Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Resilience ❯ Part II ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: All characters and settings affiliated with the title Bleach are the creative property of Kubo Tite. Not mine.

 

Warnings: violence, language, spoilers (up to chapter 255 of the manga).

 

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Part II

 

Hitsugaya woke suddenly to find that he was being jostled, moving along in someone's arms, his face pressed up against a soft mound of flesh. But before he could gripe at Matsumoto to get her boob out of his face, he realized that her heartbeat was pounding rapidly against his cheek, and that she was shouting for Orihime. And his head hurt. The realization caused him to groan briefly before he could catch himself, and suddenly Matsumoto stopped, looking down at him with wild panic in her eyes.

 

Don't you do this to me again! they said, shining with worry, before she frowned and pressed a hand to his forehead and hissed, running again.

 

He frowned back, trying to say something, but couldn't think of the words. Rather confused at why he was being carried in such a hurry, and why she was so worried. She seemed to catch on to his confusion, and he felt her voice rumble against his ear as she spoke.

 

“You've got a bad fever, Taichou. I found you passed out cold on the deck,” she said quietly, breathlessly. “I want to have Orihime see if she can figure out what's wrong with you, but if she finds nothing, I'm calling Unohana.”

 

Ah, so that's what she was worried about. The last time, with the parasite-Hollow, the whole nasty ordeal had begun with a fever before it escalated into something much worse. She didn't want that to happen again. He wanted to tell her that he was fine and to put him the hell down, but before he could speak, sharp pain dug into his skull; he groaned again, squeezing his eyes shut. He felt Matsumoto tense against him, but she said nothing more. After that, he stayed content to keep his eyes shut and rest against his fukutaichou, trusting her to not hurt him. A few moments later, and the jostling stopped. He felt himself being lowered carefully to something considerably soft, and felt a cold something placed across his forehead. He also heard whispered voices, but didn't care to discern what they were saying just yet. For now, he concentrated on willing the invisible claw grasping his brain to ease its grip.

 

He wasn't sure how, but somehow he managed to drift off without actually dreaming. Instead of finding himself in the cave, as he'd expected, his mind was a blank world of gray, with the occasional smattering of broken voices and cool hands breaking through the fog. For the time being, he let himself stay in the world of nothingness; it was peacefully relaxing. It didn't seem that long had passed before he finally became aware of the smell of freshly brewed coffee, and somebody snoring beside him. Slowly finding his way through the fog, he blinked a few times before he realized he'd opened his eyes. Reality swam into focus, and it was then that he learned he was on a futon - all too familiar - and that Matsumoto was draped across his feet, sleeping soundly.

 

Reaching to his head, his hand closed around a damp cloth draped across his forehead. He pulled it off and sat up slowly, grunting, his head feeling much heavier than it should. But nothing was hurting, and he felt fine otherwise. Part of him wanted to lay back down and go back to sleep, but he knew he probably had work to finish, if he'd been sleeping long. Looking down, he sighed; it would be a challenge - no, it would have to be luck - trying to figure out how to untangle his legs from under Matsumoto without waking her.

 

With one small movement, she groaned and shifted. Yep, luck, of which he had none.

 

“Taichou?” she asked groggily, pushing herself upright and yawning largely as she spoke. Scratching her head absentmindedly, she regarded him with a sleepy grin when she suddenly came fully awake, eyes flying open wide. “Taichou! You're awake! Are you alright? How are you feeling?”

 

He blinked owlishly once before the memory came trickling back. He'd briefly been awake earlier with a nasty headache and… Matsumoto had told him a fever as well. What the hell had that been about?

 

“Much better,” he replied, grunting as he pulled himself off of the futon and straightened the front of his disheveled uniform. “How long was I out?”

 

Matsumoto sighed, but she looked relieved. “Three, four hours, I'd say. Your fever spiked suddenly and went away just as fast, even before Orihime could get here.”

 

“Huh.” Hitsugaya frowned as he pulled on his white captain's cloak - which had been neatly folded next to the futon - but then shook his head. To be honest with himself, he really wasn't in the mood to bring an older, nastier thought into the conversation, and instead used his favorite tactic. “Maybe it was just a bug.”

