doors beyond which nobody was allowed to pass. Nobody.

 

“Get out of my head!” he shouted, eyes screwing shut.

 

“You have a very interesting past, young Shinigami,” taunted Matsumoto's voice - wrong, it's wrong… that's not her voice!

 

“Stop it!”

 

“I didn't know that Captains could retain the memory of their lives as human beings…”

 

“Don't you dare go there!”

 

“I wonder what Captain Yamamoto would have to say if he knew that you still had these here…” It no longer was Matsumoto's voice, but Aizen's deep and spine-chilling voice.

 

Hitsugaya opened his eyes then, glaring furiously at the glasses-clad captain. “Stop fucking with me, you bastard!” But wait, Aizen shouldn't have glasses anymore. He had betrayed them, losing the specs and his Captain's uniform all at once.

 

The Hollow hadn't gone far into his memories, then. There was still a way out of this without damaging his mind. Concentrating, he closed his eyes once more, placing both hands upon the sword in his belly. Slowly, he could feel it change to a claw. Opening his eyes, the Hollow's porcelain mask greeted him, looking somewhat confused. With a snarl, Hitsugaya gripped the claw in his belly with one hand, and placed the other on the Hollow's chest as he began chanting. It hurt to breathe - much less speak - but he'd be damned if he couldn't pull at least this one kidou off. The Hollow squirmed and tried to pull away, and though the beast's struggles were excruciating painful to the young shinigami, he yelled out the last of the kidou chant with authority. Blue light engulfed his hand as the spell pulled on his reiatsu, but at the last minute, he realized it wasn't going to be enough to kill the Hollow.

 

It really had been leeching off his reiatsu.

 

`I hope this enough to seal it.'

 

The Hollow shrieked as it was knocked away in a bright blast of turquoise light. This time, the creature hit a wall, fell in a pile of rocky debris, and lay unmoving. Panting heavily, Hitsugaya allowed himself a small, victorious smirk, though he knew he was in big trouble at this point. One hand clutched the fresh wound in his belly, the other extended out to his side to brace himself against the wall. His legs felt like jelly beneath him; he was going to fall. Hyourinmaru approached him cautiously.

 

`I… I couldn't finish the job,' the captain said, avoiding the dragon's eyes.

 

`Call on me, Toushirou,' the dragon insisted again, bowing down to lock visions with Hitsugaya regardless.

 

Hitsugaya grimaced, sinking slowly to his knees. He wanted to call on Hyourinmaru; he knew now that this was impossible to do without the dragon's help. He'd already known that, though this confirmed it. Hyourinmaru was as much a part of him as he was himself, and it was difficult to realize that he still had trouble relying on the dragon's strength, even though it was his own as well.

 

`Call on me.' Hyourinmaru's voice was pleading, survival instincts in full force as it too realized that they both would die if the situation didn't improve soon.

 

He tried, tried so hard to call upon the dragon's strength. Summoning his bankai should have been as simple as uttering the word with authority, knowing that the dragon would be there, and that they would prevail. The knowledge of his own strength always had helped him call upon the final release of the dragon in the past.

 

`Call on me!'

 

But now… `I…I'm sorry, Hyourinmaru. I-I don't have the strength.'

 

The dragon's deep growl startled him, and he looked up to find a snarl etched into the regal features of Hyourinmaru's icy face.

 

`This isn't like you, Toushirou.'

 

He knew that, damn it. `I can barely stand, dragon.'

 

`Then lean on me, and buy yourself some time to rest. You're more capable than this, boy. Show me why they made you a captain in that world. Show me why you're called a genius.' Hyourinmaru nodded briefly in the direction of the dilapidated cave wall where the Hollow lay. `Show this low-life why you carry the name Hitsugaya Toushirou.'

 

Hitsugaya flinched; Hyourinmaru was right. This was ridiculous. He was a captain fighting a single Hollow; this should not be such a huge issue. He had to find a way to overcome it. Death, failure - neither were options.

