A/n: Like I said this will be a four-chapter story. My reviewers have been wonderful and to thank them and everyone who has been following this story, I present the ending to it with a special guest star in it. Enjoy and a Merry Christmas!

Many thanks to my reviewers: Black Cat Angel, Tuliharja, Franny96, Himawari-no-Ichizoku, arandomreviewer, Lexiful Sunshine, Koren Flashblade, Belladonna209, SailorHeart233, The Creative Thinker and Swanfrost15.

"Blah blah blah": talk in English

Blah blah blah: Thought

"Blah blah blah": talk in Japanese

Chapter 4

"Oh, yes. I can smell it. Spiritual power…so young, so fresh…"

The voice was low, a hiss in the back of his half-awake mind. A tremor shook his room and Jamie shot up from his bed with a gasp.

"Earthquake!" he yelped before it occurred to him that Burgess didn't have earthquakes.

Another tremor rang out again and he could see a tall dark shadow moving along the street outside his window.

"No, that can't be Pitch…could it?" he wondered as he slid out of his bed and ran to the window, peeking outside.

The sight that greeted him was nothing like the Nightmares the Boogeyman commanded. Instead he caught a glimpse of a towering monster disappearing around a corner, leaving behind ape-like foot prints in its awake.

"Could it be…Bigfoot!" excitedly scrambling to pull on his winter coat, Jamie ran out of the house, following after the trail left in the snow.

He turned down the street that led to the park and literally skidded to a stop, his mouth gapping open in shock as he stared at the monster before him. "Oh uh…"

It definitely wasn't Bigfoot, not with its towering humanoid form, serpent-like tail and skull-covered face.

"If you see a monster with a white mask, run."

"Is this that monster Toshiro was talking about?" he asked aloud without meaning to.

A low rumble escaped the monster's maw as its head turned towards the boy. "Oh, look what I have here…a willing meal. So young and fresh…"

Jamie took that as his cue to run. His feet pounding against the snow-covered ground, he fled deeper into the park, his lungs desperately drawing in air as his heart thumped from the fear coursing through him. Without having to look back, he knew the monster was close at his heels based on the vibrations in the ground and the dirt being kicked up behind him.

Where was Jack? Where were the Guardians?

He didn't get far before an uprooted tree root caught his foot, causing him to trip and land face-first in the snow with a yelp.

"I got you now, little boy." the monster growled, reaching out to grab him.

Jamie clenched his eyes shut, praying fervently that Jack or one of the Guardians would appear at the last minute to save him.

"Growl, Heineko!"

The unexpected woman's voice made him pry his eyes open and Jamie found himself staring at the back of the woman he had met earlier that day along with Toshiro. But instead of a modern day clothes, she now wore a long black robe, similar to what Toshiro was wearing and she was holding what appeared to be the bladeless hilt of a sword as she whipped it sideways.

The monster bellowed in pain as its outreached arm disintegrated into pieces from an unseen attack. Rangiku pulled back her hilt and to Jamie's amazement, sand began to form the sword's blade.

"Whoa…Hey!" he yelped in surprise when she picked him up without warning and leapt away from the battle field.

Jamie was awestruck as they flew across the sky, her movements steady and swift before looking up at his savior. "You are a spirit after all! That's so cool!"

Rangiku smiled down at him, landing carefully on a building. "Don't worry, kid. You're safe with me as long as that Hollow -,"

Crash!

"He's right behind us!" he shouted, pointing.

"-doesn't come after us." she finished lamely, looking back in time to see the Hollow bound after them with rapid strides. His arm had regenerated in the pursuit.

"Matsumoto!" Jamie jumped as a white-haired figure appeared on their roof in a flash. "What's the status? Wha- Jamie, what are you doing here?"

The boy gulped as hard green eyes landed on him in confusion. "Ah, I was…"

Toshiro quickly shook his head. "Never mind. Matsumoto, take care of Jamie. I'll handle the Hollow and make sure they don't come anyway near the fight!"

"Yes, Taicho! Wait, who's they?" Rangiku called after him but he had already flashstepped off to deal with the Hollow. The answer to her question appeared half a second later as a boy greatly resembling her captain and holding a crooked staff landed on the roof. He was followed closely by Bunny and Sandy in a dreamcloud.

"Crikey! What the hell is that!" Bunny gapped.

"Jack!" Jamie immediately ran over to the newcomer. "Bunny! Sandy!"

"Jamie? What are you…?" Jack's question died at his lips as he finally noticed the Hollow lumbering down the street and the smaller figure of the death god running towards it despite its towering size.

"Never mind that." Jamie said. "You have to help Toshiro!"

Despite his initial misgivings about his opponent, Jack nodded with determination. "Don't worry, Jamie. I got his back." He prepared to fly after the other boy when a hand was held out in front of him to stop him.

"Hold it right there." Rangiku said. "What makes you think my captain needs help? Besides this is our mission to handle, not yours."

