The Ice Warriors

Chapter 5- Likes and past regret..

Utikate's pov

"Someone...he likes?"..Haku asked, very confused..

He obviously hadn't caught onto the hidden meaning of what I was referring to..

"Yes...likes as in....." I hesitated before continuing..Haku was only 15 years old...I blushed..he might not understand what I mean as he..

Haku finally caught onto what I meant "Oh..you mean..someone he..has romantic feelings for?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean.." I replied, slightly embarrassed..

Haku chuckled to himself, his long, brown hair blowing in the wind..I also noticed he was blushing a little... "and who is the lucky person?"

"Well..that's the thing..His pride as a soul reaper stops him admitting he has feelings for her..but to me, Captain Kyoraku

and a few other individuals within the soul society...It's pretty obvious he likes her.....although we probably shouldn't be talking about him behind his back like this.." I smiled, laughing slightly in an embarrased way.

Haku looked eager for me to continue..,so I continued..

"Her name is Momo Hinamori...she's the soul reaper who protected you and sent you to the soul society".

Haku's eyes widened in suprise.."What???"

Toshiro's pov

I finally saw the gateway to the Precipice World and ran as fast as I could, keeping Momo close to me...

I looked into her gentle face, her eyes were closed and her purple hair blew in the wind...

I realised then..how much I valued her...as not only a subordinate.. but as a friend...she had always been kind to me..always..No..not just to me...

she had been kind and friendly to everyone...Without her existence in the soul society.. everyone would suffer...everyone....

Why though? Why was I thinking about this now??? I couldn't clear my head...

Usually I can focus on assignments such as this one without worrying about her...but...

...The way she calls me Shiro-kun all the time.....

..

The way she smiles...

The way she laughs...

I shook my head...why was I feeling this now?..I felt my face go red...

Haku's pov

"Seriously...? Momo...as in....?" My eyes widened in surprise..

The captain nodded.." The soul reaper who rescued you...yes..."

"I see..." I smiled.. Momo...She had seemed very kind and friendly and yet very skilled at the same time..."and...how does she feel...?" I asked, before I could stop myself..

The captain noticed that I hadn't thought about saying what I had just said but just laughed it off..."heehe...Well.." he sweat dropped.. "..A lot of us here believed that she used to have a kind of a crush on a former captain...though...she wouldn't openly admit it. Now, she definitely wouldn't admit it as the said Captain was actually.. well...he was evil and manipulated an evil plan within the Soul Society...we didn't know about it until later.." The captain looked down, a look of regret on his face..

"If we'd known earlier...then maybe..." I saw the sadness in his face, a sadness I had never noticed before.. a sadness hidden by a smile before that had concealed that sadness..

He fell silent for a while and seemed to stare into the distance for a while..What had happened with the former captain gone rogue? I thought to myself, It must have been pretty terrible

..I looked over anxiously at the Captain.. His face looked more pale than it had when he had been coughing up blood previously..I looked down..I hoped I hadn't hurt his feelings. I cursed myself internally for not thinking before asking about Momo's love life.. It was very insensitive of me..and very out of character.. Master would have been annoyed with me for saying such a thing....

Utitake's POV

....I sat silently next to young Haku...I really shouldn't have brought that up....Aizen. Damn him. The whole carry on with Aizen and the Arancars had caused an uproar in the soul society...an uproar that had really hurt Momo..Momo had a lot of conflicted feelings about fighting Aizen and his army..she did so anyway but still, it hurt her inside

I sighed..I could empathise with her.. there was a child in the army of Arancars ..at least one child..and it tormented me inside fighting a child..even if they were on the enemies' side..

..They were still a child..

Why...? Why had Aizen even wanted a war with the soul society in the first place...? He was intelligent enough not to start a war and yet he planned for one to happen..If only we had noticed some kind of hint, something that would warn us of the then upcoming danger..

but we were all oblivious to it.....

I frowned ..Never mind that..We have to prevent such a problem occurring again..I looked over at Haku who was looking rather confused at my sudden silence.

I didn't blame the boy, It was quite odd that I had suddenly become silent in the middle of an explanation.

"I'm sorry Haku..." I said, apologetically, I turned to the 15 year old who was looking over at me, concerned.

He responded, however by simply smiling gently "It's all right, Captain...I'm sorry if I upset you...It was very inconsiderate of me to ask about the love life of your fellow Soul reaper"...He looked down, seemingly worried that he'd hurt my feelings..

I smiled..He was young..and simply curious , yet he had a certain sensibleness and politeness about him.. It was so sad he had had to be sent here so young...

"It's fine, Haku..." I smiled gently

"Yeah...about Momo...despite the issue with Captain Aizen, I'm sure deep down, she feels something for Toshiro, I mean Captain Hitsugaya..I mean the two of them have known each other since they were children..and she still calls him 'Shiro-kun' like she did when they were kids" I laughed and Haku chuckled a bit..

"Toshiro tells her not to say it ...but I'm sure deep down he actually likes it whenever she says it"

Toshiro's POV

Suddenly I heard a cough and gasp for breath..

"S...Shiro-k..un.."

Her bloodstained lips moved..

Wait a second....Her..HER LIPS MOVED?? I gasped..

"Damn it, Momo..what did you call me??" I turned away, flustered...

I felt her pulse....

It was very faint..but I could still feel it..

I smiled to myself secretly...If she could say that, she was alive...

Thank goodness...I thought....Tears fell from my cheeks, obscuring my vision.. I wiped them away quickly so Momo wouldn't see them...

Thank goodness you're alive..

I didn't want her to see I'd been crying.. Me, a captain of the Thirteen Court Guard squads of the soul society, crying?? . .So I wiped my eyes with my hand, dashed forward and faster with the knowledge that there was still time...She was alive..

She was alive...

I looked forward and looking down for a second, I could have sworn although completely out of it, she smiled up at me..