Thawing Walls - Chapter 1
Title: Thawing Walls
Chapter: One
Pairing: Hitsugaya Toushiro x Kurosaki Ichigo
Rating: M (T for the first half of the story)
Summary: Hitsugaya, stationed in a turbulent Karakura Town to investigate increased Menos activity, finds his defenses weakening thanks to an orange haired teen. As they both experience unexplainable phenomenon, they draw each other closer.
I have been uploading this story to Fanfiction.net with my account Shading Source, but I realised that FF.net has been very stingy on their M rating lately when it comes to smut. Now, my story isn't at that glorious stage yet, but I figured I'd also put my story up here, so when the time comes I can put the juicy stuff here and a more censored version on FF.net.
Some of you may have read this already on FF.net but I hope to reach some new readers as well by doing this! =)
Thawing Walls - Chapter 1
“Souten ni Zase, Hyourinmaru!”
A cold, determined voice called out loudly, the temperature in the passing soft breeze sensibly dropping a few degrees as the katana held by a snow-white-haired boy extended, a chain with a crescent-shaped blade attached to the hilt now appearing. Gripping the handle with both his clenched hands, he positioned it right next to his face. The tip of his powerful zanpaktou now aimed at the desired target: Three Adjuchases and two Vasto Lordes.
The tenth division’s captain gritted his teeth. What in the world was Yamamoto-sotaicho thinking? Certainly the old Commander-General had gone senile when he send a captain without his vice-captain on a mission like this with only a few decent ranking seats to drag him down. Because in fact, even if Matsumoto wasn’t of any help when it came to paperwork, there was no ally he’d rather have by his side when it came to battles like this. Of course, the youngest captain would never voice those thoughts like that. But still, it was in a situation like this that he wouldn’t mind having someone dependable by side instead of inexperienced, incapable and incompetent low-ranked seats. Gripping his trusted zanpaktou impossibly tighter, he took a deep breath.
‘Let’s go, Hyourinmaru…”
And with that, Hitsugaya growled deeply as his reiatsu exploded, creating a fierce wind around him. Pulling his zanpaktou back slightly before thrusting it forward, Hitsugaya called forth the legendary water and ice dragon said to be able to control the weather. It was rightfully claimed to be the strongest of its element and at that moment it surged forward, freezing every unlucky thing in its path. It had managed to stop two of the Adjuchases but the remaining one along with the two Vasto Lordes had managed to dodge the dragon’s wrath and were now scattering over the place, trying to capture the captain in a triangle. Said captain was frowning deeply as he dodged the attempted attack, all the while keeping an eye on the seats that were fending off some Gillians and having visible trouble doing so.
‘Damn it. Hollows -especially Menoses- aren’t supposed to be like this. They’re not supposed to ga-’
Hitsugaya jumped up and thrusted Hyourinmaru into the Adjuchas as he kept an eye on the remaining Hollows.
‘-ther without an apparent reason, nor should they be working together… And 2 Vasto Lordes in the same location? It’s exceedingly rare.’
The icy captain soon gave up on his thoughts as he focused on the battle at hand, deciding to figure things out after the fighting was over. After he’d defeated these Menos Grandes, whose combined strengths were getting dangerously close to a captain’s.
Hitsugaya took a quick glance at the battle next to him, his seats finally managing to take down one Gillian, leaving 4 still standing. The boy-captain scowled. This was not his day. What started off as a usual one, with Matsumoto disrupting his peace every 2 minutes or so, took a turn for the worse when a Hell Butterfly had called him over to the Commander-General’s office, where this entire mess had started.
Hitsugaya suddenly yelped in surprise as a Cero partially hit him in the back. Thinking too much had caused him to lose focus. He growled as he was forced to kneel on the ground, one eye partially closed as he felt the pain slowly spread to his limbs.
No, this certainly wasn’t his day.
But he downright refused to give up. After all, these were mere Hollows. They weren’t half the Arrancars Hitsugaya had faced until now and he’d been victorious each and every time. No, hell would really have to freeze over, which he could actually do if he put his heart into it, before he would give up. His anger swelling within him, the shinigami prodigy let out something resembling a roar as he forced his reiatsu a bit higher again, rising on his feet as he took his battle stance once more.
It was far from over.