As she spoke, snow burst from the heavy clouds hovering over the battle field as a flash of chain with a crescent blade entangled itself around the Hollow's arm. Ice raced up the chain and froze the arm from wrist to elbow. With a tug, the frozen limb snapped away from the monster, eliciting a pained roar but still it refused to back down.

"Silly little boy captain. I can regenerate any part of my body as many times as I want." the Hollow growled, its tail flicking at the smaller but faster boy as it waited for its limb to reproduce.

"Not if the cells in that part of your limb are dead." Toshiro pointed out with a smirk, somersaulting over the tail whip and caught the lash back in mid-swing single-handedly. "It's called frostbite, you dumbass."

The Hollow glanced down and saw that its slump of an arm had turned black. "NO!"

It reared back, a red glow gathering in its jaw quickly. Toshiro sprang into the air, faster than the normal eye could follow and swung his sword with a battle cry. An ice dragon flowed from the tip, striking the Hollow right in the face and scattering its mask and head into two. To ensure that it doesn't regenerate itself, he froze its entire body and watched as it scattered to tiny pieces of ice that rain down on the streets of the town, its residents none the wiser of the fight that had just ended.

Saved for one.

Toshiro returned to the roof where the Guardians, Jamie and Rangiku were, sheathing his sword to indicate he was in no mood for round two with the Guardians.

"Matsumoto, see to it that Jamie gets home safely." he ordered.

"Aw, but I want to see some more cool tricks." Jamie gushed. "Can you make snow day like Jack?"

From the corner of his eye, Toshiro could see the deflated look on the winter spirit's face at the child's words. He felt as though he should say something but what good will it do? He doubted Jamie or Jack would listen to him for separate reasons. Beside it wasn't as though Jamie was going to remember anything in the morning. Matsumoto will make sure of that.

"Can I see your sword, Toshiro?"

"Matsumoto…" the captain muttered.

"The captain doesn't like people touching his stuff." she told the hopeful kid. "But you can touch mine!"

"Matsumoto!"

"Oh, right. Let's get you home, Jamie and tucked in bed."

Bunnymund glanced at Sandy. "You best go with em too…" he suggested eyeing the female death god who waved cheerily at him.

Sandy nodded and taking the boy's hand, he guided him along to the sand-airplane waiting for them. Rangiku followed closely, hoping a fight wouldn't erupt between the remaining guardians and her captain. Although judging by the frosted state the talking rabbit and golden sandman had arrived in, she guessed they must have had their disagreement earlier.

"So, are you going to start explaining what the hell that was?" Bunny asked hotly, gesturing.

Jack watched the pale death god carefully as annoyance flickered in teal eyes similar to his own yet not quite.

"That was Hollow." the gruff voice of North interrupted.

"North?" Bunny and Jack echoed simultaneously, staring at the Russian spirit of Christmas who seemed to appear out nowhere.

"When did you get here?"

"What do you mean that was hollow? I assure you that was anything but hollow. It was a freaking monster, mate!"

"No, no. That was Hollow. Monster was a Hollow." North explained patiently. "Ah, Toshiro Hitsugilia, it's good to see you again. It has been…100 years, yes?"

"It's Captain Hitsugaya." Toshiro corrected automatically, crossing his arms across his chest. "And it has been 87 years."

"Close enough." the tall and rounded man said with a shrug. "I apologize on behalf of my comrades here. Jack is new to our fold and Bunny, well, Bunny and Sandy don't actually have excuse for their actions. Again, I apologize."

"Apologies accepted." Toshiro said, fishing out his phone and checked their surroundings again. "I apologize too for the intrusion. It's not often we have a reason to come to your side of the world."

"Yes, a Hollow in Burgess. Odd indeed." North said, stroking his beard.

"Will someone tell us what a Hollow is?!" Bunny exploded after listening in on the conversation.

Jack nodded his support, leaning on his staff.

"Toshiro -,"

"It's Captain Hitsugaya!"

"Hollows are souls that succumbed to hunger for spiritual power. It is the task of death gods like Hitsugilia here to purify them with their swords and send them off to afterlife." North explained. "Protecting innocent lives is part of their duty too. Like us Guardians!"

Toshiro resisted the urge to face palm from the butchering of his name.

"Like us? Pff, I seriously beg to differ."

"Bunny, be nice."

"You are beginning to sound like Tooth now, mate."

"The area is secured for now. No more Hollows have been detected." Toshiro said, breaking up the banter between North and Bunny. "My lieutenant and I will remain in Burgess for another day to be sure. Our job would be a lot easier, North if your Guardians kept out of our way."

"Hey, I resent that. We are not his Guardians." Jack protested.

Toshiro rolled his eyes and sighed. Honestly, what had he expected from the legendary Guardians? Old cronies like his chief commander of the First Division? They were just as bad as Kurosaki and his lot of friends.

