AN: Hey everyone!

Long time, no fanfic! XD So here's another Hitsuhina fanfic. I've had this idea for a while, but there were a lot things going on in my life and I was having this massive debate on an essential part of the plot. Anyway, I've made up my mind and I now know what I am going to do.

I apologize in advance for any OOCness you may find, I was never good at keep everyone in character, but I try my best. Also for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes _ ;

Hope you guys enjoy this first chapter! :D

Disclaimer: I own this ice cream, this spoon, this bowl, these drawings I'm currently working on, this page of 'If the Shoe Fits…', this laptop and that floorboard over there, Tite Kubo owns BLEACH and it's characters.

The Last 24 Hours

Prologue: When the Clock Hand Ticks Over

"Shiro-chan, you're late!"

The white haired captain simply rolled his eyes at the statement made b his childhood friend. "Were you called here too, bed-wetter?"

Momo flushed at the nickname. "Yes, I was. What do think this is about? Did you detect that hollow this morning? I wasn't even sure it was there because it's presence disappeared so quick. I wonder if we're being called in about it. I knew you were coming, but I didn't know about anyone else."

At that, Toshiro turned serious. Knowing the old man it was probably a mission. He'd sensed a hollows presence earlier, but he presumed that someone had been sent to eliminate it, as it's spiritual pressure was gone within a few seconds of making itself known to the captain. It was a few minutes later that he had received a message from a hell butterfly to meet at the first division assembly hall.

His eyes focused back on Momo. She suddenly looked nervous, as if she wanted to say something. "Um, Hitsugaya-kun-"

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho."

"-I just wanted to say thank you for your help with my division's paperwork. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't help." She smiled gratefully at him.

His eyebrow twitched. He remembered how that had come to be. 'Why the hell didn't she ask? If I hadn't caught her up late last night, she would be the one who was late.' "How did you end up getting so much paperwork?"

"It's my recovery," she said "I've been having a few headaches after I was let out of the twelfth division, so I've had to have a nap every now and then. Recently, I haven't been getting many headaches, thank goodness. I haven't been able to get much work done, sadly. However, I'm just glad to be out of bed and walking around. I'm glad I can talk to everyone, and that a lot of burdens have been lifted from my shoulders."

Toshiro inwardly winced at the last statement. She had had so many burdens, so many he wished he could have lifted for her and carried them away. He knew how heavy they were for her, he had had some burdens of his own.

Those burdens had become considerably lighter.

Still…

…they were there, dwelling on the edges of his heart and mind.

"Hitsugaya-taicho and Momo-fukutaicho."

Both shinigami turned towards the old captain. They both bowed. While Momo said "Yamammato-Sotaicho." Toshiro said "Commander."

"This is an urgent mission," Yamammoto continued as they both rose from their bow. "I trust you detected a hollow's presence this morning?"

"Uh, yes," Momo said with a nod.

"I thought it had been eliminated," Toshiro spoke up.

"No, we hadn't sent anyone to eliminate it. However, from what we can gather in the lower districts of the Rukongai, this is a powerful hollow. It has moved off from the Soul Society, but is still a growing threat. We asked you, Hinamori-fukutaicho, and you Hitsugaya-taicho, to deal with this threat. I realise that you have recently come out of recovery, Hinamori-fukutaicho, but your abilities in kido will be of some help. It would be wise to take some of your division members with you."

"Where was the hollow last detected?" Toshiro asked.

"It is off in the north-east from the Sereitei, that is all we have been able to identify. Dismissed"

With that, both shinigami bowed once again and left. They both agreed to meet at the hisagashi daishoheki (sacred eastern wall).Toshiro flash-stepped back to the tenth division barracks, and requested a few of the higher seated member join him. He went to his office, not surprised to find his lazy lieutenant dozing on the couch with a bottle of sake slowly sliding from her grasp.

