-sigh- I'm pitiful. I've decided to discontinue my other story Fear in Mind for now. Real sad really since I only had two chapters left and I had already finished half of the third. I'm not having writer's block or anything but it's just too hard and I'm not really liking the way that the story is going. When - not if - I start it again, I'll probably end up rewriting the half of the second chapter.

This is just one of the two stories that I'm writing now. The other one will be posted sometime later this week. This was originally two seperate stories, but after thinking it over, neither of them made sense on its own so I combined the two. I'm really happy about the way it's going so far so hope you enjoy and... Review!

Black and White

Chapter 1: Blur in Between

"Massacre! Execution!"

"Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

"…No…"

---

"You knew all along, didn't you?"

His heart was racing.

That reiatsu…

He didn't think that he had ever gone that fast before.

It can't be…

His feet didn't even touch the tiles before it was off again.

That bastard.

He was too focused on what was before him.

"Aizen…" he growled.

Sure enough, standing in front of him was none other than the traitor himself. A nonchalant expression was plastered on his face, one that did not seem to befit the situation.

"My, Hitsugaya-kun, you must have really missed me," he said, the same uncaring tone in his voice. "You've easily picked up my reiatsu and arrived a lot faster than I expected." He grinned, "Truly the incarnation of a heavenly being said to come down once every thousand year—"

"Cut the crap," spat Hitsugaya. "What's your purpose here?"

Aizen chuckled in response. "Wouldn't that be obvious Hitsugaya-kun—haven't you noticed? Me, being one of the most wanted traitors of Soul Society, and yet there isn't another shinigami in sight?"

Then it hit him – Aizen was right. He had been so focused on tracking his reiatsu that he hadn't noticed. Surely the alarms would have sounded by now.

Kyoka Suigetsu must have masked his reiatsu from everyone else but him.

He cursed. It was a bloody trap.

"Fine," he said. "What do you want from me?"

His question seemed to disappoint the man as he shook his head. "Hitsugaya-kun, it shouldn't be that hard, now, should it? You are a prodigy after all."

Clang

"Well now, it seems that you have gotten better since the last time we fought," he remarked. Hitsugaya's zanpakutou parrying the blow that was meant for his back. "But I would rather get this done as soon as possible."

A bright flash of light caught him off guard. His head hit a wall as he was propelled by a massive wave of energy.

Hitsugaya felt himself losing consciousness, but before he could fall into the darkness that was beckoning him, a hand clasped around his neck, threatening to deprive him of oxygen should he decide to struggle, and pinned him to the wall. A small, circular object was held in front of him.

His eyes widened and he gasped.

The Hongyouku…

"What I want, Hitsugaya-kun… is power."

His world blacked out before he could even feel the pain.

"And you're going to deliver it to me…"

---

"Taichou…" a soft voice called, poking a small bundle. "Taichou…"

The small bundle of white (though you really couldn't tell with all the other 'whites') stirred slightly but made no response of waking up. A low moan came from the bundle, further disproving of getting up.

"Taichou," Matsumoto repeated, poking harder this time, "wake up already!"

This time, it proved fruitful. Another moan was heard before a turf of white hair poked out from behind the large stacks of paperwork followed by a pair of groggy, teal eyes.

"What… Matsumoto…?"

"Taichou," Matsumoto pouted, "didn't you hear what I said?"

Hitsugaya scoffed. "Matsumoto, I have paperwork to do because a certain someone is too lazy too. So unless you get your lazy butt going and actually do something productive, I have no interest in whatever you say."

"Well anyway," she continued, ignoring the glares her captain was giving her, "Rukia-chan, invited Abarai-kun, who invited Ikkaku and Yumichika, who in turn invited me to go with them on a mission to the Living World. So that means that you'll be coming too Taichou! You know, I can't wait to go shopping! Everything's going to be so cheap there…"

Hitsugaya tuned Matsumoto out. He didn't need to hear about all the human world clothing that she was going to buy and all the things that she was going to do when she got there, especially when his mind was still too foggy to comprehend everything. He was more preoccupied with the stacks of paperwork at hand which had suspiciously gotten taller while he was asleep.

Suddenly, all cloudiness disappeared when something clicked in the prodigy's mind.

"MATSUMOTO!"

But she was already gone.