1
"Just no way. Love is too big for me. Besides, i have pretty much to deal with without this kind of things anyway."
That's just what he said with his usual stolid smile, his eyes closed, as he dealed with the paperwork mass on the table. He was pretty much right and also pretty honest to himself. This was just the way he was. Whatever way she looked at it, he couldn't take having another big weakness like a lover. Also there was an issue like blushing, which there was no way when it was about him. She still would love to see him like that, though. It would just be so much fun!
"Eeh, captain, you're being unusually soft today. What's gotten into you?" chirped Matsumoto.
"So, being in a good mood is weird for me, huh? I should have known." Hitsugaya sighed and turned to her side with his usual icy attitude. "Be a good lieutenant just once and finish this up for me."
Matsumoto sighed, mumbling 'maybe i shouldn't have asked.." to herself, sulking. Hopefully, she'd find a way to slack off. It was easy with this captain. He'd never do anything but to yell "MATSUMOTOOO!" and give her death glares anyway. He was, of course, warm hearted, actually – this didn't mean she wasn't getting creeps when his deep teal eyes pierced through her with invisible lightning bolts, though.
"What will you do, captain? Sleep again?" she chirped again, then looked up to the ceiling as if she'd just realized something and grinned. "Oh, i see…"
Chills went down his spine. She was definitely thinking something he wouldn't like – again. "What is it?" he asked, trying to keep his voice cool but miserably failing to do so. Matsumoto smiled with a fake understanding face and patted his shoulder.
"If that's your goal, captain, I would recommend you to drink more milk. You will grow up faster that way."
A vein popped on his forehead as he grumbled "Oh, shut up." He pushed her hand away and walked out of the 10th division building. Really, she would always, always succeed in annoying him. It could mean that he was stil kind of sore about his height; though he had grown three inches since he'd last measured his height. Well, it was really out of blue but he had a desire to measure it in the morning. That was probably why he was in a quite good mood. And she had to ruin it. Yeah. Great.
He wandered around for a while since he had nothing else to do. He definitely was aware of the fact that Matsumoto wouldn't even touch the paperwork so there was an all-nighter ahead; but he sometimes had to leave things to his lieutenant – who could be so very annoying sometimes – and take a break. And maybe Matsumoto would actually finish the work to his surprise, who knows? Well, too much to ask. She would definitely run off somewhere.
He walked under the sun for a little and raised his head to look at it, his eyes narrowed from the light. It was unusually hot. He definitely didn't like heat, but it was a little too much for a spring evening – especially in march, he wouldn't expect the sun to burn his skin as it was close to setting. Maybe it's just my luck. He continued walking at a slow pace in the shadow – he didn't like the burning sensation the sun had given him. Surely, there was something weird going on with weather this year. It was still snowing until the week before. It didn't actually bother him, though.
He wondered what Hinamori was doing, thought of looking for her and decided not to. She was, unlike his slack-off Lieutenant, probably pretty occupied with work. His eyes unconsciously started looking for a cool place to take a short nap. He would probably wake up at twilight to find the paperwork untouched, anyway. He'd had better rest while he had time to.
...
The Kid wandered through the roads of Soul Society aimlessly.
"Hey, what a bum!"
"The new kid."
"When did he come, yesterday?"
"Or was it this morning?"
"Why do you even care?"
"Moron, don't stare!"
"Does he have a family yet?"
"What's his name?"
"He looks so damn pitiful."
"Take him in, then."
"Who the hell would?"
"Does he know how to talk?"
"Kid, you're so miserable."
The Kid raised his head for the first time. His deep purple eyes studied the stranger smiling a few inches away from his face: the woman who had a few wrinkles on her face, with her dirty blond hair pulled back in a tight bun, her very light green eyes twinkling with pity and warmth. She was the first to talk to him and not gossip behind his back. He stared at her blankly.
"I'm Jeannie Jess. They call me just Jin, though. What's your name?"
The Kid stayed blank again. No voice came out of his mouth, neither did he make any of his muscles move. The woman shuffled his already messy, shoulder length, earth colored hair and smiled even more warm.
"You are probably very thirsty. Let's get you some water. Do you mind if i call you Muchi? I've just learned that it means 'clueless'. We'll change it the second you decide to talk. Alright?"
The Kid didn't respond. The woman took his hand and practically dragged him behind her cheerfully.
"Well, come on, now! I just want you to be a part of my family!" she chirped as she pulled him inside of a mostly rundown but pretty big house. There were at least ten kids inside. All of them cheered when they got in. The kid felt something squeeze his head. He touched his head to feel what it was and felt nothing but his own skin. He blinked his eyes a few times before starting to study the faces.
"Alright, kids; time to welcome our newest guest! We don't know his name, so we call him Muchi-chan!"
The kids cheered again and ran towards The Kid. They were all trying to greet him first, so there was a confusion about which voice belonged to whom.
"Hello there!"
"Welcome to House of Miserables, dude!"
"Cut the crap!"
"Ouch! That hurt!"
"I'm Shinri!"
"The Dumbest!"
"Stop pushing, you're gonna crush Muchi-chan!"
"Yo, I'm Kai-dono!"
"Who's the dono, you damned bastard!"
"Don't keep swearing you trash-mouth!"
"Wow, what pretty eyes! Where were you from?"
"How did you die, illness?"
"Sure, he does look sick even now!"
"No, he must have been shot; he looks shocked!"
"That's only because he is shocked!"
"Ow, don't hit my head!"
"I'm Dalen, and welcome!"
"Get the fuck away!"
"Cut the swearing, dammit!"
"Look who's talking!"
"I'm Akaru!"
"Hey, tell us your real name!"
"Can you talk?"
"He definitely can't while you're so noisy."
"Shut the hell up, hag!"
"Hey! Stop calling me hag!"
"Hag, hag, hag, hag, hag!"
"Cut it out!"
"Uwaaah! You bit me!"
"Cannibal hag!"
The Kid closed his ears with his hands, closing his eyes tight and bowing his head. There was something pounding in his head. His eyes were starting to burn. He wanted the voices to end.
"Hey, are you okay, Muchi?" the woman's voice washed his ears. The other voices seemed to have calmed down. He looked up to see her green eyes deepened with concern. She patted his head gently.
"Let's get you some water and let you rest for a while. You seem tired." The woman said in a low, silky voice that soothed him somehow. She picked him up easily and put him on the table to sit. Then she got him a glass of water. He took the water, took a little sip first, then a bigger gulp, then he started drinking it down hugrily. When he finished, the woman refilled it. He gulped down five glasses of water before he finally stopped. When he was finished, the woman picked him up again to put him in a soft and comfortable grass bed. He felt his eyes close naturally and instantly drifted off to sleep.
Screams echoed in the middle of the night. They were so loud that they could be heard from miles away. They were so painful that made anyone who'd heard feel like they were being mercilessly tortured. They were so harsh, so ghastly, so freezing. It was like they could reach even the ends of the sky.
The woman ran to The Kid's bed to see him screaming his lungs out, kicking the blanket and the futon endlessly, squeezing the sheets, banging his head into his pillow. There was a heavy, burnt smell in the air. One of the older kids lit a candle that allowed them to see what was happening.
Most of the kids started to puke; the olders barely holding back the urge to do so.
The woman closed his mouth with both hands as her eyes opened wide; her whole body trembling.
After getting over the first shock of the sight in front of her, she held The Kid harshly from his shoulders, her eyes teary, and started shaking him brutally: desperate to wake him up, still careful not to touch the badly burnt, blistered skin on the lower halfs of his limbs that was oozing out blood.