He sighed impatiently as he felt a vein throbbing out of his forehead. "Matsumoto…"

Rangiku didn't wake up. Instead she grasped the sake bottle tighter in her hand and brought it to her chest and hugged it as if it were a teddy bear. "My…My sake….Ugh…"

"Matsumoto!"

She leapt up into a seating position with a start. She yelped as she saw her captain standing at the other end of the couch clearly annoyed. "Taicho, you scared me!"

"That's what you get for sleeping on the job," he grumbled.

"But a girl needs her beauty sleep!" Rangiku further exclaimed. "And what if when I jumped out I became exposed? My boobs would have popped right out and be seen by the whole world!"

"Yeah, I'm sure you would have done that if it were someone else here," Toshiro continued to grumbled. "Anyway, we have a mission…"

After explaining the mission, Rangiku became serious. "I felt the hollow presence as well. If everyone in the Sereitei felt it, then this must be a truly powerful hollow." Rangiku rushed to her quarter's and grabbed Hanieko, and then met her captain and the other division members at the hisagashi daishoheki. It wasn't long before Momo arrived with a few fifth division members. They set off beyond the Soul Society to the forests that bordered around the Rukongai.

They slowed down to a walk, keeping their eyes open for any signs of the hollow. None felt the presence of a hollow, and there wasn't any evidence to suggest that anything had been through the forest.

However, Toshiro was on the alert, completely in tune with his surroundings. His icy turquoise eyes scanned all round him, trying to find any clues. His hand was dangerously close to Hyourinmaru's hilt, ready to draw his zanpukto out at the sight of any hollow. His steps were light, his feet ready to leap into the air if he had to.

"I don't see anything," Momo spoke up quietly. "Do you think…it would be best if we split up?"

Everyone stopped turned to the fifth division lieutenant and tenth division captain in front of her. Seeing as the white haired captain seemed to be the leader of the group, they left it for him to decide.

"I think Hinamori has a point," Rangiku said. "We'd cover more ground that way, and one of us is bound to find the follow. How about me and Momo and" –she pointed to of her division members –"you two come with us. Taicho, you take the rest with you. We'll head off in the north and east, you can take the south and west."

Toshiro frowned. He trusted Rangiku, but with Momo having just recovered, he didn't want to leave her life in the hands of chance. What if the hollow just suddenly came out of nowhere and ambushed them? Could he take this chance? Then again, Rangiku was pretty observant, and she'd be able to detect the presence of the hollow from a mile away. While he'd come to a decision, he couldn't get over the feelings and thoughts running through his head. He sounded like he didn't trust anyone in his own division with Momo, except for himself.

"Fine," he agreed "Should one of us find the hollow we'll use a kido signal to alert the other group. Everyone stay with your groups and don't move away…" He was directing the last part particularly at his own men who were with Rangiku and Momo. His gaze turned into a glare at the two men who were to accompany the lieutenants. "Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" they all said with a slight bow, with the two men the captain had been glaring at giving a slightly nervous tone away in their response.

With that, the two groups left off in separate directions. All was quiet in Toshiro's group, everyone too afraid to say anything in front of the captain. Rangiku was starting up conversations as if her current situation wasn't at all dangerous.

"You know I'm surprised taicho agreed to the idea," Rangiku said putting her hands behind her head and leaning back slightly.

Momo looked to the overly-relaxed lieutenant. "What do you mean, Rangiku-san?"

Rangiku grinned and closed her eyes. "Come on, Hina-chan! You know what I mean! I thought taicho would have wanted to go with you and have me go with the others…but he's being as stubborn as ever." She muttered the last part to herself, but Momo heard her.

She felt a small amount of heat in her cheeks. "I'm not sure that completely true. Hitsugaya-kun knows I'll be okay, and I'm perfectly fine to fight. But, I…"

Rangiku opened one eye to look at her friend when she trailed off. The strawberry blonde's grin dropped. She was surprised to see a thoughtful and sad look on the girl's face. "Hinamori, are you okay?"