 

`Let me know when the seal begins to wear off,' Hitsugaya said quietly.

 

Hyourinmaru nodded with understanding, the anger leaving him. `I will keep watch.'

 

Hitsugaya closed his eyes - an easy task, in this case - and allowed his mind to drift.

 

--

 

The déjà-vu feeling hit Hitsugaya in full force as he woke once more to muffled voices. This time, however, the voices weren't arguing, though he still could pick out Matsumoto's voice out of the mix. He must still be in the same place, and part of him was relieved that he'd made it. For the moment, at least. Odd to think that `taking a rest' in this case would mean to wake up…

 

“Captain Hitsugaya?”

 

Oh, so they had called Unohana. He wondered briefly how badly he'd scared Matsumoto, but didn't have much time to ponder on it as he slowly opened his eyes. It was a little easier than the last time, but he still had a feeling he wasn't going to enjoy coming back to full awareness. He heard a gasp as the room came into view. As his eyes tried to focus, he saw two blurred faces hovering over his - and that damn strawberry-blonde hair was tickling his face again. This time, though, he thought he felt well enough to actually try to bat it out of his face.

 

He regretted the movement instantly, sharp pain shooting down his side and gut. With a frustrated hiss, he resisted the urge to curl in around himself and instead rode out the pain… until he felt the familiar trickle of thick, metallic-tasting blood in the back of his throat again. Instinct had him coughing before he could do anything about it, blinding pain making it difficult to regain control. And he couldn't breathe.

 

Ohgodohshitohshitohshit.

 

“Hitsugaya!” he heard Matsumoto yell.

 

I can't pass out now, or I'll go back before I'm ready!

 

Struggling to catch his breath, he felt gentle hands helping him roll onto his back, allowing him to breathe easier. The coughing subsided, and he felt someone run a cool cloth across his forehead and over his mouth. A nasty, coppery after-taste was left on his tongue, though at least he wasn't coughing now.

 

“Please try not to move, Captain Hitsugaya,” Unohana's voice commanded in her typical gentle manner. “You've been injured badly enough, and for some reason you've been resisting just about any help to remedy that issue.”

 

“That… bastard,” Hitsugaya growled, gulping air as quickly as he dared to.

 

“Captain…” Matsumoto breathed, voice hitching with worry. “W-Why…?”

 

Hitsugaya flinched at her voice - he couldn't help it, with that image etched into his mind - and closed his eyes briefly, wincing slightly as he felt the tight tug at his chest and abdomen from the other wounds he knew would be there. “You know that Hollow… from earlier… it's a parasite,” he explained quietly. “Leeches… leeches off reiatsu, attacks the mind. It's what's been affecting the… other members of our division after that attack… earlier this week.”

 

“Did you defeat it?” Unohana asked suddenly. Are you still infected?

 

With a slow shake of his head, Hitsugaya replied, “No, but for the moment it is contained. It… these wounds…”

 

“You don't seem surprised by them,” Unohana confirmed. “It is as I feared. You've been fighting him in your mind, and it wounded you.” She gestured to the most recent of his injuries with an eyebrow raised; she wanted confirmation. Hitsugaya looked away with an embarrassed half-nod. Unohana sighed. “This won't be easy for you, then. Your mind and body are connected; if you believe it's real in your mind, then your body will also believe it. That's why these wounds are present here as well.”

 

Somehow, Hitsugaya knew that. It was just really difficult to convince his mind that he wasn't actually injured, that it was all in his head. Only in his head. He should have figured that out some time ago. Although he suspected that he might have more of a chance to do so, now that he'd been able to overcome the Hollow's attempt to hack into his memories and use them against him. It hadn't been easy either, but somehow it gave him some courage to realize that he was able to wrestle his own mind into submission to his will.

 

“I'm going to have to go back,” he said quietly.

 

Unohana nodded slowly. “Until then, allow me to heal your wounds. No use in fighting handicapped like this.”