Jumping high into the sky, his zanpaktou held above his head, the crescent-shaped blade now blocking the moon’s pale light, he let Hyourinmaru surround him as he concentrated his reiatsu into the dragon. Locking his sight on one of the Vasto Lordes, he swung his sword down and the roaring dragon was propelled at its target. Hitsugaya prayed it would connect and thankfully it did, encasing the single enemy in ice. Quickly returning to the ground, he immediately held out one hand as he screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Hadou 33: Soukatsui!” And as he voiced the incantation-less spell, a huge blue ball of energy formed.
“It’s over.” He whispered as he released the ball and send it crashing into the mountain of ice and breaking it down to a fine dust that almost resembled snow, taking the frozen Vasto Lorde with it. Hitsugaya fell on one knee as he breathed heavily. The Cero that had hit him on the back was still hurting like hell and he’d really put his all in that last incantation-less spell. Adding that to the fact that he’d been fighting for quite some time while monitoring his seats and preventing them from dying meaningless death, he was getting pretty exhausted. And that said something, knowing the prodigy’s usual stamina. About to stand up, Hitsugaya’s eyes widened as he realized a dire fact. Turning around just in time to see the last Vasto Lorde thrusting at him with an insane speed, he stretched his arm again, yelling with a desperate voice.
“Bakudou 61: Rukujyoukourou!” And just a few inches before the captain’s face did the Menos’ movement halt, bound by the spell the captain had managed to use at the last moment. Scowling, Hitsugaya jumped back, taking a second to regain his breath. Hitsugaya winced as he felt the burning sensation in his back, the Cero aching insistently. Then, suddenly a cracked voice came from a tiny microphone he kept with him.
“Hitsugaya-taichou, the barrier’s been set and the seals can be released, sir. Please don’t hold back anymore.” Hitsugaya groaned in frustration.
“That took to fucking long. You better have it set up faster next time.”
It really wasn’t like Hitsugaya to curse, but his temper had limits. Finally, the flowerlike tattoo hidden under his kimono glowed for a moment before disappearing completely. Feeling as if a heavy pressure was lifted from him, he gripped his zanpaktou, scowling.
‘Seriously, that it has come to this… This is definitely not normal.’
“I’ll make you pay” Hitsugaya growled and grabbed the handle of his katana with two hands again. Allowing his reiatsu to explode to an even higher level than before, he prepared to finish this once and for all.
“Ban-”
“Getsuga Tensho!”
Hitsugaya’s eyes widened as a concentrated, black wave of energy slashed the bound Hollow clean through the middle, disintegrating it until nothing was left. Hitsugaya tried to hold back the wave of relief that washed over him, and his frown deepened slightly as he only just now noticed the almost overwhelming reiatsu that could belong to one person only. His sight blurred slightly as he saw a bright orange-haired boy dressed completely in black approach him.
“Yo! Toushiro, wasn’t it?”
Hitsugaya immediately scowled.
“Hitsugaya-taichou.” He closed his eyes as he tried to regain his sense of balance. Feeling slightly shaky he gripped Hyourinmaru tightly in his right hand, now walking past the substitute shinigami.
“Please get lost, I have to help my division.” But before Hitsugaya could make any progress the smug voice already stopped him.
“Don’t worry. Those Hollows are being taken care off.” And it was true, as Hitsugaya noticed two other reiatsu’s approaching fast. Squinting his eyes he recognized one as the Quincy teen and the other’s as a reiatsu that distinctly reminded him off something else, though it was definitely belonging to the huge, dark other teen. The two had already taken down three Gillians and were casually finishing off the last one. Hitsugaya looked at his division’s seats who were spread out on the ground, completely exhausted. The last Gillian finally fell and disappeared with a deafening scream. With a sigh he called his division to gather around him. The shinigami had great difficulty standing up and it would take a while till they reached their captain. Said captain was now standing next to the substitute shinigami, though never meeting his gaze, simply looking at the now quiet town they’d fought hard to protect.
“You didn’t have to come. This was a mission given to the tenth division and we could’ve handled it easily.” The tone in Hitsugaya’s voice was clearly tainted with exhaustion, but most of all with hurt pride. The taller boy merely grinned.
“And would that have been before or after you used your bankai on a few Hollows?” Hitsugaya scowled deeply, trying to protect whatever was left of his pride. Could this day get even worse? It would have been fine if he’d just finished this mission himself and then returned to Seireitei immediately.