"I just wish that I could protect him just as much as he has done for me," she whispered. She looked to Rangiku again, a smile stretching across her lips. "I'm just glad that I can see him again and that we can move on from the past. I was always worried that he'd find the air awkward between us after the winter war."

"Awkward? Why awkward?" Rangiku questioned.

"Well, it's just…for a while I thought he had meant to stab me." Her hand rose to the place where Hyourinmaru had sliced through her. All that remained of that fatal injury was a thin, pale scar. "I was silly, though, because it was when you and Shiro—I mean, Hitsugaya-kun, finally came to visit me that I thought 'Why would he stab me and hate me when he came to see me?' I found out from the twelfth division that you and he came to check on me regularly. That only made me realise how much of a fool I was to suspect he has meant to stab me. It was an accident, I know that now…"

Rangiku smiled. Then she sensed the gaze of the two men behind them. She turned her head ot them. "If you two say a word about this conversation to taicho-"

"Heh, we already know about that," one of them said rolling his brown eyes.

The other scratched his head. "Yeah, it's not like it's a secret, you know. Everyone practically knows about-"

At that point Momo felt something slap over her ears and the voice of the tenth division member became muffled. She looked to either side of herself, seeing Rangiku had her hands over the Momo's ears and the blonde's head was still turned to her division members. Momo heard Rangiku's voice exclaiming something, but she couldn't make it out.

'Why doesn't she want me to hear?' Momo thought, bowing her head in confusion. 'Or more like…What doesn't she want me to hear?'

After a moment Rangiku removed her hands from the girl's ears.

She heard something louder and clearer than any of the muffled conversation, which had now stopped…

…once the howl had been unleashed.

The howl of a hollow.

Rangiku's hands left Momo's ears, a shocked expression on her face as she looked forward.

Momo followed her gaze, feeling a jolt of surprise run through her once her eyes met the sight in front of the group.

How could she have not noticed it before?

There, in a large clearing, was the hollow. It was huge, its height reaching above the trees around them. Its skull, bull head was bowed down, the yellow, pupil-less eyes staring at them. The rest of its body was that of a snake, with white, bony, gleaming scales coverings it from the neck to its three tails that split off half way down the belly. The spiritual pressure it radiated off itself was incredible.

It let out another howl, causing the group to draw their zanpukto. Rangiku cringed under the deep bellow, but ran forward with Haineko in hand. Momo and the men followed in suit, ready to strike down the hollow. The hollow swiped out its tails to the oncoming shinigami. Rangiku and Momo gasped and reacted just in time, barely dodging the tails. However, one of the men weren't as lucky. He was sent flying away from the area once the tail smacked him in the stomach.

The lieutenants and last tenth division member were separated at great distances. Momo found herself at the edge of the clearing, while Rangiku was right in front of the hollow. Rangiku dodged another attack from one of the tails f the hollow. Mid-air, she called out to Momo "Alert the other group, Hinamori! We'll take care of the hollow!"

With that Rangiku jumped the ground once she had land again and released her shirkai "Roar, Haineko!" Her fellow division member also went in to attack the hollow. It bellowed loudly and swept its tails to the attacking shinigami. One of the tail neared Momo. She was quick to dodged it, landing in a nearby tree. 'I won't be able to use Tenteikūra if I have to keep moving around and dodging the tails. I'll have to make it obvious, or else Hitsugaya-kun won't be able to see it. I can only think of one…'

Rangiku sent the cloud of ash towards the hollows head. It growled in pain and thrashed around violently, causing one of its tails to hit the other division member. He was sent flying and hit a tree, landing on the ground unconscious.

Momo started to run around the edge of the clearing, avoiding the tails of the hollow. She aimed her palm at the sky and began to chant. "Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Hado number thirty three, Sotak-!"

Suddenly, the wind was knocked right out her.

She felt a huge pain and across her shoulders and back. She was sent flying to a tree.

One of the tails had hit her back, interrupting the incantation.