 

Hitsugaya closed his eyes in acknowledgement, then turned to look at his flustered vice-captain. She regarded him with a relieved expression, though he could tell that she was still incredibly worried. In fact, she almost looked like she was about to cry. It was then that he realized - she must have seen him receive every single one of these wounds, and was unable to do anything about it. God, he must've scared her. Damn.

 

Matsumoto seemed to notice that he was watching her expression, and color rushed to her cheeks as she turned to grab something from behind her.

 

“Water?” she asked, offering a glass with a straw and a smile. “It'll cut the bad taste out of your mouth.”

 

The blood. She'd seen that too, then. Nodding - and resisting the urge to sigh - he let her baby him for the moment.

 

“You know, sake does a far better job of cutting the crap from your throat,” a husky voice called from the door.

 

“Renji…”

 

“You look like you could use some too, Ran-chan,” Renji said with a wry grin.

 

“And you will not bring alcohol in here,” Unohana stated without even turning.

 

Renji suddenly looked sheepish. “Yes, Captain Unohana. By the way, Captain Hitsugaya, if you want your vice-captain to live, you'd better not do anything stupid. You about gave her a heart-attack or two with your antics.”

 

“Renji!” Matsumoto protested.

 

“Don't… lecture me, Abarai,” Hitsugaya replied, not fully able to hide the amusement from his voice. “I'm not… not in the mood.”

 

Renji grinned back, but then sobered up as Unohana began pouring her reiatsu into the deep puncture in Hitsugaya's abdomen. Watching with a slight frown, he gruffly turned when he met eyes with the boy-captain once more.

 

“You'd better not die on us, shorty,” he muttered as he walked out the door.

 

Hitsugaya smirked again, and then closed his eyes as he let Unohana's gentle healing reiatsu wash over him, soothing sharp pains and aches. One of many things that Hitsugaya despised about being wounded was the constant discomfort from healing wounds. Foreign reiatsu always felt weird at first, though unfortunately of late, he had grown somewhat accustomed to Unohana's. The help was welcome - more than welcome, really. He wanted to be able to go back and face the Hollow at full strength; the stupid beast wouldn't stand a chance. God, this was embarrassing.

 

Unohana touched upon a tender spot, and he hissed. Her reiatsu pulled back ever so slightly before she went ahead with the healing process, a worried frown creasing her forehead. Something about the look unsettled Hitsugaya, and he squirmed slightly.

 

“Stay still, Captain,” Unohana warned. “This won't be pleasant.”

 

Hitsugaya closed his eyes and braced himself. He must have been really badly wounded if Unohana seemed concerned over his injuries. At the same time, however, he was grateful for the pain; it kept him grounded in reality, whereas Unohana's reiatsu so often had him drifting off to sleep. If his wounds were that serious, then he absolutely could not go back yet. Just a little while longer…

 

While it stung more than it had before, at least the overall ache was dwindling. He drifted somewhat, not really sleeping - couldn't afford to do that - but at the same time unaware of how much time had passed. He could feel Matsumoto run a cold cloth over his forehead every so often. He heard murmuring voices outside the door. And he continued to feel better, like he actually might live. It felt really nice, once he got past the funny feeling of foreign reiatsu and the sting of wounds being forcefully closed.

 

For a moment, he thought he heard a startled voice call his name, but he wasn't sure if he'd really heard it. He hardly realized when the surrounding word faded, and he was no longer in the back of Urahara's shop.

 

--

 

Waking in a panic, Hitsugaya suddenly noticed that he wasn't in a bed, and Unohana wasn't beside him. Hyourinmaru's deep breathing caught his attention. Back in the cave. Muttering curses, he slowly pushed against the cave wall he was leaning on, and managed to get to his feet. His entire body still ached unmercifully, but at least he felt a far cry better than he had before. He might even be able to take on the Hollow with a little more success.

