Sinner

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! I am very excited about this story. First, let me clear a few things up. This is the second part to the prologue, the next chapter is where the plot actually begins, but before I got into it I felt that I should show the view points of both Hitsugaya and Gin. I really would like to keep both of them as in character as possible because that is one of my personal pet peeves. Also, I do realize that Gin’s eyes are actually blue green, however the first time I saw them was in the anime when the manga volume showing his true eye color had not come out yet, so I’m going to go with the anime red eyed Gin…because I’m the author and I want to. Also, I want to rant for a second, and if you are a Hinamori fan, please stop reading here because I do not wish to offend you. Ok, I realize that Hitsugaya will not end up with Gin in the anime, however I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t care who he ends up with as long as Hinamori keeps her damn hands off of him, because it’s obvious that the bitch has completely lost it. “Ohhh, by the way Shiro-chan, if you run into Aizen, don’t hurt him, because even though he stabbed both me and you, I’m sure he means well. XOXOXO I heart Aizen-sama forever!!!” I mean, come the fuck on, how many different ways can you spell crazy? Ok rant done. On to the wonderful reviews.

chibi-zoe: *blushes* Thank you so much for your review, and I am glad you like it, I hope to keep you interested. May I glomp you for being so sweet?...Oh, and by the way, I loved your story.

Catarotta: They are pretty much my favorite bleach pairing as well. So so sexy, unfortunately there's not a lot of them at all and I wish they were written more often. But I hope to provide you with at least a little bit of GinHitsu love. Also, thank you for liking the way I write Gin. I love writing him and I am going to work really hard to keep him spot on. As well as try to keep Shiro-chan IC as much as possible.

I love you all! Reviews make me deliriously happy. I’m such a whore….Ok, finally onto the story.

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Seeing Red

If there was anybody in the world who truly confused Hitsugaya Toshiro, it was Ichimaru Gin.

He didn’t want to admit it, even if only to himself, because admitting something like that would mean confessing that he had enough room for Ichimaru in his mind to think passed the hatred that he held for the fox-faced bastard. He really wanted to loathe the man who had betrayed the whole of Soul Society and a part of him whole-heartedly did, but still…

Something about Ichimaru made him pause long enough in his rage to do unwanted and serious damage to his already confused thoughts.

That bastard…

If anything, he should have had these thoughts when it came to Aizen, but no, he knew exactly where he stood when it came to that man. Aizen Sosuke had been someone that mostly everyone looked up to, and in the privacy of his own thoughts, Hitsugaya could admit that he had been one of the many. So when it became known that Aizen had always been behind the entirety of the covert plot against Seireitei, his betrayal had been far worse than Ichimaru’s own, because Hitsugaya had always known what to expect when it came to Ichimaru, had always known never to fully turn his back on that devilish grin, but Aizen had shocked him, floored him, and every other phrase that could never be used to describe the feeling properly. And, as he lay there bleeding out on the stone floor, his near death at the hands of someone who had been a beacon of kindness, Hitsugaya knew without a doubt how he felt. He knew that if he were to be given the chance, he would run Aizen Sosuke through without hesitation and only after he too lay helpless on the ground, surrounded by his own pool of blood, would he pause to ask the treacherous shinigami “Why?”.

But when it came to Ichimaru…well, he wasn’t quite as strong in his resolve. Not to say that he wouldn’t like to permanently wipe that smirk off his face, but perhaps there would be slightly more hesitation.

And that was what was the most troubling of all, the fact that Aizen and even Tousen held the majority of his jaggedly divided detest rather then the man who had proven every untrusting suspicion that he had held right.

He could remember clearly, down to the finest detail, the reasons that Ichimaru had given him to fuel his hate. Two people, that he perhaps cared for more than anybody in the world, though he was hard pressed to admit it aloud, had been directly hurt by this man. He could still see visions of his childhood friend standing before him, sword aimed, tears streaming down her broken face, ready to kill him and that man standing not far off, wide smile distorting his features as always. And whether or not her brainwashing had been his plan, it still did not change the fact that he had been the one to act it out. And after Hinamori, there was his fukutaicho to think about. She had been Ichimaru’s close friend, and though Hitsugaya could not figure out for the life of him why someone like Matsumoto would even care for an evil fucker like Ichimaru, that didn’t change the fact that her hurt had been evident when he had left or that she still continued to hurt even now. Though Matsumoto put up a good front when she was not alone, being, in his opinion, as loud and obnoxiously cheerful as ever, he would sometimes catch a pained expression on her face when she thought no one was around. She was a strong woman no doubt, but she wasn’t immune to the betrayal that everyone else felt, and hers was worse then most. And often times when he would catch her in that state, he found himself wanting to comfort her in some way, but being as socially inept as he was despite his wide range of talents, he always discarded his genius persona and feigned ignorance.

