"What Best Friends are for."

A Bleach Fan Fiction.

Written by trekkiexb5.

Hitsugaya/K. Kurosaki friendship. Rated T for language.

Based on BLEACH THE MOVIE 2: DIAMOND DUST REBELLION.

SYNOPSIS: He wouldn't put it past a Kurosaki to blackmail him into putting them into danger: DDR.

DISCLAIMER: If Bleach was mine, episode 132 would be canon. And you would be seeing MUCH more of the "side" characters than Ichigo.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Otherwise henceforth known as the Author's Rant. If you wanna skip it, go ahead. It's on your head that you won't know why the author finds Hinamori the worst character in the series. Go to the line of repeating X's both capitalized and not and read away.

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Ok, just the fooli…err the HIGHLY INTELLIGENT people are left. Here we go:

I LOVE the character of Hitsugaya. Of all the Gotei 13, he is the most interesting to get into the mind of. Though Gin is looking really good due to recent manga developments. Toshiro is a character that could be played one-dimensional, as Hiyori is. You know the type, bratty snotty kiddie I-know-it-alls that plague modern fiction and are used usually for laughs. But he is not, and I thank Tite Kubo for that from the bottom of my heart. While he gets more screenplay than most of the Captains, it isn't enough, and when I finally saw the movie last month, in junction with episode 132, it inspired me.

Stating I never even had any desire to see a match up with any character OC or otherwise until episode 132. Thank you nameless anime story writer for giving us that non-canon but beautifully sweet little story. If it was Tite…why the hell isn't it canon already?

WHY NO KKxTH? I will state for a fact I FIRMLY support the romance between these two characters. Just not at 11 years old. Which, despite all his genius, he is in human years. Call me old fashioned. Why not just jump ahead to the mushy parts? The fun part of a romance is the build up.

WHY with the Himamori hate? She's so vanilla. Sorry, she is. Stereotypical obsessed one-sided unrequited love with a man she REFUSES to see as the most evilly emancipative person that ever existed. Sorry, been there, read that. As a person who has seen the scary side of mental health, she is someone who would be drugged up and locked away in a permanent mental health facility. There are people who can be helped, and there are people who refuse to be help. I know of a friend who is like that, and she doesn't take her meds and her whole family suffers when she refuses reality even when it is staring at her. My patience with her died a few years ago, and when I started watching Bleach, Himamori acts EXACTLY like her.

She will be mentioned, she will be remarked and even in a story in the future at some point, hey, I might be resigned to "fix" her, but she shouldn't be the center of Toshiro's universe. He deserves better.

JAPANESE LANGUAGE: I am an English speaking person who likes speaking English but is horrid with other languages. I do have a lot of respect for other cultures, though. Here are my rules with anime fan fiction: Names of ordinary objects that have an English equivalent will be in English. Such as Captain and Soul Reaper (I do confess I like shinigami better). Names of objects that have no English base, such as tabi, Kimono or are a proper noun, such as peoples' names, will remain in Anglicized Japanese.

Kubo gave a TON of terms to learn when watching this series, adding whole Japanese phrases, in my opinion, detracts from the story, especially if the reader is constantly looking the words up. I generally stop reading stories if I have to break out the Japanese dictionary.

Speaking of which, the phrase "Sit upon the Frozen Heavens," I never liked. "Reign over the Frozen Heavens" has more impact and FAR more regal. I dislike changing Canon too much, but this one, you are going have to let it slide. This story remains parallel to canon as much as possible, just that the times are stretch a little.

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This story is First Person POV: Hitsugaya.

Diamond Dust Rebellion is a must see, and 132 would be nice. I'm placing DDR a few months before the Winter War.

THANKS TO:

MY HUSBAND, who put up with ENDLESS repeats of DDR and me stopping every 15 seconds and blathering about whether the subtitled or dubbed version is better. At 2 am.

TO MY BETA: and bestest friend, Stephanie. She has put up with my run on and one sentence paragraphs for over two decades. Bless her, I don't deserve her.

TO DONALD: No football is NOT more important than anime. You lived in Japan for how many years and you haven't figured it out yet? Geez.

TO BLEACHWIKI: THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! You guys have been my reference for spelling, and backgrounds.

Finally, to Lady Callista, Ryfee and especially Etiena's stories. "Catalyst" is on my lists at the top of "Best Story Ever" and has me imaging how the story will end. May this story be half as good as those ones.

And now for the Letter line.

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Prologue:

Damn, Damn, DAMN!

What was I supposed to do? It was pure chance that Squad 10 pulled the Ouin guard duty. It was supposed to be Squad 9's turn, but those three traitors…

DAMN…Momo!

I know I shouldn't have chased after the thief, or at least gave orders to Matsumoto, but when he stabbed me I felt the icy tentacles of the past; I felt the familiar spirit…

The false one, they told me. I was the true one.

Wasn't I?

45 years…NOW I question? Why haven't I questioned it before? Why didn't I ask?

Damn it to HELL!

Again, the traitors' past actions would make it impossible to return to the Seireitei, now. The minute I impulsively chose this route, I lost EVERYTHING. I knew it too, and I did it anyways, to forsake my oaths. I lost my few friends and many comrades, my honor, my Haori. But I knew I had to do this alone. I felt it this was my only choice.

Wasn't it?

It doesn't matter, the Old Man's righteous paranoia will rule the day in the end. Stupid old people! They never think, and they judge with tradition rather than facts; and he is famous for doing that.

I am alone in this, as it should be. No one else should carry a burden that is mine alone to carry. Rangiku would have followed me in this all the way to the gates of hell and beyond, but she doesn't deserve this, not after Gin. Though it would look like I am just another Gin. Or Tosen.

Or Aizen.

DAMN!

No, no…I must do this alone…but the wound; it cut deeper than I first realized. I feel the pain, and it is quickly sapping my strength. I have been injured worse and survived to walk away from the battlefield with little or no issues; why is this one so draining? I cannot seem to be able to heal myself, and being in the world of the living; getting a gigai will be next to impossible. Urahara wouldn't turn me in, but he would most certainly stick his nose in my business. No gigai.

Hell.

This damnable wound is so draining; I am starting to wonder if I am poisoned, and my prey is long since disappeared. Kusaka…damn! Why now? This is something that is happening so close to war. Another one of Aizen's psychological games?

I am disorientated, but I manage to focus keeping a firm lock on my reiatsu. It was the very first thing I learned at the academy, and I excelled at it. I would never harm a loved one with my spiritual pressure alone.

?

Soifon put a barrier. Not surprising but I hoped she would be slower in responding. Damn! I am too close to her. I am on the outside of her kido barrier. Probably preserving the crime scene, but she will widen her interests soon. Her stealth force dogs may already be here sniffing outside the barrier. Damn the world, it is becoming blurry and fuzzy. I...I cannot shunpo anymore…

I drop to the ground rather ungracefully from the above the treetops. I have to get away, but I cannot remember which way the barrier is. I need to leave. They will follow me and…

Damn.

Ichigo is here, too? Damn that kid! Stupid damnable Kurosaki idiocy doesn't need to be involved…

"It's snowing?"

"No. He must have been hiding his spiritual pressure."

Now the Quincy boy is here, too? Damn my karma! They are nearby…

God damned world is spinning…I see two figures ahead of me…My control is slipping… Blackness creeps into my vision…

For a second time today, the ground rushes up to me, this time, not so gentle landing.

"Toushirou!"

Before the blackness consumes me, I wonder if should correct him and I wonder if I now have the right.

Damn you Kusaka! Even if I win, you will still win!