Sleeping in the Cold

By: WhisperedSilvers

Prompt: "You're a real handful."

Summary: Running. She was always running. —Hitsugaya/Rukia

Her heart is stuck in her throat. Rukia is running. Blood dripping the side of her ribs and her arm is broken into two separate pieces. This is more than just a fracture. She could see purple spots on her elbow and the insides of her left wrist. It isn't in her jurisdiction to run—instinct; it's more like an instinct. Because Ichigo is missing and she doesn't know where the hell Renji and Lieutenant Matsumoto went.

She couldn't even trace their reiatsu.

Rukia destroyed that damn hollow, but more and more of the same hollows are starting to appear. They are roaring, shrieking and splintering trees into sawdust. She chokes when she inhales dust, eyes watering and her throat scratching.

Gods, she needs a fucking drink.

When Head-Captain Yamamoto recommended her for the hollow extermination in the World of the Living—she didn't think he meant kill or be killed. Because in the end, that's what it came down to—her destroying hollows and Ichigo running around to save the day—except this time, she didn't know where Ichigo was located.

So she runs.

She needs help, because she's pretty sure that her broken ribs are about to puncture a lung, and she needs those lungs of hers to breathe—function properly.

Trees blur her vision, she dodges a claw that swipes, cutting the air and brushing the side of her sleeve. She chokes when the hand slams onto the earth, crumbling the ground like sandpaper and she jumps—her hair whipping her face in small bursts.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Rukia swears when she rolls over to her side, she grabs her hand with her pointer finger, "Bakudo Sixty-One: Rikujōkōrō!"

Six rods of light impale the hollow with quick blasts and instantly he freezes as the poles impale him. He howls and he's screaming—she winces at the high-pitch noise. She stands up breathing hard and fast. She can't run anymore—it is not as if she could, at least physically—but mentally she could run to hell and back in circles. Because running will cause her ribs to really puncture her lungs.

With her injured arm she grabs her zanpakuto, intent on slaying the hollow, she snarls lifting her zanpakuto and she's just about to stab the beast—the slightest tilt in her movement crushes an organ and then she's coughing blood.

A punctured lung and it's filling with blood quickly—too quickly that she's starting to see black stars.

"Sit upon the Frosted Heavens: Hyorinmaru!" A voice pulsed with reiatsu pulsed throughout the forest, ice blasting in tendrils strangling the beast—the beast shattering into glitter.

Relief washes onto her to the point where it's almost painful. Her knees are limp and she kneels towards the ground coughing blood, the sticky liquid comes out in small splatters and she tries to breathe through her nose and not her mouth. A headache begins to pulse throughout her temples from the lack of oxygen—she needs to gather her wits and focus.

Hitsugaya walks toward her with quick steps, he leans down and grabs her across her forearms and she sits up, he swears when he sees the blood drenching the sides of her ribs, "You're a real handful, Kuchiki."

Purple orbs are hazy and she can barely make out just who exactly is in front of her, but she registers the comment and smiles awkwardly, "Sorry Captain."

He rolls teal orbs and pulls her up—she yelps flinching away from him, "Ribs, punctured lung—not so high!"

He sighs with more of exasperation than anger, "You need to sit up or the blood will rush to your mouth—nose,"

"S'not like I need to breathe."

Hitsugaya wants to laugh, but he thinks the situation is too morbid and too dire and too entirely inappropriate, for him to even allow a small shred of amusement to escape the confines of his mouth. So he settles for a half smirk, where his teeth are white and visible, and his cheekbones are bit more defined than she's used to. "Kurosaki and Lieutenant Abarai are in three-way deadlock, Matsumoto is on her way to assist them."

The relief pronounces itself onto her face, the grimace disappearing with the words that are hiding in his sentence—safe.

"That's good," Rukia murmurs, "Just give me a minute."

She needs a moment to collect herself—to control her breathing and her thoughts.

He feels like he needs to say something to distract her from the pain and he tries to rake his brain for something to say because he can't stay in the awkward silence he thinks he is in. "How many hollows did you destroy?"

"Seventy-five."

Hitsugaya is sure that his eyebrows are stuck to his hairline, he makes a sound of approval, "That's a lot, even for a Lieutenant."

"Ichigo promised me ice cream if I exterminate a lot more hollows than he does," Rukia slurs, blinking slowly, she doesn't notice the way his grip on her arms tightens nor does she notice the way his teeth grit.

Ichigo gets on his nerves in more ways than one, always dragging others into his situations; "The substitute is bribing you with sweets?"

She makes a sound of acknowledgment, "Told him he was going to grow bald if he kept fighting with me—"

He blinks trying to understand the—she's hallucinating; she needs help because she lost way too much blood and she can't think properly.

Hitsugaya slowly lifts her up wincing at the small yelps over her bones snapping, "We need to get you to Urahara's, you're losing your wits—up."

Rukia is finally standing; he lifts a hand under her knees and keeps most of her weight in her hips.

Blinking she opens her mouth to protest, "What about Renji and Ichigo—"

He cuts her off with a scowl, "They can handle themselves, and you're not going."

"But—"

"That is an order, Kuchiki."

Rukia sighs, but decides not to bother. He uses shunpo to reach the shop and she can barely tell where the trees began and where it ends. When the house is in her peripheral vision, she allows herself to slump against strong arms, but then a hand tangles itself in her hair, he yanks her back, so her eyes are locked onto his and growls, "No, you are not allowed to sleep."

"Why?"

"You lost too much blood. Stay awake."

"Tired," She mumbles, her eyes are drooping, but the hand in her hair is tighter and tighter.

"I know," He reminds her, "Just don't sleep… and I'll buy you ice cream."

Rukia's eyes snap open and suddenly, she's wide-awake. She blinks rapidly and looks at him with incredulity, "Wha—What? Really?"

A pause, "Yeah."

"Why?" She breathes.

Hitsugaya wants to answer, but he does not know why he even offers a bit of his pay to help out the Lieutenant of Squad Thirteen. It irritates him that he cannot answer his own question, so he thinks. He releases the grip on her hair and replies slowly, "Why not?"

She is flabbergasted, she cannot think of a rational thought, because the oxygen in her brain is quite scarce and her eyes are wide with confusion—she notices the pink on his ears and decides not to voice her thoughts. "I-I mean, you don't have to do that Captain Hitsugaya—I'm sure you have more important things to—"

"Kuchiki," He looks at her with bright teal orbs and she loses the words in her mouth, "Don't question your Captain."

She snaps her mouth shut and turns away—she couldn't go back to sleep now, because his words bother her and there is so much chaos that is running through her mind, that she doesn't speak and looks at the blurring objects in front of her.

Hitsugaya notices that she's suddenly very quiet and when he looks down to see that she is still awake and very much alert—but he also notices the pink that brushes the tips of her ears.

There is a subtle curl of the lips, but neither of them notices either of their faint smiles.