 

The shrill, obnoxious voice of the Hollow broke the silence all too soon. “I'm impressed, little Shinigami. You're full of surprises.”

 

`Toushirou…'

 

Gritting his teeth, Hitsugaya glared at the Hollow from across the cave. It was still bound with the kidou he'd half-managed to throw at it, though it looked like the spell was wearing off if the Hollow could speak to him. He didn't have much time.

 

“You know, instead of fighting with me and only making yourself hurt more, you could always sit still and listen,” the Hollow offered, a crooked grin etched into the porcelain mask. Scowling, Hitsugaya took a shaky step forward. “You have a lot of potential, boy. I could help you find your power, and use it to protect those that I saw in your memories.” Hitsugaya paused, and the Hollow continued. “All I ask in return is a favor… one that only you can do for me.”

 

`Toushirou!'

 

Hitsugaya smiled wryly, shaking his head. “You're a fool, Hollow,” he said wearily. “If you think that I would believe for one second that a low-life like you could possibly help me achieve this so-called potential, you're wrong. The only thing you are good for is reminding me why I'm fighting you guys in the first place.”

 

The Hollow's grin disappeared, suddenly replaced with a snarl. “You little brat!”

 

“Get out.”

 

Shrieking, the Hollow broke the last holds of the binding spell and charged at the young captain, claws extended. Hitsugaya shot one look at Hyourinmaru, and the dragon intercepted the beast and deflected its attack. As it passed Hitsugaya, it whirled on him to strike at his back. The captain jumped to the side, wincing as he realized that he really wasn't healed enough yet to be doing this. The Hollow was bearing down on him again, and though Hyourinmaru was there every time, Hitsugaya knew he couldn't last forever like this. Slipping on a rock on one of his retreats, his ankle twisted and collapsed under him. With a hiss, he pulled himself back to his feet, and realized that he felt blood trickling down his front again. The puncture wound had reopened. He was running short on time.

 

`Hyourinmaru… we're going to have to use that.'

 

The dragon knocked the Hollow back several paces and shot a glance back at Hitsugaya. `Toushirou, you know what will happen if you damage this place any more than it already is. That will not leave you unscathed, either.'

 

`I know that, but we both know that I can't do this much longer. We need to finish him off now.'

 

Nodding slowly, the dragon took its position beside him. `You should have done this a long while ago, Toushirou.'

 

`I know… and I'm sorry.'

 

The Hollow rose from its pile of debris, and shrieked once more as it hurtled towards them once more. Hitsugaya's eyes were closed in concentration, as he felt the dragon's solid power and knowledge flowing into him as he established the familiar connection. Taking a hitched breath, he opened his eyes and glared down the monster.

 

“Ban… kai.”

 

And he and Hyourinmaru were one, icy wings spreading from Hitsugaya's back, the air in the cave cooling even further. They flew in the face of the Hollow, Hyourinmaru's icy claw now fused to Hitsugaya's hand, drawn back in preparation for a strike. At the last minute, the Hollow dodged to the side, and the claw buried itself deeply into the cave wall. Sharp pain stabbed through the captain's skull, and he cried out.

 

`Be careful!'

 

Tugging the claw free, Hitsugaya turned around to block the coming blow from the Hollow, and in a quick turn, the dragon's tail whipped around and caught the Hollow, tossing it easily aside. Quickly following through with a claw-first dive at the fallen beast, the beast barely managed to roll aside, only receiving a scratch from the blow. It shrieked angrily regardless, masking Hitsugaya's gasp as the claws raked into the ground. Using the dragon's strength to push himself to his feet - he had very little of his own strength left - he hurtled towards the Hollow once again, this time barreling into the beast head-on. They both crashed into another wall. The entire cave shuddered from the impact, and Hitsugaya screamed, clutching his head with both hands. The Hollow took the opportunity to kick out at the captain and the dragon, and Hitsugaya doubled over, breath knocked from him.

 

`Stand up, Toushirou!' the dragon commanded.

 

`I… I can't… breathe!'