“Shut up. No one asked for your help.” The irritation was apparent in the captain’s voice. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, waiting for his division’s shinigami to reach him. After a few seconds they finally gathered around him.
“Okay, first of all, any critical injuries?” Hitsugaya looked around, seeing the shinigami shake their heads slowly and mumbling soft replies, even though they were probably holding up in front of their captain.
“Alright then, listen up. We’re going to wait for the restoration team to arrive to clean up this mess and then we’re heading back. I advise everyone to pay a visit to the fourth division’s quarters to get a checkup when we get back.” Hitsugaya was about to finish when someone interrupted.
“Hey, Toushiro, if you want-”
“It’s Hitsugaya-taichou.” An eyebrow twitching as he scowled.
“-you guys can stay at my house for a little while. My family’s on a trip and they won’t be back until tomorrow morning. Besides, Inoue could tend to your wounds if you’d like.”
“No thank you, Kurosaki. The fourth division’s treatment will be enough.” However, the substitute shinigami refused to give up.
“Look at it this way then. Coming with me would mean giving Unohana-san and the others a break, right? They’re really busy treating other shinigami, I’m sure. So they wouldn’t mind, right? The fourth division that is.” Ichigo had his stupid grin on his face as he saw the tenth division captain hesitate at his logic. The boy was frowning deeply again, something that couldn’t be healthy for a boy his age. But Ichigo quickly shook his head as he reminded himself that that boy has probably lived far longer than he’d done and that the kid captain knew a lot more than himself.
“Well… Alright then.” Hitsugaya said with a sigh, constantly reminding himself he was only doing this so he wouldn’t have to burden the fourth division unnecessarily.
And so they started walking, some -mostly the seats- limping, towards the Kurosaki residence.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hitsugaya-taichou sighed deeply as he looked around. What was the reason they were here again? His arms were crossed in front of his chest as he closed his eyes, trying to block out all the noise and chaos. He had insisted on being the last one to have his wounds healed so he was now patiently waiting for his turn while Inoue was trying her best to patch up each and every tenth division member. The white-haired boy’s eyebrow twitched slightly as he tried to ignore the constant bickering between the substitute shinigami and the famous last-surviving Quincy. He was actually glad it was the bulky giant who was sitting next to him. The guy named Sado, probably not even one-tenth of Hitsugaya’s age yet surely twice his length, was comfortably silent as he seemed to observe the chaos as well.
Hitsugaya gently sipped the served tea as he watched the last seat being healed by the impressive human girl. He’d watched her power with great interest but the strong light it emitted had started to hurt his eyes and he felt a throbbing headache slowly creeping in the back of his mind. It was pitch dark outside, the hour being well past midnight. He faintly heard a phone ring and frowned at the sound. The little captain had hoped to be back in his office before one in the morning, perhaps doing a bit of paperwork before he went to bed, not even enjoying the short sleep he’d get. But now he’d let go of any plans he’d made, just hoping this whole thing would be over as soon as possible… His headache was getting persistent.
“Oi, Toushiro, it’s for you.” Hitsugaya opened his eyes as he looked at Ichigo standing in front of him, handing him the phone. Silently, he reached for it.
“What is it?” He asked in an irritated tone.
“Now, now, Hitsugaya-taichou, not so cruel off the bat, please,” a playful voice said on the other end of the line, a little mischief noticeable in the voice. Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow.
“Urahara-san?” The surprise was almost obvious in the little captain’s voice. No matter what had happened in the past, Hitsugaya still respected the strange man, knowing he had powers and knowledge beyond even his own belief.
“Urahara-san, what could you possibly want?”
It was quiet for a little while, before Urahara’s voice came again, this time unusually serious.
“Hitsugaya-taichou, is it correct that it was you and your division who set up that barrier earlier tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Is it safe to assume it was because of the Menos Grandes you faced?”
“Yes.”
“Anything unusual you noticed?”
It remained quiet for a while.
“Besides the increase in Vasto Lordes, they cooperated.”
Again, it remained silent for a moment.
“Cooperated?”
“Yes. Two Vasto Lordes and one Adjuchas tried to catch me in a triangle before, and even after I’d taken down the Adjuchas, the two Vasto Lorde’s showed unusual ability to take advantage of any situation.” Hitsugaya spoke in a low, soft voice, trying to keep it down so no one else would hear the conversation. A rustling sound could be heard on the other end of the line and Hitsugaya could only imagine Urahara hiding his face behind his fan.