Quickly reacting, Momo put her feet first and felt them connect to the tree. She pushed off from the tree, sending her flying toward the hollow aimlessly. Rangiku saw this, and too distracted, released the hold Haineko had over the hollow's head. With its head free, the hollow snapped its head towards Rangiku. She flew backward, dodging the jagged, sharp teeth, but not able the miss the attack from the tail that came from behind. It coiled itself around her waist, causing her to cry out in surprise. Before she could struggle out of its grasp, the tail was sent slamming into the ground.

"Rangiku-san!" Momo cried out landing behind the hollow. She saw the tail uncoiled itself from the lieutenant, leaving her limp, but conscious, body in the crater it had created. Momo quickly drew out Tobiume. "Snap, Tobiume!" The zanpukto's shirkai form emerged and sent a fireball at the snake hollow. Much to the lieutenant's shock, it easily dodged it, twisting its body away from the explosion of fire.

Its tail attacked her from behind, wrapping itself around her neck and lifting her into the air. Her hand let go of Tobiume, the zanpukto falling to the ground. Her hands clawed at the scales trying to release herself. She wildly gasped for air.

Her vision was fading and her lower limbs were going numb.

Something was pulsing through her neck.

Her eyes...were slowly closing...

"DAIGUREN HYOURINMARU!"

Another howl from the hollow, but this one was of pain.

The pressure around her neck was released.

Blood flowed to her lower limbs in a gush, just like the air that reached her lungs.

There was a large weight in her chest, where her heart beat wildly.

She felt her body falling, but was then stopped by something icy cold.

She regained consciousness of the situation and her eyes focused on the white and blue colours before her eyes, which were taking the forms of her rescuer. "S-Shiro…chan? How?" Her voice sounded hoarse and rough, she barely recognized it.

He briefly looked at her. "I saw Tobiume's attack and sensed a high spiritual pressure. Are you…able to stand?"

Momo realized she was in his arms, against his chest and on the ground. She felt a small blush in her cheeks, seeming to have completely forgotten their current situation. She leaned forward, quickly standing up from her previous position. "Eh, yes…I-!"

A loud 'crack' and howl sounded next them. Both looked back to the hollow, which was fighting off the fifth division members. Toshiro quickly joined the fight, leaping into the air and leaving Momo to look on. However, the tenth division captain didn't expect the hollow to knock off the shinigmai so quickly and turn its bull head towards him. A look of pure rage sparked in its soulless eyes as it went up to met Toshiro's oncoming attack.

It was then that Momo noticed that one of the tails had been cut off, the one that had been choking her. However, that wasn't her main concern. She looked to her childhood friend, who was fending off the hollow. She raised her hand to the hollow, suing what little strength she now had in her to shout. "Hado number four, Byakurai!"The blue-white, lightning beam burst from her finger and struck the hollow in the back. It growled and snarled at the kido graved deeply across it's back, and turned its attention away from the white haired captain, to the surprised lieutenant.

She thought she'd aimed it to go through its center, but it moved to fast.

Toshiro saw the attack before it came.

"Hinamori!"

He leapt over and stood in the air in front of Momo.

The hollow lunged at him, its eyes only on Momo.

Horror gripped her…

…but not tight enough to make her completely frozen to the spot.

"SHIRO-CHAN!"

It all happened so fast, but for them, it was as if time had slowed.

There was a sicken 'crack'.

They hit the ground.

Toshiro was the first to realise what had happened. There was a weight on top of him, and something that was bleeding and painfully hurting in his back. His whole body felt like it has been crushed under a truck. He weakly attempted to push the weight off his chest.

He opened his eyes.

They widened in horror as they saw what the weight was.

He his mouth opened in a silent scream.

He didn't see the hollow come in for a second attack, its head diving straight for him and…

…the completely crushed and bleeding Momo.

Something stopped it.

He didn't look up to see who was calling his title and Momo's name.

He lost consciousness.