 

`Stand up, or we're both going to die. Use my strength.'

 

Grimacing, Hitsugaya barely raised an arm in time to block another strike from the Hollow, and then pushed himself to his feet. Again, he could taste blood in the back of his throat.

 

`This… ends now,' he told the dragon.

 

`If you use that here -'

 

`If I don't use that now, we're not going to make it.'

 

The dragon's voice sighed in his mind. `I'll do what I can to protect this place, but I can't guarantee that I can save all of it.'

 

Hitsugaya smiled sadly. `I know… I… I figured that… out already.'

 

Screeching, the Hollow was once again charging at them. Hitsugaya took a pained breath, crouching down into a stance.

 

“Ryuusenka!”

 

The world inside Hitsugaya's mind turned a blindingly bright white, and though Hitsugaya knew he was screaming, he was sure that he could hear the Hollow's dying screeches as well. And then all went dark.

 

--

 

“It is over,” Unohana breathed, startling Matsumoto. The vice-captain nearly didn't breathe when she saw Unohana's hand hovering over the captain's chest, feeling for a pulse, perhaps. Hitsugaya was deathly still; too still, especially after a brief fit of screaming and thrashing just moments before.

 

“Is… is he…?” she asked, voice hitching on fear.

 

“No, he's alive,” the fourth division captain reassured her. “And it feels as though the foreign presence that was there is now gone. Looks like Captain Hitsugaya was victorious.”

 

Matsumoto wanted to be reassured by her words, but it was hard, considering that Hitsugaya's wounds had not been entirely healed, and that he looked nearly comatose - pale, unmoving, shallowly breathing… was he breathing? She resisted the urge to check for a pulse herself, but she didn't want to offend Unohana. The healer-captain was making quick work of the bandages, and had begun pouring her reiatsu back into the unconscious young captain to work on healing him. At least there didn't seem to be any further resistance to her attempts to heal his battered body.

 

Renji was still mulling around outside, though Matsumoto could tell he was fidgety. She felt sorry for him; he'd tried so hard to comfort her while Hitsugaya had been in really bad shape, but it wasn't Renji's fault that she was too damn scared to even try to be receptive to any help. She was more worried about Hitsugaya's well-being at the time, but she resolved that when order was restored, she would treat Renji to a huge bottle of sake in thanks.

 

But only after she confirmed that Captain Hitsugaya would indeed be alright. She looked worriedly back down at the captain, whose boyish face looked so relaxed. Part of her almost believed he was simply sleeping. Maybe he was, and maybe he really would be just fine. He would wake up, heal, and then go back on to working on the paperwork.

 

It took her a moment to realize that Unohana was regarding her from across the captain's makeshift bed with a sad smile. Jumping a bit in shock, she sheepishly looked away.

 

“I'll be right back,” Unohana said suddenly, standing. “Don't hesitate to call me when Captain Hitsugaya wakes. I'm going to have a word with Urahara-san.”

 

Matsumoto nodded, and then stared at the kanji for `four' on the back of Unohana's robe as she left the room. Once she was gone, Matsumoto turned her attention back down to Hitsugaya. Reaching out slowly, she brushed the back of her hand against his forehead to see if the fever from before - it seemed like so long ago, had it really only been yesterday? - had gone. Instead, she was surprised to find that his skin was icy cold. Cold like it was after he used his bankai. She shivered and looked back to the door, tempted to ask Renji for something hot to help warm the captain back up.

 

A thick-voiced moan startled her before she could say anything, and she whirled back to look down at Hitsugaya as his face twisted into a pained grimace. Holding her breath, she waited until his eyelids slowly slid open to reveal his piercing, blue-green eyes, clouded in pain and disorientation.

 

“Captain!” she cried happily. “You're awake!”

 

Hitsugaya turned his gaze to her and regarded her with a confused frown. At his next words, she froze.

 

“Who… who are you?”

 

--

.continuedin part IV.

--