╠Løcked╣-[ Tōshirō Hitsugaya ]-

Bleach Oneshot

XsalvadorianVampireX

*[ Jigoku's Office ]*

"Oh my god, will you shut up?" A very agitated young woman glared daggers at a grinning widely Renji, several irk-marks clearly noticeable in her brown-yellow hair which matched her somewhat tanned skin. He had only made his appearance in her office about 5 minutes ago, and he was already engraving himself upon her 'to kill' list.

Though that wouldn't be the first time. He had the habit of pestering her, seeing she was just so much fun to annoy.

"Come on Jigoku-taicho, would you rather have Matsumoto come and get you?" He snickered, seeing her twitching deep red eyes quickly change until they held more horror than anger.

That was a good point.

A moment of silence filled the room as her mind processed what would've happened if Rangiku did come and get her instead of Renji.

… Horror… lots of horror.

"…Whatever! Just stop irritating me and let me finish my paperwork! It's already annoying enough to have Whitey-chan nagging up my ass that I don't need you here by my desk to do that for him!" By now, the young girl was flailing her arms around like a madman to add more effect to her statement, making a small pout appear on the red-haired man's face.

It was true, Captain Hitsugaya too held a habit into 'nagging' her about her – nearly always – unfinished paperwork, thus resulting in a massive insult contest to emerge between the two. She keeps referring to his small appearance and his white hair, while he kept on calling her either worse than Matsumoto – which is quite the insult – or a lazy spawn of Satan.

The 'spawn of Satan' insult is merely because of her name and Bankai abilities, but that is of no consequence at the moment. Everything will be explain in due time…

"I will, once you agree to go to the party! How bad can it be, really?" Renji urged, crossing his arms over his traditional Shinigami outfit. Jigoku's crimson eyes narrowed.

"Do I really have to state out the obvious?" She asked in a harsh whisper, scribbling down her autograph onto one of the papers on her desk. Afterwards, she shoved it roughly to the side on the slowly growing stack, and sighed in revulsion. She could feel the hopeful eyes of the sixth division lieutenant onto her, making a certain train of thought spring.

"… Why do you even bother asking me? It's overly obvious that Rangiku is trying to get me wasted." She stated with a raised eyebrow, making the red-haired male chuckle.

"I'm just trying to get you out of that chair. What Rangiku is up to really is something I rather not know of, you know? You've been behind your desk for nearly a month now, you need some time off! Just look at you, you're all edgy, even bitchy!"

"If Whitey-chan would stop nagging me all the time I wouldn't be a bitch!" She threw back at him, crossing her arms facing away from him. "And besides, I have better things to do than flirt and crawl in a closet with some random dude."

Renji snorted.

"Like your paperwork?"

"…Touché." She sighed, facing him even though her clearly annoyed red eyes weren't looking at him.

"Come on, it'll be fun! We've rounded up people we know you like to hang out with, so it won't be all that bad. And if you are so desperate into not getting 'wasted', I'll keep an eye on Matsumoto, just in case." He offered her, closing his eyes with a smaller smirk resting on his lips in mischief.

Once he opened them again, he could clearly see the debate Jigoku was holding with herself. She had put her left hand near her pink lips as her elbow rested on the desk, red eyes adverting all things in the room – nearly making it seem as though she was staring into absolute nothingness, an alternate dimension she was putting her mind in – and traced the nail of her thumb over the outlines of her full bottom lip as she contemplated over the idea.

It was a habit of hers. Whenever she was greatly considering something, she would make that movement as a sign for others not to disturb her. It didn't take too long before her eyes moved to lock with his.

"Alright, fine. If that's what it takes for you to get your ass out of my office, then so be it." She sighed, glaring at the papers in front of her. A wide grin appeared on Renji's features, and chuckled feeling accomplished.

"Great. It's at Matsumoto's at 9 tonight. Don't be late, Jigoku-taicho." He said before walking out of the young woman's office, and looked back at her as he closed the slide-door behind him. Just having noticed that evil glint in his eyes, already made her regret her decision.

Just what has she gotten herself into…?

[ ]

Jigoku's crimson orbs twitched in annoyance, seeing the piece of clothing Matsumoto was presenting her with. She could've said something about dressing more casual! If she would've known that, she wouldn't have come dressed all formal. Like every other captain, the brown haired girl went over to the 'party' in her traditional Shinigami outfit, her white robe hanging over the black fabric with the Japanese number '5' on her upper back.

Though Rangiku had other ideas brewing in her mind. She wanted Jigoku to loosen up! And what better way to do so in a bit more 'feminine' dressing?

But most of all, she wanted her to finally get together with her white-haired captain, Tōshirō! Jigoku really liked him… she just didn't realize it yet.

