Colder Than Snow: Chapter 1

[I do not own the characters of Bleach.  This is a complete fan work and NO profit is made.]

 

The battle in the world of the living had been large but not epic. Hitsugaya Toshiro put away his blade and looked around at the other shinigami to see how everyone was. From the looks of it the effort had been well coordinated and no one was seriously hurt.

The white haired captain saw Hisagi fuktaichou walking towards him, at least that's what he thought until Kira fuktaichou walked from behind the shorter man towards Shuhei.

Icy eyes looked to the snow covered ground as he tried to ignore how Hisagi put his hand to Kira's face to check to see if he was really all right.

Something was heard in the distance, something big.

"Everyone, stay here and make sure everyone is accounted for," Hitsugaya Taichou ordered then ran off alone.

Kira frowned as he watched the small captain leaving. They were far from friends but he had never wished the other man ill. "Shuhei, should he be doing that?" the blond asked softly.

"No, he shouldn't," Shuhei sighed, "Kira, take care of the others." He ran fingers over the other man's then raced after Hitsugaya.

"Hey wait!" Kira called then sighed, "why does everyone do that around here?" Knowing there was still work to be done and people to tend to the blond quickly did as he was told.

"Rain upon the frozen heaven!" Hitsugaya yelled to release Hyorinmaru and try and deal with the monster sized hollow. Even if he wasn't so short the thing would still be gigantic. It may have only been one hollow but it was big and seemed to know what it was doing. It dodged one attack after the other.

Hitsugaya skidded around a strike with a pant. "Damn it," he whispered having let himself get distracted from his job.

Another swipe and he was struck in the side and went rolling into a street lamp. "I don't have time for this," he cursed himself and tried to get back up. His mind kept wandering to what he had seen a minute ago and he was so angry at himself for it. A few decades of not even being able to figure things out and his feelings come into the most clear now, when it's too late and there's work to do. Figures his luck sucked as much this century as it did the last.

"Hitsugaya Taichou!" Hisagi called trying to get his attention before he was flanked.

The shorter man blinked in surprise then jumped out of the way of what would have been a fatal blow. Oh great, there had been two.

Hisagi raced forward to defend the other man as he tried again to bring his zanpakto to bare on the first one. He did his best to ignore the clear signs of crimson on the white snow.

With a scream of power and frustration Hitsugaya dealt with the first one finally then let Hisagi get the other as he tried to catch his breath. He was so used to the feeling of the cold that he didn't notice when he landed near face first in a snow drift.

Shuhei ran over and knelt down before pulling the fallen taichou into his arms, "come on, division Four is here, they'll take care of you."

Toshiro opened his eyes and the barest hint of a sound spurted out before he closed them again and nodded. He let the larger man carry him back to where everyone else was, all the while cursing his own ill timed mind.

"With respect, Taichou," Shuhei said quietly before they got back, "that was stupid. Someone of your rank should know better than that."

Hitsugaya actually laughed quietly, "I should know better." He looked up at Shuhei and then put his hand to the other man's cheek. Later he would blame it on the blood loss.

Hisagi stopped then looked down, surprise clear on his face.

"Toshiro?" Shuhei said his name as a question trying to figure out what was up.

For the barest of seconds there is real pain in those icy blue eyes then it's as if he was commanding a squad again and nothing was there but business. He took his hand back, "thank you for the assistance, Hisagi fuktaichou."

Realization dawned in Shuhei's eyes. "You're welcome, Hitsugaya," was all he was able to say. He brought the taichou to be tended then went back to find Kira.

"Crap, Shuhei what happened? Are you two okay?" Izuru asked once they found one another.

"I'm fine," Shuhei promised then glanced at where Hitsugaya was being treated, "he'll be all right, not as bad as it looks. Come on, we've got more to do."

"Right," Kira gave Shuhei a smile then returned to what he was doing.

Hisagi lingered a moment, watching them take care of Hitsugaya, before going off to finish things with a question in his mind he was fairly sure he would never get answered.

Hitsugaya opened his eyes again as he felt moisture hitting his face. Looking up he realized it had started to snow.