~ Light Of Hope ~ (A Toushiro Hitsugaya Fanfic)

43. " True Meaning of Sacrifice "

Toushiro was speechless and couldn't look at Ichigo in the eyes.

Meawhile, a transparent sphere envelops Sosuke's remains. Time turned backwards inside the sphere and eventually brought him back to life as well as the Hogyoku. Everyone was flabbergasted as they sensed the familiar Reiatsu.

At the same time, Grandma Farah was watching from a distance. She waves her staff in the air and a white light shone brightly. It quickly disappeared along with Grandma Farah, Shino and Yuuki along with Amaterasu. Everyone forgot everything about Yuuki ever participated in battles and what just happened to her as if it was just a forgotten dream. They look at each other with confused look on their faces, they knew at the back of their minds that they were forgetting about something but doesn't remember what it was. Their attention went back to Sosuke and thought that it was part of his hypnosis to let their guards down and thus the fight continues.

Meanwhile, Shunsui approaches Toushiro thinking how he managed to survive Aizen's attack, instead he saw him crying.

"Hitsugaya-taicho.... why are you crying?!", he asked.

Toushiro wipes his tears and clenched his fist.

"I don't... know.... I just felt like...... I've lost something very important....", Toushiro mumbled.

Meanwhile, Ichigo suddenly became worried about Yuuki which he didn't know the reason why. He thinks she was still at Karakura Town put into sleep like everyone else. Everything related about the Sacred Jewel of Soul was forgotten. That includes the fact that Yuuki and the Honoured Knights were involved.

*******

Grandma Farah took them back to their secret hideout where the rest of the Honoured Knights wait for them. Masahiko and Nagisa were shocked upon seeing Yuuki's state. Grandma Farah told them what happened and Miharu fell to her knees and cried.

"Why?! Why did things ended up like this?!! (*sob*) First they succeeded in retrieving Shinjo-sama.... and now Yuu-chan is.....!! Yuu-chan is!!! (*sob*) we fail.... we're such a failure!!", Miharu yelled and wails.

Nagisa and Masahiko clenched their fists in frustration.

*******

Three months passed since then and the Shinigamis won the battle against Aizen Sosuke. However, many were severely injured and lost their lives. With Isshin's aid, Ichigo defeated Sosuke by sacrificing his Shinigami powers using the Final Getsuga. Sosuke is now locked up tightly in prison and things came back to normal for Ichigo and the rest. However, they still can't help but think that someone was lingering within their memories. Specially Toushiro who frequently dreams about a girl but can't get a clear image of her. Deep down, everyone was aware that they are forgetting something but decided to keep quiet about it.

Somewhere in Seireitei, Kenpachi walks around looking for something but wasn't sure what he was looking for.

"Hey, Yachiru... am I forgetting about something?", Kenpachi asked, deep in thought as he often sees a vague image of Nagisa.

"Hmmm.... I don't know Ken-chan, I also feel the same. You asked me that same question a thousand times for months now.", Yachiru said.

Toushiro happened to be passing by when he overheard their conversation.

"So you also get that feeling, huh? Most of us do, even Matsumoto and the Head Captain.", he said.

"What do you think it means?", Kenpachi asked without looking at him.

"I'm not sure... maybe someone manipulated our memories or somewhere along those lines....", Toushiro said and ponders for a little while. "Have you ever had a vague dream of someone you think you know but you don't or can't remember?", he asked without looking at him as he stares into the distance.