"You not yet tell us why Hollow come here." North reminded Toshiro.

"It's because of those like Jamie."

"Jamie? Why does he have to do with that monster coming into Burgess?" Jack demanded, his protective instinct of the human boy rearing its head.

"We have reason to believe that Jamie's exposure to the Guardians has triggered his dormant spiritual energy which is what drew the Hollow here." Toshiro explained.

"So it was my fault that monster went after Jamie." Jack realised quietly, guilt gnawing away at him. "If I hadn't met Jamie, he –,"

"Come on, mate. Don't beat yourself up." Bunny interrupted, patting his shoulder.

"It's not just Jamie." Toshiro continued. "My lieutenant has identified a few other children besides Jamie, whose spiritual energies have awaken."

"How can we stop another Hollow from going after them and Jamie?" Jack asked.

Again annoyance flickered across Toshiro's green eyes as he, tired of being interrupted, looked at the ice Guardian. "Matsumoto has been placing seals on the children throughout the night. That will seal off their spiritual energies for the rest of their human lives. They will be safe from Hollows."

"And Jamie?"

"Matsumoto is placing a seal on Jamie even as we speak. In the morning, he won't remember tonight's events or ever meeting a death god."

A painful thought occurred and Jack was hesitant to ask. "But…does this mean he…they won't be able to see us anymore?"

An odd look crossed Toshiro's face and he sighed. "Children have always been able to see you guardians even without their spiritual energy. So…"

"Because they believe!" North burst enthusiastically. "And as long as they believe, they can see!"

Jack breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "Whew. That's good to know."

Toshiro nodded slowly to confirm North's exclamation but his eyes watched Jack's face. "Jamie means something to you, doesn't he? A sibling perhaps."

The acute observation made Jack blink in surprise. They just met and Toshiro had already picked up on his brotherly friendship with the child. "You should say that. Jamie was the first person to believe in me. After 300 years of being unseen, that makes it more meaningful." he said, shrugging carelessly.

"I see. He looks up to you, you know." Toshiro said solemnly. Something akin to understand flickered in his eyes. "So if you really want to protect Jamie, start training to get stronger and better at controlling your powers."

"You sound like you speak from experience." Bunny commented, hopping forward.

"I don't suppose you would be keen to give me a few lessons. Because that ice dragon trick, that was wicked cool." Jack said, scratching the back of his head.

Toshiro smirked. "That 'ice dragon trick' took me years of training to perfect it. I doubt you have the patience and discipline."

"Hey. Come on. You won't know till you try it." Jack said, sharing his smirk. "Beside all I have is time on my hands. How long did it take you?"

"Oh, about a 150 years, give or take."

Jack blanched. "Okay, think I'll pass then."

"Now, Jack. Hitsugilia's right!" North boomed, slapping the smaller Guardian's shoulder hard. "Training important. How else you think Hitsugilia here become captain."

"You're a captain? Of what?" Jack asked.

"Whoa, the kid's a captain?" Bunny interrupted with a snort. "Didn't seem very impressive back there. I was under the impression that your captain-level death gods are invincible or something."

Toshiro's eyes narrowed and the temperature began to drop. North and Bunnymund began to shiver while unaffected, Jack blinked in confusion at his fellow Guardians.

Fortunately before Toshiro could encase the Easter Bunny in a block of ice, an excited squeal broke through the air.

"Ken-chan! I found Shiro-chan!

And just like, the Guardians saw Toshiro's body stiffen and his eyes widened in horror as he turned towards the voice that belonged to a pink-haired girl who clambered onto the rooftop edge and ran up to him.

"Lieutenant Kushajishi, what are you doing here? Please don't tell me that your captain is here too!"

"Silly, Shiro-chan. Of course Ken-chan in here!" the girl said beaming up at him.

"Oy, who's the kid?" Bunnymund demanded, crossing his arms in front of him.

Oh no. Toshiro actually felt bad for the rabbit as Yachiru's eyes turned to him and took on an evil glimmer. Bunnymund must have sensed something off and he began to inch away slowly. Amused, Jack watched the scene unfold as though the little girl was a cat stalking its prey and Bunnymund was, well, the bunny.

"Don't tell me the big bad Easter bunny is afraid of a little girl." he mocked.

"Highly doubt she is a little girl." Bunny growled back and froze as a smile stretched across the aforementioned little girl's face.

"BUNNY!" she shrieked in delight as she launched herself through the air right at him.

"ARGH!"

Between Jack's and North's bellowing laughter, Bunny's cries for help, Yachiru's yelling and the distinctive presence of battle-crazy captain of the Eleven division approaching their location, Toshiro just this once, wished he never left bed.

A/n: I hope you liked it!Nope, no bankai even though that would be cool. Remember, captains have a limiter placed on them when sent on real world missions that reduces their power by 80%. Writing Toshiro's fight scenes are hard because no amount of word can describe his awesomeness.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The End

(or is it...)