“I see…”
Hitsugaya sighed.
“What are your thoughts on this matter, Urahara-san?”
“Who knows…” It took a while before Urahara continued. “Hitsugaya-taichou, please continue you excellent work and I hope you have a pleasant evening! Bye bye!” And before Hitsugaya could say any more, Urahara had already hung up. Sighing as he turned off the phone, he looked around. The place had quieted down a little as the orange-haired boy seemed to have left and most of his division’s seats were quietly talking among themselves.
“Alright, everyone, listen up,” Hitsugaya said in a soft, somewhat disturbed voice. After a few seconds, he’d gained everyone’s attention. Hitsugaya sighed.
“We’re leaving.”
And without anything else, he turned around and opened the window, the cool night breeze entering the room.
“Hey Toushiro, I’ve got some snacks if you wan- What, you’re already leaving?” Ichigo said as he came back, slightly disappointed as he held a tray filled with all kinds of food. Hitsugaya didn’t even turn around to face him.
“We’re in a hurry. I still have to report this whole thing in Seireitei so we’re leaving now.” Then Inoue stepped forward, a worried look on her face.
“Toushiro-kun, please, I haven’t tended to your wounds yet.”
The little captain sighed as he felt the Cero’s burn on his back.
“For the last time, it’s Hitsugaya-taichou,” he growled in frustration. Ichigo merely grinned.
“Oi, Toushiro, feel free to come back when you’re in the area.” Hitsugaya just sighed.
And with that, he jumped out of the window, disappearing in the darkness of the night, his torn, white haori wildly swaying from the jump. The remaining tenth division shinigami chaotically stood up and followed him as fast as possible, not wanting to be left behind.
Ichigo took a deep breath as Inoue closed the window, preventing the temperature to drop even more in the room. Ichigo stared at the tray of food he was holding for a minute before his usual smile returned on his face.
“Well then, let’s clean up this mess, shall we?” He quickly put the plate down and started cleaning up, a satisfied grin plastered on his face. Ishida merely pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, Sado letting out a deep breath. They both shook their heads.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
“And the Vasto Lordes?”
Yamamoto-sotaichou’s old, cracked yet serious and demanding voice echoed through his own office, the room lit by only a few candles, casting eerie shadows on the elder’s face.
“They’ve been taken care off. One was taken down with my shikai but for the last one I would have required bankai. However, that is when the substitute shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, interrupted and finished the battle.”
The Commander-General frowned as he thought deeply. It remained silent for quite some time, during which Hitsugaya didn’t move or flinch one bit, merely staying in his bowed, humble form.
“Very well. Hitsugaya-taichou, I expect a full, written report before noon tomorrow. Please do elaborate on the so called cooperation you claim to have noticed among the Menos Grande. You’re dismissed.”
“Yes sir,” Hitsugaya said quickly, glad to be able to stand up again. He took quick, quiet breaths as he walked out of the room. But before he reached the door, it already quietly opened. Invisibly raising his eyebrow, Hitsugaya tried to identify the late visitor. As soon as said visitor entered the room, Hitsugaya recognized him as the twelfth division’s captain, Kurotshuchi. The odd captain looked even scarier than he did in broad daylight, the shadows cast upon his face only making him look all the creepier. Hitsugaya suppressed a shiver as he walked past the captain.
“Hitsugaya-taichou.” The captain said out of courtesy, though the displeasure was obvious in his voice.
‘What kind of business could that guy possibly have with Yamamoto-sotaichou at this hour?’
Hitsugaya faintly nodded.
“Kurotshuchi-taichou.”
And with that, Hitsugaya finally reached the door, more than glad to finally close it behind him. He sighed deeply.
This wasn’t his day, but at least it had come to an end, the dawn of the next already setting in.
In the next chapter of Thawing Walls:
“Hitsugaya-taichou, Kuchiki-taichou, you will immediately head to Japan, settling down in Karakura Town as you too will engage any Menos Grande you can detect in the area.”
And…
Hitsugaya groaned in discomfort, adjusting his tie for the umpteenth time in the last ten minutes. Straightening his white blouse, he moved uncomfortably in the grey pants he was wearing, feeling as if they were just a little bit to big.
‘Seriously, why do I have to do this, again? It’s absurd. I bet Matsumoto is having a laugh right now. Damn her, why did she do such an unnecessary thing?’