NaNoWriMo08 V
...Nearing 45K. I'm aiming to finish it tomorrow or latest by the day after. Wish me luck.
Chapter 8
"What do I always tell you?"
Hitsugaya blinked once at the seemingly random question but it did not take long for him to realise the answer. Shrugging the arm around him off, he pulled away from the substitute shinigami just enough to give him enough space to snake an arm around his neck and swiftly pin him down - Wa-wait, Toushiro! - on his lap. The wide chocolate eyes, not quite comprehending the situation yet, blinked up at him stupidly and the prodigy smirked, threading his hands into the orange tuft and messing up the already unkempt spikes.
"Hey, hey, hey!"
"Whatever I want."
Ichigo rolled his eyes as he got hold of the cheeky hand. "Yes, but I don't want to look like I just rolled out of bed either."
This time, Hitsugaya rolled his eyes. "You'll be soon going into one."
"Still, never know what kind of emergency will come up."
"What, you want to show off to Hollows?" Hitsugaya snickered, raising a brow. The weight pressing down on his heart was not gone, if anything, even heavier, because he could not tell whether this rapid transition in conversation was merely running away from it or not. Apparently, love and hate was not the only thing that the line separating them grew thinner and taking a breather in a hard marathon and breaking into a sprint in cowardice were becoming difficult to tell apart.
"Stop thinking."
"That's your job."
Ichigo scoffed at the prompt reply. "You could do with it once in a while too."
Perhaps, Hitsugaya thought, but did not say out loud. Instead, he slumped forward until their foreheads met and saw the brown eyes closing in soft curves just before his own fluttered shut as well. For a moment, there was nothing but the quiet sounds of their breathing heard in the room.
"Thank-"
"Don't want to hear it. You know I hate you saying stuff like that."
The teal eyes opened but the contact remained. "Can't you just grit your teeth and listen to the end?"
"Na-ah. Don't like it, won't hear it."
So that was chapter 8... Chapter 9 is ridiculously long and I'm hoping I'll be able to seperate into two chapters by the time I come back to this... I didn't know which part to post from so I have two, one from each part I'm hoping to put into two different chapters later.
Chapter 9 Part I
"What games, Hitsugaya-kun?"
The teal orbs narrowed in wariness as if facing an enemy. There was knife-sharp cutting edge in the chilling voice that was his sister's yet was not and the tension in the room - was it even just a room? - escalated, sharpening his senses. He tightly clenched his hands to stop them automatically reaching for the hilt of his zanpkatou in the certain feeling of the danger looming over him and then the turquoise pools widened in shock.
Hyourinmaru, his trusted zanpaktou that he swore had been on his back, was no longer anywhere.
"I was only trying to make it up to you, Hitsugaya-kun."
A red alarm went off in his mind at the falsely sweet voice; it was striking something deep within him, and definitely not in a pleasant way, and it was not just because of the sick wickedness barely hidden beneath the naivety that belong to his sister. The wide, face-splitting, frigid smile he could just about see beneath the bangs served to unsettle him even further, and instantly switching to battle mode, the sharp eyes scanned the area and the muscles tensed, ready to act whenever the need be.
"How cruel of you, Hitsugaya-kun." The teasing voice was now subdued to barely above whisper and it would have sent shivers down his spine had he not already steeled himself. Remaining deadly still, Hitsugaya kept a close eye on the grinning girl as she slowly, oh so slowly raised her head-
"!!!"
"You failed to save me. You even killed me."
It was like a horror show and he could not help but stare with wide, trembling eyes at the scene in front of him. The face that had been warmly smiling at him just a moment ago was now flashing eerily wide and snickering eyes, a wicked smile that stretched across it far too widely, and-
-blood. Blood, the dark, thick, bright red blood. The fluid was everywhere, crawling down from the top of the head over the unblinking eyes, over the nose, over the ghastly pale cheeks, over the pulled lips, over the bared, white, white teeth where it stained the gums and seeped into the tiny gaps between the teeth, down the chin and dripping, dripping in continuous droplets onto the tatami floor turning crimson.
