Chapter 1

Hitsugaya Toshiro had a lazy smile on his face as he took his time walking to the Fourth Division.

Today he had something special in mind. He was planning on picking up Sharon from training and heading down to their special place near his "thinking tree"… first a picnic lunch, then –

His reverie was shattered by a screech. Three shinigami appeared out of nowhere, two supporting their fallen comrade, who had taken a wicked slash down his side and into his right thigh. They better have gotten the Hollow that did that. Hitsugaya shuddered briefly. A team rushed out from the Fourth's clinic and took over. He was startled to see Sharon among them. He hadn't seen her actually doing healing; he took Unohana's word for it that she was getting along well. Evidently triage was a part of her training; he watched as she did a quick assessment, then used kido to stop the blood flow and stabilize the injured man for transport. He nodded. She was learning fast. Damn it. There goes lunch. She'll be a while with that one. He sighed and sat.

:What's that she always says? "The best laid plans of mice and men…": Hyourinmaru intoned in the back of Hitsugaya's mind. Heh. "Go oft astray", or something like that. English poetry or some such. What, is this spoiling your plans as well, partner? As if Hyourinmaru didn't have a vested interest. Whenever he had managed to get Sharon on a date, their dragons always seemed to sneak off on their own. Heh. Hyourinmaru would just have to wait. He had waited a long time before he met his mate, a few more hours wouldn't make that much of a difference – and they had a very long lifetime ahead of them here.

A few months. Only a few months ago his world had turned upside down. His zanpakutou had found himself a mate. A partner. A second half. A companion. And with that female dragon had come a female human. Of course things had originally been complicated by the fact that she was living, and married, and a mother – but she had died and legitimately come to Soul Society, and they were together. Except that by the way things had turned out, she had retained much of her memory of her time among the living, and she was understandably reluctant to jump into a "relationship". That meant that she wasn't living in his quarters (much to his annoyance). She insisted that they take it slow – they had all the time in the world to grow a relationship properly, and she needed to concentrate on adapting to Soul Society anyway.

Things weren't simple, of course. She had been flung into Soul Society with a zanpakutou, so it didn't seem proper to make her stay in Rukongai. But she wasn't really a shinigami either, and her zanpakutou, Oshidamaru, had refused to take sword form. So it was difficult to find her a niche within Seireitei. Fortunately, she had been partially trained in medicine while among the living, and Unohana had agreed to see to kido training and placement. She was great at kido techniques but sucked at combat – all combat – and weapons training had been pretty useless. If she eventually were to become a shinigami, the Fourth Division would be her placement anyway.

Hitsugaya leaned back with his hands behind his head. Might as well wait it out here as anywhere. He had already told Matsumoto he was taking the afternoon off and not to bother him unless it were a true emergency (and running out of sake didn't count). She had shot him a dirty look before she realized just what her taichou taking the afternoon off really meant, and then she smiled that knowing smile she got whenever she figured Sharon was involved. He just shook his head at her and smiled back. He really had been more companionable ever since Sharon had come into his life.

Soul Society hadn't been calm of course – everyone in the Gotei 13 had been shocked when Amagai Shusuke had turned out to be a revenge-seeking troublemaker bent on murdering the Sou-Taichou instead of the easygoing shinigami he appeared to be. And suspicions were running high. Anyone who was not a part of the long established structure of Soul Society – anything and anybody new or different – was not really trusted. And who could blame them? Between Amagai and the Aizen betrayal, "trust" was a hard-won commodity these days. So outside the Fourth and Tenth Divisions, Sharon was looked upon with suspicion and fear. Anyone who had a clue about where she had come from who didn't know her well was afraid of her dragon; most simply didn't care for her dry wit and her uncanny resemblance to Abarai Renji when her hair got out of control. She had finally started telling people that if her hair were to behave properly, she'd look a lot more like Nanao-san without the bang and could you please shut up about it! It wasn't her fault her hair was red…

The nicest thing about having supper in, in Hitsugaya's opinion, was being able to relax afterwards. Unless something dramatic had just happened.

"So what sent all those people my way today?" Sharon asked. "I understand it had something to do with one of those noble families… Cassie-something?"

"Kasumi-Ooji. It's been resolved. You don't need to worry about it." They were snuggled up on a couch in his quarters. She liked resting her head on his shoulder, and since she was so much taller than he was, even now, the only way they could do that is if they were reclining.

Sharon wrapped her arm about his waist. "But they said Amagai-taichou died. What happened?"

Just like her to press the issue until I explain everything to satisfy her curiosity. Hitsugaya sighed. "There were two issues going on that turned out to be related. Apparently for years there has been a conspiracy going on within the caretakers of the Kasumi-Ooji family, including assassination attempts against the heir, Lurichiyo-dono – " At this Sharon let out a quiet gasp. "– and the construction of a forbidden type of sword that basically eats the reiatsu of the user."

"Wouldn't that eventually consume the person using the sword? And what happens to the reiatsu that gets collected?"

Hitsugaya didn't want to get into the other side of that issue. "On the other side was Amagai – that's not his real name, by the way – who had a desire for revenge against the Sou-Taichou for killing his father."

"He did what? Did he have proof?" Sharon twisted around to look Hitsugaya in the face.