 

Diversion. “Maybe.” Matsumoto got the hint, though she frowned back at him disapprovingly. “But to be on the safe side, you should take it easy. You're working a lot lately.”

 

“You're telling me,” Hitsugaya replied as he stalked out of the room, eyeing the door to the kitchen. Perhaps a cup of good, strong tea would help him shake the groggy feeling that still lingered as though he'd been drugged asleep. He sensed Matsumoto coming behind him; she just wasn't going to leave him alone. She was worried again, and he hated it. “Where did you put the black tea leaves?” he called behind him, rooting through the wood-paneled pantries.

 

“Top of the fridge, in a basket with the other teas,” Matsumoto replied.

 

No freaking way. Hitsugaya looked up and scowled. Nope, no luck at all. God, how humiliating; he wouldn't even be able to reach it on his tiptoes. And he'd be damned if he would ask Matsumoto to grab them for him, since he'd never hear the end of it for weeks, especially if Renji or Ikkaku caught word of it. Back tingling, he was sure Matsumoto had a smirk plastered across her face as she watched his shoulders tense. She knew exactly what the problem was, and she was enjoying watching him suffer. Jerk.

 

“Need help?” she asked coyly, but he caught the smirk in her tone of voice.

 

“Don't you have anything better to do?”

 

“Not really.”

 

“Paperwork.”

 

“Besides that.”

 

He rolled his eyes, but let it go. She wouldn't do the paperwork now even if she wasn't amusing herself at his expense. With a grunt, he pushed himself up on his tiptoes, fingers wiggling at the top of the fridge searching for the basket holding his much-needed tea. Behind him, he heard a sigh, and a soft padding of feet and rustling of cloth when suddenly Matsumoto was beside him, deftly reaching up and snagging the basket before she handed it to him. He scowled again and snatched the basket. She grinned.

 

“You could always say `Thank you,' you know,” she said innocently.

 

Hitsugaya resisted the urge to growl at her; instead, he looked away. “Thank you,” he mumbled grudgingly, letting the running water from the faucet drown out his apology. Mostly.

 

“Don't worry, I won't tell anybody,” she stated solemnly. But no, there - he caught a slight smirk.

 

This is blackmail. “Fine, you can have the afternoon off,” he snapped, not in the mood to deal with it.

 

The blonde fukutaichou smiled. “Thank you, Taichou,” she said sweetly before she whipped around and began to walk away.

 

Once she was out of sight, he grinned victoriously and plunked the tea bag into the cup of boiling hot water. She thankfully hadn't brought that afternoon's events up again. He wasn't sure he wanted to revisit that just yet, but he knew it'd come sooner or later. For now, though, he managed to maintain the quiet. I win this round, Matsumoto.

 

But even he knew that this small triumph was only skin deep, and even a simple evasive maneuver wouldn't be enough help him in his sleep.

 

-

 

Matsumoto made it all the way to the end of the hall smirking before she remembered - smirk disappearing, in all its vengeful glory - that she had just spent most of that afternoon trying to keep Hitsugaya-taichou's sudden fever down to healthier levels. He shouldn't even be up and about like that yet, not after he'd scared her that badly again. The sound of his bones snapping and his bubbling pants from the prior months' dealings with the parasitic Hollow still haunted her; she shuddered even at the thought of it. God, and he had acted as if nothing had happened. He'd baited her, and she fell for it - hook, line, and sinker.

 

That little twit.

 

She had been so worried about him, too… and this was how he repaid her. It almost made her angry, but for a moment, she remembered that sometimes the taichou just needed to spend time alone after something unexplained happen. It was one of the things she had learned to keep in mind during her time spent as his second. He needed the time to sit down and think this thing through, and either he would come up with answers, or he would find nothing - but at least his mood would improve either way.

 

This time, she would let it go. But it didn't stop her from sending a message to Unohana about the whole ordeal that afternoon, just to be on the safe side. After the last incident had nearly cost Hitsugaya's life, she wasn't about to take chances if this had anything to do with her taichou's mind. Even she was unable to tell if Hitsugaya had managed to pull the pieces of his nearly-shattered mind back into their proper places after the Hollow had smashed things up.