And the second excerpt. You guys are getting a treat tonight XD
Chapter 9 Part II
For Hitsugaya, it was like putting the scattered pieces of puzzle back together again; the pieces, the glacial shards, the puzzle, his inner world. The affectionate cocoon prevented any pieces straying out too far, getting permanently lost, and the warm caresses were the glue that kept them together. The concerns and bitter sadness could not be completely hidden from his empathy but strong, genuine care and love predominated the feed, smoothing out his breathing and persuading his heart to return to normal, regular beating.
His whole body ached and his eyelids felt like lead but he refused to let them shut; he had had enough of blackness already for one night and even without the obsidian backdrops, the broken images of the nightmare were flicking past his mind. Taking in a deep breath with a scowl, Hitsugaya moved his hand to grasp the white top the teen was wearing and the muscular arms grew tighter around him.
This was why every time, his decision to ditch the reiatsu-deflecting gigai was changed in spite of knowing what a selfish choice he was making because he tried, he tried, but god knows this was pure torment and a goddamn prodigy or not, he needed time and this to stop him from going crazy.
"Shh... I'm here," he heard Ichigo mumbling quietly in the complete silence, "you're with me.... We're together here and that wasn't real..."
A gentle rocking, forward and back, forward and back, accompanied the soft whispers dissipating into the early hours and pressing his cheek against the broad expansion of Ichigo's chest, Hitsugaya greedily sucked in every word, letting them sink through the fog of weariness and sorrow, at him, at her, at both of them
"Toushiro, you can feel me, right? That was just a dream. I'm here, calm down..."
"It must be lovely, Shiro-chan, to be alive and all cuddled up nicely in that human love of yours."
The half-lidded turquoise eyes flew wide open at the elusive echo ringing in his mind and flung out of the protective embrace, startling the teen. Ichigo was about to ask what was going on when the words got stuck in his throat. The pallid, sweat-glinting face was filled with heart-wrenching guilt, panicky uncertainty, and bitter sadness that threatened to bring tears in his eyes just by seeing it.
"No..." A trembling word barely managed to escape the ashen lips and when Ichigo, starting to feel that the ordeal was not fully over yet, tried to bring the boy back into his arms, he was stopped by the two small hands on his chest, pushing him away.
Chapter 8
"What do I always tell you?"
Hitsugaya blinked once at the seemingly random question but it did not take long for him to realise the answer. Shrugging the arm around him off, he pulled away from the substitute shinigami just enough to give him enough space to snake an arm around his neck and swiftly pin him down - Wa-wait, Toushiro! - on his lap. The wide chocolate eyes, not quite comprehending the situation yet, blinked up at him stupidly and the prodigy smirked, threading his hands into the orange tuft and messing up the already unkempt spikes.
"Hey, hey, hey!"
"Whatever I want."
Ichigo rolled his eyes as he got hold of the cheeky hand. "Yes, but I don't want to look like I just rolled out of bed either."
This time, Hitsugaya rolled his eyes. "You'll be soon going into one."
"Still, never know what kind of emergency will come up."
"What, you want to show off to Hollows?" Hitsugaya snickered, raising a brow. The weight pressing down on his heart was not gone, if anything, even heavier, because he could not tell whether this rapid transition in conversation was merely running away from it or not. Apparently, love and hate was not the only thing that the line separating them grew thinner and taking a breather in a hard marathon and breaking into a sprint in cowardice were becoming difficult to tell apart.
"Stop thinking."
"That's your job."
Ichigo scoffed at the prompt reply. "You could do with it once in a while too."
Perhaps, Hitsugaya thought, but did not say out loud. Instead, he slumped forward until their foreheads met and saw the brown eyes closing in soft curves just before his own fluttered shut as well. For a moment, there was nothing but the quiet sounds of their breathing heard in the room.
"Thank-"
"Don't want to hear it. You know I hate you saying stuff like that."
The teal eyes opened but the contact remained. "Can't you just grit your teeth and listen to the end?"
"Na-ah. Don't like it, won't hear it."
So that was chapter 8... Chapter 9 is ridiculously long and I'm hoping I'll be able to seperate into two chapters by the time I come back to this... I didn't know which part to post from so I have two, one from each part I'm hoping to put into two different chapters later.