"Yamamoto-taichou freely admitted that he had done it, in front of us all who were present. But what Amagai didn't know is that Yamamoto had tried several years ago to investigate the Kasumi-Ooji operation but was forbidden to do so by the Central 46. Amagai's father volunteered to go undercover, but in the process was used as a test subject for one of the swords. When he and the sword got out of control, Yamamoto had to kill him."

"So how did that end up getting Amagai killed?"

"Amagai got involved with the Kasumi-Ooji clan leader in charge of the swords and collected the reaitsu-collectors, linking them with his zanpakutou. He would have killed Yamamoto except for Kurosaki beating at him."

"Kurosaki? You mean Kurosaki Ichigo? Rukia's friend? I thought he lived in the real world."

Hitsugaya sighed again. More explanations. "He does. He met Lurichiyo-dono when her guardians tried to hide her in the real world to avoid the assassins, and eventually became her friend and protector. Amagai would have destroyed the Kasumi-Oojis and everything else to fulfill his desire for revenge – and a part of his plan was to use the reiatsu-absorbing ability to prevent Yamamoto or anyone else from using their reiatsu to fight against him. But Kurosaki isn't limited by that when he uses his Hollow form. He just kept fighting and trying to beat some sense into Amagai. When we arrived and told him the rest of the story – why Yamamoto really killed his father – he finally realized the stupidity of what he was doing and suicided."

Sharon was silent for a moment, snuggling closer to his shoulder. "And an awful lot of people got hurt in the process, didn't they." She paused. "Just like that Aizen character. Only he hasn't seen the stupid side of what he's doing yet." He could feel her jaw clench for a minute. "He's the one that hurt your friend, didn't he? Hinamori-san? Screwed up her mind really good. All because he wants to be able to bypass protocol and figure out how to combine reiatsu use and Hollow powers. Mayuri-san tried to explain it to me once – how one such failed experiment a long time ago resulted in Urahara-san and a bunch of high ranking officers fleeing for the real world because they got turned part Hollow – 'visoreds' or something like that. And then Urahara tried to hide the device he was using to do it, but Aizen turned Soul Society upside down and nearly got Rukia killed to get it – and now he's trying the other side, taking Hollows and giving them more power to try to combine things from that end." She shook her head in resignation. "He's so screwed up it isn't funny, and an awful lot of people are still getting hurt in the process."

Hitsugaya just started running his fingers through her hair, gently loosening the band holding it in place. "Why think about that now?" He kissed her gently. "I can think of much better things than that." She smiled, and kissed him back.

Hitsugaya shook himself awake. He had drifted off, daydreaming about running his fingers through that red hair of hers, and the lazy smile was back. He had all kinds of ideas, if she were willing to go along with it. Maybe a late lunch, a spread blanket under the tree…

"And what, pray tell, are you looking so smug about?" Sharon had snuck up behind him and caught the upcurl of his lip. She leaned down and gave him a quick kiss.

"You, of course." Hitsugaya reached up and pulled her down for something more involved than that.

"Stop it! Not here in public!" She pushed him away, but she was grinning widely. He couldn't help wondering just how much she had gone through before, that she could take so much joy in the simplest of loving gestures. But there she was. Everything he did seemed to evoke pleasure in her – a smile, a touch, a kiss, an embrace. She treasured it all, and usually responded enthusiastically.

"Sorry I'm late. Hanatarou-san was showing me how to close that slash wound so that he wouldn't lose function when he healed. If I had tried to close it up wrong or too tight, he would lose part of the thigh muscle due to compartment syndrome." Hitsugaya just got that lightly glazed look he wore whenever she started talking in medical terms. It was usually enough that she got the hint. "Anyway. So what's for lunch? I'm simply starved." He pointed to the basket next to them. "I know you're not a fan of rice, so I found you some lo mein," – her eyes glowed at this – "and some of that Coca-Cola you're always on about. It's become quite popular for some reason." And she probably doesn't realize that its popularity and availability had a lot to do with the fact that she liked it, and therefore people were curious and wanted to try it. And it turns out lots of people like it and there is a strong market for it. It didn't matter. Even something as simple as this brought about that smile he lived for.

Just then a Hell Butterfly came with a message. "Hitsugaya-taichou. Please report immediately to the Sou-Taichou for a conference. If Sharon-san is with you, please bring her. This is an urgent matter." Shit. Just when things were looking good. Hitsugaya's eyebrows resumed their usual crease and his eyes narrowed. This didn't sound good.

Sharon let out a long sigh. "I guess lunch will have to wait, then." She looked longingly at the basket. "I'll just take the Coke and drink it on the way." She snagged the bottle from the basket and took a long swig. "Ah. That helps a bit. What do you think Yamamoto-dono wants?"

Hitsugaya shrugged. Who ever knew? "Not to be kept waiting. Let's go."

AN: Don't be surprised if it takes me a while to put this story up. The first chapter's the only one anywhere near ready yet. But yeah, life just goes downhill from here.

Hitsugaya: What exactly are you getting me into this time?

Satscout: A lotta angst and some much needed resolution (I hope) before it's all over.

Hitsugaya (complete with bulging forehead vein): This had better damn well be worth it...

Satscout: And look what you came out of the last story with as a reward.

Hitsugaya (calming, with sly smile forming around the corner of his lip): Accepted. For now.