"Don't give me that face, Jigoku-cha-"

"It's taicho! TAICHO! For the millionth time, Rangiku!" Jigoku exclaimed with a very large amount of annoyance and irritation clearly perceptible in her voice. Just because they used to be close friends doesn't mean that she has to ditch the formalities.

"Right, right!" She waved her hand apologetic as if to brush off the minor detail before shoving the piece of clothing nearly in Jigoku's face. "Now put this on! Don't be such a sour puss~!"

"No way."

"Please~?"

"No way."

"Pretty please~?"

"… No!"

"Pretty pretty pretty pretty-"

"Alright, fine! Just shut up! I'll put the stupid thing on." She snatched the black clothing out of the very busty woman's grip, and glared her way while walking over to the bathroom in order to change in private. God, she could be such a child sometimes! Sometimes she wondered if her brain cells had been traveling from her head to her breasts. If her chest would've been smaller, she would be a LOT more clever in that case.

Once inside the restroom, she locked the door not to be up for any unpleasant surprises, and took a good look at just what Rangiku wanted her to dress in. It seemed like a black tight piece of latex with long sleeves, somewhat visual bosom, and a mini-skirt all in one piece of clothing. Somewhat of a small dress…

Jigoku paled.

Meanwhile, the busty strawberry blond woman was helping herself with some home-made punch – of course with liquor – and blinked a few times seeing her white-haired captain stepping inside with his usual serious expression. He was wearing a very casual dark-blue pants with a black belt, a white shirt with an overlay collar stripped closed with a black tie, and army striped trousers over it. Over that, he wore a black/brown lether looking jacket hanging open.

One word; he looked hot!

He lazily scanned the room until his cool tail eyes fell upon his indolent vice-captain, and raised an eyebrow to some extent.

"Taicho, how good you could make it!" She coed while grinning, which was mainly what caused the raised eyebrow from the mentioned 10th division captain. He knew Rangiku could be really cheerful, but there was just something about that wide grin that made him suspicious.

"Matsumoto, how much have you been drinking?"

"MATSUMOTO!"

Both the white-haired captain and Rangiku snapped their attention to the closed bathroom door, where a very fuming voice from Jigoku boomed through the door shaking the whole vicinity.

"WHY THE HELL DO YOU GIVE ME CLOTHES THAT MAKE ME LOOK LIKE A WHORE? WHAT THE F-[cencored] IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

Tōshirō's eyes had widened to some extent as he blinked in confusion, but sighed once he realized what had happened to cause Jigoku to swear like that. It wasn't very hard to figure out that the voice nearly screaming their eardrums off belonged to the 'Spawn of Satan'. Rangiku laughed nervously, and made her way to the door while excusing herself from her Captain's presence.

"It's something I bought in the Living World! They said it was quite fashionable." She giggled leaning against the door, causing the brown-haired girl's irk-mark to grow even wider than it already was. Her crimson eyes once again started twitching.

"NANI? Are you telling me that all the woman out there dress skimpy and walk around bare-assed? What is this, some sick joke?"

"Less talk, more changing~!"

"NO WAY!"

"Do you want me to come and help you?" Rangiku wriggled her eyebrows with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Tōshirō's expression held some embarrassment, to actually acknowledge that the strawberry blond woman was his subordinate. He knew that Matsumoto could go very far with things like that, but to corner Jigoku was really beyond his understanding.

And shockingly enough… it actually worked.

"… Never mind."

Why was it that Rangiku had the power to persuade her, while he – a captain – couldn't? Where the hell was the logic in that?

This retort caused the cheerful and already pretty loaded Matsumoto to grin in victory, and pressed her ear against the door hearing clothes moving from the other side. Grinning victoriously, she turned to face her smaller captain and walked next to him putting an arm around his shoulder. His face already twisted with irritation, and because of the scent the liquor brought with it.

"You should get a drink too, taicho!" She urged, sipping slightly from her own glass of punch before grinning down at him. He looked up from the corner of his eyes, his bottom lip pouted out slightly clearly showing his disapproval.

"No thanks." He declined, brushing her arm off of his figure and walked a bit further into the room. It didn't take long before his eyes fell upon the large stack of papers scattered onto Rangiku's desk, allowing an irk-mark to appear and his annoyance to reach higher level.

"Mastumoto! I told you to finish your paper work before hosting this party!" He yelled at her while turning to face her, but once he got a clear view of what he was seeing, he sweat dropped when he noticed her hanging over both Renji and Shunsui – the 8th division captain. Both males looked like they were off of the world already… Appears like Tōshirō was the only one who remained sane at this point.

Jigoku was out of the question, she was pretty much deranged anyway.

Another sigh escaped his lips as he plopped himself down onto one of the couches that inhabited Matsumoto's living room with an irritable expression.