Chapter 9 Part I
"What games, Hitsugaya-kun?"
The teal orbs narrowed in wariness as if facing an enemy. There was knife-sharp cutting edge in the chilling voice that was his sister's yet was not and the tension in the room - was it even just a room? - escalated, sharpening his senses. He tightly clenched his hands to stop them automatically reaching for the hilt of his zanpkatou in the certain feeling of the danger looming over him and then the turquoise pools widened in shock.
Hyourinmaru, his trusted zanpaktou that he swore had been on his back, was no longer anywhere.
"I was only trying to make it up to you, Hitsugaya-kun."
A red alarm went off in his mind at the falsely sweet voice; it was striking something deep within him, and definitely not in a pleasant way, and it was not just because of the sick wickedness barely hidden beneath the naivety that belong to his sister. The wide, face-splitting, frigid smile he could just about see beneath the bangs served to unsettle him even further, and instantly switching to battle mode, the sharp eyes scanned the area and the muscles tensed, ready to act whenever the need be.
"How cruel of you, Hitsugaya-kun." The teasing voice was now subdued to barely above whisper and it would have sent shivers down his spine had he not already steeled himself. Remaining deadly still, Hitsugaya kept a close eye on the grinning girl as she slowly, oh so slowly raised her head-
"!!!"
"You failed to save me. You even killed me."
It was like a horror show and he could not help but stare with wide, trembling eyes at the scene in front of him. The face that had been warmly smiling at him just a moment ago was now flashing eerily wide and snickering eyes, a wicked smile that stretched across it far too widely, and-
-blood. Blood, the dark, thick, bright red blood. The fluid was everywhere, crawling down from the top of the head over the unblinking eyes, over the nose, over the ghastly pale cheeks, over the pulled lips, over the bared, white, white teeth where it stained the gums and seeped into the tiny gaps between the teeth, down the chin and dripping, dripping in continuous droplets onto the tatami floor turning crimson.
And the second excerpt. You guys are getting a treat tonight XD
Chapter 9 Part II
For Hitsugaya, it was like putting the scattered pieces of puzzle back together again; the pieces, the glacial shards, the puzzle, his inner world. The affectionate cocoon prevented any pieces straying out too far, getting permanently lost, and the warm caresses were the glue that kept them together. The concerns and bitter sadness could not be completely hidden from his empathy but strong, genuine care and love predominated the feed, smoothing out his breathing and persuading his heart to return to normal, regular beating.
His whole body ached and his eyelids felt like lead but he refused to let them shut; he had had enough of blackness already for one night and even without the obsidian backdrops, the broken images of the nightmare were flicking past his mind. Taking in a deep breath with a scowl, Hitsugaya moved his hand to grasp the white top the teen was wearing and the muscular arms grew tighter around him.
This was why every time, his decision to ditch the reiatsu-deflecting gigai was changed in spite of knowing what a selfish choice he was making because he tried, he tried, but god knows this was pure torment and a goddamn prodigy or not, he needed time and this to stop him from going crazy.
"Shh... I'm here," he heard Ichigo mumbling quietly in the complete silence, "you're with me.... We're together here and that wasn't real..."
A gentle rocking, forward and back, forward and back, accompanied the soft whispers dissipating into the early hours and pressing his cheek against the broad expansion of Ichigo's chest, Hitsugaya greedily sucked in every word, letting them sink through the fog of weariness and sorrow, at him, at her, at both of them
"Toushiro, you can feel me, right? That was just a dream. I'm here, calm down..."
"It must be lovely, Shiro-chan, to be alive and all cuddled up nicely in that human love of yours."
The half-lidded turquoise eyes flew wide open at the elusive echo ringing in his mind and flung out of the protective embrace, startling the teen. Ichigo was about to ask what was going on when the words got stuck in his throat. The pallid, sweat-glinting face was filled with heart-wrenching guilt, panicky uncertainty, and bitter sadness that threatened to bring tears in his eyes just by seeing it.
"No..." A trembling word barely managed to escape the ashen lips and when Ichigo, starting to feel that the ordeal was not fully over yet, tried to bring the boy back into his arms, he was stopped by the two small hands on his chest, pushing him away.