Ok, here goes nothing. This is my first attempt at a full-length story and I really hope it turns out. Please enjoy!

My Spring

It was a blistering hot afternoon in May, or at least it was blistering hot to Toshiro Hitsugaya. He was in his office trying to escape the heat and doing even more paperwork; Matsumoto was nowhere to be found. After taking a large gulp of water he looked back at what he had written and sighed; if it wasn't so hot maybe he could walk around outside. Picking up his pen again and continuing his paperwork, there was a soft knock on the door.

"Come in," he said in a slightly annoyed tone. He didn't look up to see who it was but waited for them to speak first.

"Um, hi Hitsugaya," came a quiet voice that he knew so well. Finally looking up, he saw Hinamori's head poking out of the doorway.

"Oh Hinamori, it's you." He was slightly surprised to find her of all people come to his office.

Leaving the door partly open, Hinamori walked to the middle of the room. Hitsugaya noticed she seemed a bit nervous. It wasn't like she had never been in his office before but she was looking everywhere else in the room except for him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, puzzled by the way she was acting.

"Nothing's wrong. I just wanted to see how you were doing." All nervousness seemed to vanish as she smiled. She walked over to him and sat down next to him on his desk, toes barely skimming the floor as they swung back and forth.

They sat in silence for a few moments; Hinamori gazing out the window in front of her and Hitsugaya seemingly continuing his paperwork but his thoughts were elsewhere. Glancing over at him, Hinamori noticed that he was just staring at the sheet of paper on his desk and smiled to herself.

"How was your mission?" she asked, finally breaking the silence.

"It wasn't that exciting. Nothing really happened," was his answer, but he still didn't look at her. "How was yours?"

"It wasn't that exciting either, just a small hollow that anyone could have killed," she said and turned back to the window. Silence found them again. "It's such a nice day today. Do you want to go on a walk with me?"

Hitsugaya finally looked at her with surprise. "But it's too hot."

"Oh come on! It's not that hot, and you're always inside doing paperwork. You need a break," Hinamori protested, a hopeful smile on her face.

The longer Hitsugaya looked at her, the more he wanted to go with her. How could he resist that smile and those big brown eyes? "Alright," sighing, he pushed away from the desk and stood up.

"Really?" This time it was Hinamori's turn to be surprised, she didn't think he would agree so easily.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, so you better get off my desk before I change my mind." She quickly hopped of his desk and started for the door, pausing to make sure he was following her.

Matsumoto knew she shouldn't be eavesdropping but she couldn't help herself. She had to hand it to Hinamori, after she and Renji had been poking fun at her about Hitsugaya the girl had marched off in a huff. Thinking she had gone back to her division, Matsumoto thought it would be fun to tease her captain but had found the girl with him already, sitting on his desk even. They were just staring at each other; Hinamori with a hopeful smile on her face and Hitsugaya with his same non-expressive face but she could see his resolve breaking. He agreed to something which Hinamori responded with surprise and then he told her to get off his desk or he was going to change his mind. Realization struck her when Hinamori began walking to the door that Matsumoto's head was sticking out of. Slipping into the shadows just before the girl walked through the door; she noticed she seemed more than happy about what was going on. As Hitsugaya walked past she heard him sigh, it wasn't a sigh of annoyance or stress but a sigh of contentment. Matsumoto chuckled to herself, this would be interesting.

"Where are we going?" Hitsugaya asked while quickening his pace to catch up to Hinamori. They had just walked out of the tenth division into the scorching heat.

She shrugged. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Exasperated, he abruptly stopped walking and crossed his arms over his chest. Hinamori stopped walking as well and turned to face him.

"What? It was just a spur of the moment thing." Taking a few steps toward him Hinamori tugged on his sleeve. "Come on, let's just start walking. We'll end up somewhere." She smiled brightly.

"Whatever." Hitsugaya rolled his eyes and began walking again. "You're still holding my sleeve," he pointed out. Trying to free himself, he gently tugged back his arm but her gripped tightened.

"It's to make sure you don't run off," Hinamori teased as they continued on their way.

Hitsugaya shook his head in amazement but smiled softly just the same. "I'm not going to run off," he mumbled but he didn't think she heard him.

They continued walking for about twenty minutes, past the other divisions, out through the Seireitei and into Rukongai. Instead of walking into town, Hinamori led him off to the left away from town. A few people they past, clearly stunned to see a vice captain and a captain outside the Seireitei but they didn't say anything; some either stared or quickly looked away.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" asked Hitsugaya, when had they put more distance between themselves and town.

Hinamori shook her head. "No, I have no idea where we're going, but I've never been over here and I want to check it out." Hitsugaya didn't say more on the subject but let her continue to pull him along in silence.

"Oh look!" Hinamori abruptly stopped and pointed excitedly to her left. "It looks like a pond. Come on, let's go!" She tugged on his sleeve eagerly and ran over to it, half dragging Hitsugaya with her.

The pond was fairly large with calm, clear blue-green water and many colored koi fish. There was an odd assortment of rocks jutting out to the middle of the pond like a small dock that was clearly man-made. At the far end of the pond there was a small shrine that had long since been abandoned. Hitsugaya had almost forgotten the heat as he and Hinamori had walked and here the pond was heavily shaded and there was a slight breeze that gently rustled the leaves overhead.