Hours later…

Rangiku looked out at the scene all around her. The fourth division had arrived not long ago and were tending to the wounded, including herself. A small cluster of the fourth division were sent to go look for the tenth division members that had been whacked away into the forest. Just the thought of it made her feel sick to the stomach, something that was unusual for her. She was usually able to stomach anything, but in her weak and tired condition, she was only able to watch and go on her first reaction.

She wondered how the Soul Society knew about the distress they were in.

Before they arrived, she was on the brink of collapsing from trying to dodge and attack the hollow when captain Kenpachi and the eleventh division came. They slashed down the hollow, but surprisingly, it had also taken them a lot of effort. The hollow was gone now, and the only evidence of its existence was the injured shinigami's and destroyed areas of forest nearby.

Her eyes fell to the fourth division members surrounding her captain. He was unconscious and had been injured badly. She knew if she hadn't blocked the attack that it has aimed at her captain, he would have been lucky enough to have survived. She had the strength to flash step away from the hollow tails after she had been struck down before. She could only watch, though, as the hollow went in to snap its jaws around Momo, intending to eat her whole. Toshiro attempted to block Momo, but she leapt up…and protected him instead.

Or at least…that's what she thought she was doing.

Toshiro had taken most of the damage. She watched in revulsion as it sunk its huge teeth into his body and one into Momo's. She remembered seeing their blood dripping to the ground, it made her feel sick again. With them still trapped in its jaws, the hollow flung the two bodies away. It was then she had gathered the strength to go in and attack before it could kill them with the second assault it was intending to do to them. She'd called out to them, but neither responded.

"There, Rangiku-fukutaicho."

She looked back to her injured arm, seeing it was now completely healed and the yellow glow that had once surrounded it had vanished. She flexed her fingers and bent elbow, testing out her healed arm. "Thank you" she said with a brief smile.

Hanatoro left her to tend to Momo's healing. Rangiku felt her back connect with the tree behind her, finding that it was giving her the support she needed. She sighed, only able to look on as her comrades were being healed.

"Matsumoto-fukutaicho?"

Rangiku shook her head and turned to the captain who had called her name. "Unohana-taicho…" She realized why she had come to her. "How are they…doing?"

The smile left Unohana's face, crumbling to a saddened expression. She came and knelt next to Rangiku, looking at her in the eye as she spoke her next words. "I'm afraid…it was much worse than we had thought. We are healing their external injures so that we can safely move them back to our barracks. Hitsugaya-taicho's injuries are deep and I am surprised he is alive. His organs will have to go under intense repair. Hinamori-fukutaicho…we are not sure. While her injures are not as bad a degree as Hitsugaya-taicho's, we noticed that her neck had a puncture mark in the side. We are still trying to determine what that is and if it will be fatal. I fear…"

"What? What's going to happen?" Rangiku exclaimed. Her sense of panic and worry was surged the moment the last three words had come out of the fourth division captain's lips.

Unohana looked back to her squad members as they healed the injured shinigami. "When we found them, there was this strange substance found in their blood. From what Isane-fukutaicho could tell it was a venom. I believe that this venom has come from the hollow. Whether we will be able to rid of the venom's effects I am not sure of, but it is unlike any other venomous substances I have seen. I fear that…one of them will die."

Rangiku gripped the front of Unohana's haori with her newly healed hand. "Which one? I know you know who it is, don't hide it. Who is it?" She didn't realise how distressed and panicked she had become. Her emotions caused her act out the way she had just done. Inwardly, she knew this, but was too distressed to care.

Unohana shook her head and sighed. "At this point I cannot be sure, Matsumoto-fukutaicho."

Within a few minutes the fourth division was ready to move the injured shinigmai to the barracks. Once there Rangiku never left, waiting in grime hope that neither of them was going to die. 'Please, taicho…the Sereitei needs you, Momo…taicho needs you. So please, both of you, live. Live and don't fall from this world…'

So, what do you guys think? Things will start to pick up next chapter, so stayed tuned!

Again, thank you for reading. If you have time, reviews and comments are greatly appreciated :D

Keep writing!

-Warrayfinson