Cold Wave (Bleach Lovestory)

Chapter 9 - Reality

"Hey, Tamami!!", someone grabbed her shoulders and shook her body violently.
She gasped, her vision clearing up. Hitsugaya was standing in front of her, he looked... distressed, worried and a bit lost.
Tamami was panting, her lungs filling back with air. She blinked a few times.
"What... happened?"

"'What happened?' You're the one supposed to answer me that! You suddenly zoned out completely and weren't reacting to anything I said. And then... you're nose started bleeding", he slowly let go off her and she rubbed her nose. Surely, her fingers were tainted red when she looked at them.
Wiping the rest off with a tissue Hitsugaya gave her and taking a quick glance around, she found herself still in front of the music shop. Was she dreaming?
Pinching her arm hurt, she was awake.

Hitsugaya watched her carefully, noticing her standing slightly unsteady on her feet. He sighed and held her once again, this time she flinched surprised.
"Let's go home. Whatever just happened, you need some rest."
"I-I'm fine, it's just-"
"You're not. Your body is shaking, you're sweating. If you want, you can tell me later what happened, but not right now", he looked at her strict.
"Okay... but I can walk on my own...", she stepped away from him, her cheeks already starting to burn up again. He nodded and gestured her to start walking.

Her head was swirling with thoughts about the recent events. None of them made any sense and she only got a headache trying to figure them out.
"Arashi?", her zanpaktou was strangely quiet. No comment, no witty remark, just... silence. Was he ignoring her? No, that couldn't be. Did he see the same thing as her?
The one time she wanted him to pester her was when he was gone.

"Watch it!", a hand jerking her back made her tumble backwards into a warm chest.
"The lights are red..."
Tamami looked up at the traffic lights.
"Y-yeah... Sorry, I wasn't looking...", she smiled at him apologetically, but he only avoided her gaze. She gulped, feeling bad for bothering him that much.

He on the other hand wasn't bothered by her at all. The white haired Captain tightened his grip on the black haired girl's hand unconsciously. The last time he was this worried about someone was back with Momo. Now she was fine again, but Tamami... There was something different about her. He knew she wasn't weak, but he felt the need to protect her.

"H-Hitsugaya...?", he looked at her blushing face and wondered what it was this time that made her cheeks redden. She blushed an awful lot around him, he didn't really do anything special though.
"T-The lights are green...", he nodded and muttered something under his breath, inaudible for her.

They walked across the road when suddenly glass shattering was heard and people started screaming. Both of them looked behind them. A hollow was trashing through the crowd of people, invisible to them of course.

"A... hollow?"
"How did we not...", he said through gritted teeth. Before they could react otherwise though, some people rushed past them in panic and tore them apart.
"Tamami!"
It was hard for her the get free, but when she did - ending up on the ground in the process - she watched the helpless humans run away. Hitsugaya was still standing on the road, relieved to see her again, which made her smile.

"Don't let your guard down...", it echoed in her head.
"This... scene...", why was it so familiar to her?
"Another point of view...", and something clicked in her head.
"Watch out!!"

She stood up faster then she could imagine and ran into Hitsugaya's direction, pushing him out of the way with full force by threwing herself at him.
"Oof...! Hey, what the hell-", her arms wrapped around his torso at the loud honking noise behind her.
Hitsugaya went silent in shock as a truck rushed by. Where did it come from? Tamami was running at him before he even saw anything in the corner of his eye.

He felt her flinch at another crash and he shielded her body with his at the next explosion, causing more glass from the windows to fall down.
"Tamami, get up. We need to take care of the hollow before even more get injured."
It took her some time, but she finally nodded and let go of him slowly.
"Ah!", she covered her nose after seeing his shirt tainted slightly red.
"S-sorry!"
"That's not important now. Listen, you go home now while I defeat the hollow", he got up and got out his mod soul, popping it into his mouth to get out of his gigai.
"Escort Tamami home and make sure she gets there safely", he told his lookalike.
"Understood!"

Tamami got no chance to protest as his mod soul helped her up.
"Until later", she watched him jump up on the next building and disappear.
She sighed and let herself get escorted home like she was told.

*Timeskip*

"Let me leave!"
"It was an order, you will stay put until Captain Hitsugaya comes back", Shiro - her chosen name for the 'other Hitsugaya' - told her calmly.
"But they need me!"
Right when they got back to Inoue's home a strong spiritual pressure appeared and swarms of hollows started attacking the city.
Tamami was ready to support the others, but Shiro made it impossible for her to even sneak out secretly.

"Ugh, fine!", their game had been going on for a good ten minutes until she finally admitted defeat and sat down on the couch. He sat down on the floor and kept a close eye on her.
Even though it wasn't the real one, seeing these eyes watching her so intently made her feel all fuzzy and warm inside.
"A-at least look somewhere else..."
He did her the favour and she relaxed again.

She somewhat knew the others didn't need her, but she didn't want to feel useless and also help. She was feeling fine again, the nose bleeding stopped soon after they left and her dizziness too.
She shook her head. Being mad or frustrated wouldn't get her anywhere either.
At least there was time now for something she needed to sort out as quickly as possible.

Tamami took a deep breath and crossed her legs. Her eyes closed automatically and she concentrated.
Opening her eyes again, her surroundings have changed.
She found herself at the bottom of the ocean. The sun glittered through the surface and filled the otherwise dark water with hopeful light.
A few feet away from her was standing a tall figure. His short white hair swayed calmly in the water and jade coloured eyes met ice blue ones, reminding her slightly off a certain other equally looking male.

"Arashi..."
"How nice to see you again, Tamami~", he grinned at her.

"...We need to talk."

_____

*Author's note*

Dear readers,
I had to change the chapter names, because I made a mistake. I hope it's not too confusing :(
I also hope the last chapter makes after this one more sense, but more explanation follows soon.
Also, the character in the picture is supposed to be Arashi. Yes, a guy :D
Stat tuned♡