Ichimaru had turned his best friend against him and had played cruelly with the emotions of his second in command. It should have been enough, it really should have, and part of him believed that it was. And still there was that other part of him, however small it was, that tugged incessantly at the back of his mind and demanded that he acknowledge the fact that Aizen was the one who had really manipulated Hinamori and had tampered so calculating and sadistically with her thoughts and opinions that even after being stabbed in the gut by his sword, she would run willingly and eagerly to his side given the mere opportunity. And that, perhaps, Ichimaru did care on some level for his childhood friend and any hurt that he may have caused her had not been intentional and only an after effect of his loyalty to Aizen that was destined to happen whether he wanted it to or not.

He didn’t want to think that way. He didn’t want his brain to try to rationalize Ichimaru’s actions. However, being every genius’ downfall, his brain did so without his consent. It was infuriating and unsettling to wonder that if he were to once again come face to face with Ichimaru Gin, a known traitor following willing behind an ambitious monster as he ruthlessly climbed his way to the top, would he hesitate in delivering the fatal blow?

And what was an even more unnerving thought; would Ichimaru?

He wondered what Ichimaru had done to make him think this way, and even as the thought wormed its way into his mind, he already knew the answer. All of this uncertainty was because of the way Ichimaru made him feel. He’d worked so hard to prove to everyone around him that he was someone to be respected, that he shouldn’t be underestimated, that he was not a child, and yet Ichimaru destroyed that work so easily and effectively that it left Hitsugaya feeling even smaller than before. He believed that he could scream over and over again that he was not a child and all it would take was for Ichimaru to say “Yes, ya are” it would make him feel as if it were so. Not even Aizen, who he was almost certain could defeat him in a fight and do it easily, made him feel this way.

And that’s what he hated above all else about Ichimaru Gin.

It was because of those private encounters that he had with the deceptive man. Those times when they passed each other in corridors or vacant streets, when Ichimaru used mocking words to tease him, making all of his counter remarks feel almost childish in comparison no matter what he snapped back. Or like how sometimes in taicho meetings he would catch Ichimaru with his attention directed towards him, those hidden eyes searing right through him, the glances ranging from deceptively innocent to openly lewd, causing shivers to race unwelcome up his spine no matter how much he tried to suppress them. And Heaven forbidden that the man actually touch him, which he did without Hitsugaya’s consent often, that condescending grin always, always present, seeing right through the glares that Hitsugaya vehemently threw towards him. Just a simple brush of a hand across his shoulder or a more blunt gesture of that same hand cupping his cheek, bony, long fingers caressing lightly across the skin below his eye, so taunting and yet at the same time somehow genuine. And he was never able to suppress the blush, never able to pretend he wasn’t affected, never able to brush aside that lingering sensation of Ichimaru’s callused and cold skin against his own.

How dare he touch him like that! How dare he make Hitsugaya Toshiro, Tenth Division Taicho, feel so inferior?

And to make it even worse, when Hitsugaya had actually fought him, he felt as if the third taicho was holding back, merely toying with him. His rage at seeing Hinamori lying unconscious on the floor, sword falling from her limp and bloody hands had driven him to attack who he believed to be the cause of it all, but it had been that look of amusement and those half-assed defenses that had egged him on. No matter how much strength he achieved was Ichimaru always going to view him as a helpless kid? And even if he did, why should that matter to Hitsugaya? And yet…it did.

Still, there was one crucial moment in that battle that refused to leave his thoughts. At that one moment, when Ichimaru had underestimated him just a little too much and he had caught him unaware, those forever hidden eyes had opened and that grin had been discarded and Hitsugaya was able to catch a glimpse of the true Ichimaru Gin, the real man who lay behind the fake mask. And that face haunted him and intrigued him and he wished to forever burn it from his mind and yet it refused leave.

And he saw it once more before the three traitors had left Soul Society. As he lay left for dead, he caught one last glimpse of the man who he had known all along was no good and yet had still managed to play him for a fool, and the expression that he saw on that pointed face puzzled his already hazed mind. Where he should have seen sadistic glee, there was an edge of remorse and perhaps relief? But relief about what, Hitsugaya did not have the slightest idea, but it was there, uncaught by Aizen, but seen clearly by him. And those eyes were once more wide open and that grin was once again gone and the last thing Hitsugaya saw before he blacked out was red.