Hinamori finally let go of Hitsugaya's sleeve and walked to the edge of the pond. A bright orange fish close to the surface disturbed the calm water and sent ripples across the pond. She stared at the water's surface, the color seemed familiar somehow but she couldn't put her finger on it. Feeling a presence next to her, she turned to find Hitsugaya looking out at the water as well. His head was slightly tilted down and his eyes halfway open in an almost bored expression that he always wore. He seemed to sense her watching him because he turned his head to look at her and she met the same blue-green of his eyes as the pond. It was silly to realize she had just noticed how pretty his eyes were. She always looked at them but it hadn't occurred to her just how stunning their color was. Smiling timidly, she turned back to the pond.

"Let's make this place ours," she said abruptly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean just that. This will be our place, a place only we know. When we need something, we will come here and the other will find us." She turned to Hitsugaya to see his reaction. He had a look of disbelief on his face and one eyebrow was raised. "You think it's a stupid idea," she said with a frown.

He lowered his eyebrow, grinned and shook his head. "No, I think it's a good idea."

Her face light up. "Then you'll do it?" He nodded. "Oh, good!"

Spotting the rocks out into the water, Hinamori walked over to them. She carefully tiptoed along the edge of the rocks, sticking her arms out for balance.

"You're going to fall in," Hitsugaya said, eyeing her every movement skeptically.

"No I won't," answered Hinamori. When she reached the last rock she thought it would be fun to spin around and walk the way back. As she did so, her foot caught on the other and she fell backwards into the pond with a loud splash. Laughing and sputtering, she stood up, the water only coming to her waist. Hitsugaya was already there on the rocks looking down at her with a very amused expression.

"I told you, you would fall in." He bent down and offered her his hand. A part of her really wanted to pull him into the water but she knew he would be in a foul mood the rest of the day for getting wet, so instead she took his hand and allowed him to pull her out.

"Thanks Little Shiro, I guess I should listen to you more," she teased while water trickled down her face.

Hitsugaya bonked her on the head with the palm of his hand. "It's not Little Shiro, it's Captain Hitsugaya," he said and turned around and walked off of the rocks.

Rubbing her head, Hinamori chased after him. "I knew I should have pulled you in!"

He shot her a dirty look. "It's a good thing you didn't."

"Or what, Little Shiro?" she walked over to him, making sure to emphasize the word 'little'. "I'm not afraid of you." She stood a few feet from him and put her hands on her hips.

Folding his arms across his chest and looking at her hard, Hitsugaya answered with annoyance, "How many times do I have to tell you, it's not Little Shiro, it's captain."

"I don't care what your status is; you'll always be Little Shiro to me." He just sighed and shook his head, giving up for the moment.

Hinamori looked at him, really looked at him. They were about the same height now, she still beat him by an inch or two but his hair made him seem taller. Suddenly hitting her, she realized he really was quiet good looking. He still had child-like features but she could tell he was growing out of them quickly. She couldn't help wondering what he would look like in ten years. Meeting those eyes of his, she saw something in them that puzzled her. They seemed to sparkle at her, they weren't cold at all like many claimed. For some reason it made her nervous and she was suddenly self conscious about what she looked like, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from his.

Hitsugaya released his gaze first only to take off his captain's haori, take a step towards her, and fling it around her shoulders. "You really are a baby," he teased. She hadn't even realized she was shivering or just how cold she was.

He didn't step away but reached out and peeled a few strands of wet hair from her cheek that she had been meaning to un-plaster from her face. She could feel her eyes grow as big as saucers as she felt his fingers brush against her skin. Just as a pail of water over a candle's flame, the sparkle in Hitsugaya's eyes disappeared and he spun around and marched away.

Confused as ever, Hinamori called after him, "Where are you going?"

"Nowhere," he called over his shoulder, "I'm going to check out the shrine."

What was wrong with him? Hitsugaya looked down at his shaking hands as he walked away from Hinamori. He could not believe he had just done that to her!He could feel his cheeks burning and mentally shook himself. Get a grip on yourself and stop acting like a fool! But he couldn't help but reach out to her; she had been staring at him like…like. He didn't know what, but it had made him want to touch her and he had given in. The biggest problem wasn't that he did it, it was that he wanted to do it again; he was just embarrassed. Why was he acting like this?

It's because you love her, a voice whispered in the back of his head.

Love her? Hitsugaya stumbled over his feet. He knew he had had feelings for her ever since, well ever since he had first met her; he didn't think it was love though.

"Is something wrong?"

He tripped and nearly face-planted in the mud, he spun his head around to find Hinamori walking next to him. How long had she been there? She was still wet and clung to his haori around her shoulders; she wore a confused and worried expression. He could feel his face burning again and quickly looked away, shaking his head.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure." They stopped when they arrived at the small shrine.

"I wonder who put it here," Hinamori wondered out loud.

Shrugging his shoulders, he said, "Who knows." From the corner of his eye he could see her watching him and cautiously turned his head to look at her. She had on a very bright smile but she was still shivering.

"When you can't find me, I'll be here. OK?"

Hitsugaya couldn't keep his lips from curving into a smile. He was still more than a little embarrassed about earlier but maybe he'd give in, just for today.

"So will I."

Oh goodness! I hope someone likes this. I don't know why I write love stories, it always makes me feel awkward and I'm more of an action kind of person . All I can do is write little things that I hope are cute and not too sappy. Anyway, enough of my rambling. More chapters will be coming soon! :))