 

But at least he wasn't dealing with the memory lapses, she told herself in a half-hearted attempt to banish the worry. And he seemed to be in much better spirits after he had nearly taken down the last Arrancar that came across their paths… that was, before it fled. Even then, Hitsugaya had seemed much more guarded than usual. He sensed something was up, and she also had learned to unconditionally trust the taichou's instincts, regardless of the fact that she didn't have all the details.

 

Hitsugaya was onto something, and she wasn't going to get in the way if she could help it. If things got worse, she would always be there to support him and make sure he didn't get into trouble - like last time. No way would she allow that to happen again. Not on her watch.

 

With a sigh, she trudged into the office, refraining from the strong temptation to go back and chide him for his attempt to trick her. She'd let him win this round. In the meantime, she had papers to stare at, and a nap to take while she was at it. The couch looked awfully inviting.

 

-

 

Sweat trickles down grime-coated skin, soothing against the searing heat of the welding fire. The mallet - too heavy in his hands - hangs loosely at his side, body and mind injured and weary from recent events. They are going to come to him, with one of theirs now dead. He knows it will happen the way he knew as soon as he saw the man fall in a spray of his own blood. It won't matter that he nearly died as well, and he hasn't even done anything wrong. Before they even arrive, he can see the unit captain's wide, cruel grin. The man has a chilling, haunting presence, and is so out of place.

 

Except this time, he knows the face under another name. One that he will never utter again without the utmost contempt.

 

`Toushirou.'

 

No, that isn't his name here, but it is him all the same. And the fire's light dims, heat a blast of wind so icy that it nearly takes his breath away replaces the white-hot heat. Suddenly, the memory fades and he faces a dragon with steely green eyes filled with a resolve deeper than anything he's ever seen. He knows that this isn't a path he can take just yet.

 

And yet he also knows that he won't be able to avoid it when the time comes.

 

-

 

“Ran-chan, you know I didn't mean it that way!”

 

Matsumoto shoved Renji aside with a glare as she made her way back over to the desk, a stack of completed paperwork in hand ready to be dropped into Hitsugaya's inbox. Once she'd done just that, she whirled to face Renji, glare still wrinkling the corners of her eyes.

 

“You know, that isn't any of your concern - and besides, you were spying. It's not like you had the whole story down,” she scoffed, folding her arms across her chest angrily. “I can't believe you assumed that we were—”

 

“No, I swear I didn't mean it like that,” Renji interrupted, waving his hands defensively in front of him. “I just noted that you were pretty upset over him getting sick again. Trust me; I was there. I understand why you got so uptight about it. All I was saying was that you should relax a bit. He's obviously okay for now.”

 

Matsumoto sighed, arms falling down to her sides loosely. She wasn't really up for arguing with Renji over something that really wasn't an issue. Besides, Renji had been there when the parasitic Hollow had nearly taken down the young taichou. Maybe she was just irritated over the fact that Hitsugaya had given her the slip, she'd fallen for it, and then Renji had interrupted her nap with a snarky comment.

 

That was likely the case, considering her current mood.

 

“Here, want to go out for a drink?” Renji offered, motioning towards the door with a thrust of his thumb over his shoulder. “My treat.”

 

It would be relaxing; besides, she needed it, and Hitsugaya had technically given her the afternoon off. “Only if you're treating,” she said with a sly smirk.

 

Renji laughed and motioned her to follow him out the door. However, when they'd barely set foot outside the premises, Matsumoto suddenly stopped. The air was off, and when she realized what exactly was wrong, she shot Renji a wide-eyed look and quickly turned back to the complex, Renji just behind her.

 

“Was that—?” Renji began to ask, but Matsumoto cut him off with a nod. “God, this can't be happening again.”

 

Matsumoto didn't reply, though the same thought had been rushing through her mind. Somehow, though, this was different, and she wasn't sure yet if that was such a good thing. At least, until that presence in the air exploded and both fukutaichou fell to their knees just inside the door. Completely different from last time, and far worse.

 

Hitsugaya wouldn't be allowed to talk his way out of this one this time around.

 

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.to be continued in part III.

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Well, this chapter's been up at FFnet for a few months, along with the next one. Not sure if anyone's actually following it here, but I thought I'd toss it up here anyway just for shits'n'giggles. ;3 More to come here shortly.

 

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