Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach

Legend: Talking, Thinking, Cat's talking

Warning: slight, vile language

A/N: This the shortest chapter I had ever written because this is like the follow up of the previous chapter.

For You, A Thousand Times Over

by The Chrysanthemum

Chapter 10- Healing Process

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Hitsugaya's world stopped spinning. Her hands fell down, limply by her side. He stumbled away from her, hazed and for the first time in ten years, he truly felt frightened. He was almost scared to speak. Almost.

"What did you say?" he whispered too harshly, his fists clenched tightly by his side.

Hinamori's head pounded like multiple iron nails constantly slashing their way to her skull. Her ears ranged and basically, everything from her head to her toe, intensely ached. She could barely hear him but she saw his lips move. She was surprised that she was still conscious and she forced her eyes to stay open.

"What?" she tilted her head, confused.

Hitsugaya stepped closer, so close that he could smell her scent that daily plagued his deepest dreams. Jasmine with hints of ripe peaches and cinnamon. He knew that his mind was not playing some cruel trick on him. He swore as his position as Tenth Division Captain that he heard his name slipped past her lips. Unclenching his fists, he tried to remain under control. His spiritual energy were emanating from his body in waves and he inwardly cursed for his emotional state but at this point, he could care less.

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The headache suddenly dulled to a throbbing pulse. Everything became clear and Hinamori blinked in bewilderment. What just happened? She looked up and recognized the person standing directly at her. She squinted and brought her hands to her face, shielding her vision from the sun. She didn't even notice the small goosebumps covering her arms or the sudden drop in temperature.

Toshiro wanted to tear his hair out in frustration. She didn't seem to recall her previous word that she uttered and it drove him mad to unable to verify what she had said. Gritting his teeth and out of a resentful whim, he ran away. He flashed stepped away from her and appeared a hundred meters away from the school ground. His feet landed on the pavement of a park and he shut his eyes as he leaned on a light pole.

"Hmm. Mints," Momo muttered when a brief wind fluttered her hair and disappeared as though it never appeared in the first place. Her chest throbbed and she felt a great loss over... something?

"Someone," a tiny voice whispered inside of her head.

Hitsugaya ran his fingers through his hair and he could hear Hyourinmaru's disapproving growls at his cowardly action. He just ran away!

"I know, I know." he snarled at him. "You don't have to remind me."

Momo pulled herself up and gathered her things that were scattered around the roof. Then, with a last glance behind her back, she opened the door and went down the stairs.

"What are you afraid of?" Hyourinamaru queried, prying into his mind. "Are you afraid that she would not remember you? Is that what's troubling you so much?"

Hitsugaya sighed. Hyourinmaru knew him well. Too well to be honest. There are some things that he wanted to keep it only to himself and this was one of them.

"I don't know," he admitted. He admitted that seeing Momo in flesh and not her grave in Soul Society, brought a new-found hope inside his chest; fluttering like a butterfly inside his stomach and he wasn't surprised that her effect on him still hasn't worn off after so many years. If only, it intensified. It also aggravated him that she wouldn't simply recognized him and he felt shame at the same time feeling anger towards her because of her loss memories.

"You heard it, right?" Hitsugaya mumbled, so unlike him to be insecure and fear coursed through his veins. What if his mind did play a cruel trick?

"What do you mean?"

"She said..." he paused then continued. "She said my name."

Hitsugaya felt Hyourinmaru let out a tiny, briefest smile a dragon could pull and that was all that he needed to pushed himself off from the pole and transformed back to his human form. Courage blossomed inside of him dissipating the previous fear he had.

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A/N: By the way, I hope you guys are having a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!