Jigoku scanned herself in the mirror in front of her, and blushed in dying embarrassment when she noticed her reflection in the glass. In one word, she looked like a prostitute. Her breasts were squashed together due to the tightness of the dress, her behind was just covered up by the small piece of clothing, and worse of all, the valley of her chest had grown even bigger because they were pressed together. And she had to go out, looking like that?

The palms of her hands started sweating, afraid of the unknown. She knew what kind of thoughts would spring into her fellow Shinigami's minds, but would they openly remark her now slutty attire?

She shivered. What would they say…

Oh dear…

What would Tōshirō say?

Her stomach tied knots. She knew he didn't like her to begin with, and if she went out like that, she would become the laughing stock of whole of Soul Society! There was no way he wouldn't comment on that!

She became dizzy with all the thoughts swirling around her.

Jigoku whimpered in disarray to herself. Why oh why did Rangiku have to persuade her into wearing this? Can't she see she's making things awfully awkward?

"Jigoku-chan~! Are you almost done in there?" An impatient voice of Rangiku sounded muffled from behind the locked door. Yet another irk-mark appeared on the brunette's head, her crimson eyes twitching which now matched her tinted ruby-red cheeks.

"…It's TAICHOOOO!"

[ ]

Jigoku had placed herself in the couch with her head held down, her brown bangs hanging over her eyes desperately trying to hide the deep crimson blush on her face. Her hands were trying to pull down the really short skirt to conceal what could be concealed while she had crossed her legs so neither of the opposite sex could take a glimpse of her private territory.

Trespassers will be shot, survivors will be shot again. In figure of speech, of course. But she would pound them into oblivion if either one of them would even try.

Tōshirō sat on the same couch, adverting all eye-contact with Jigoku while he too had trouble keeping his composure. He had his one leg hanging over the other while his elbow in turn rested on the armchair of the sofa, his hand holding up his head. It's not that he wasn't used to seeing half naked girls – considering he had been around Rangiku long enough to get used to that sort of thing – but seeing Jigoku this way, really made him uneasy. It even made him annoyed that he couldn't suppress his emotions.

She always did this to him! It was really starting to piss him off!

The other tree people – Renji, Shunsui and Rangiku – were sitting in the opposite couch. Rangiku was trying really hard to keep herself from laughing out loud with her captain's expression of forcing back his emotions while both Renji and Shunsui were concentrated on mostly one thing.

Jigoku's cleverage.

Not that she could blame them. Let's face it, her boobs looked huge! Nowhere near Rangiku, but she was getting pretty close.

It didn't take long before Rangiku completely failed at concealing her laughter, and burst out laughing so hard she was holding her stomach in pain.

"I'm so sorry taicho, but it's just too hard to hold back!" She exclaimed between breaths, seeing the disruption of Tōshirō's concentration. His eye twitched when he shot up, and pointed over at Jigoku while looking at the hysterically laughing strawberry blond.

"It's not as if I can help it! Anyone would get uneasy when Honoo is dressed like that!" He stated while he kept his eyes away from the yellow shaded brunette with all his might. "Put on some more clothes, will you?"

This however caused Jigoku to shoot up in aggravation as well – her chest bouncing with the sudden rapid movement - still self-conscious with embarrassment.

"Shut up Shorty!" An irk-mark appeared on the white-haired captain's head from the insult. "If you wanna blame someone for making me dress up like a whore, blame Rangiku!"

"Who the hell are you calling short?" He growled at her, finally facing her with outmost outrage.

"The shortest guy in the room, so obviously you, you moron!" She retorted, sending yet another irk-mark to visibility.

Both of the youngest captains were throwing insults back and forth, but neither of the two occupants of the opposite sofa were actually caring for the situation at hand. Renji had raised an eyebrow at the current sight he was beholding, while Shunsui was glancing up and down with a somewhat perverted grin on his face.

Rangiku was still laughing her ass off.

[ ]

It had been over an hour, and the two teen-looking captains were still throwing swears and insults around as if it were their everyday vocabulary. Renji got pretty annoyed with the interruption of the party, and by now Rangiku was trying to sooth both of them along with a still pervy-minded Shunsui.

"Taicho, please calm down." Rangiku tried, but got ignored all the way.

"Jigoku-chan, stop making such a fuss. You two are arguing like an old married couple-"

-SMACK!

"What was that?" Both Tōshirō and Jigoku demanded in unison to a swirly-eyed Shunsui, who got hammered down to the really awkward comment he had thrown into the squabbling duo. There were several irk-marks present onto the young female's appearance, and his unnecessary statement only added a handful more.

"That's it!" Renji shot up from his seat in the couch, grabbed both Jigoku and Tōshirō, and walked over to the spot that would make both of them become nothing but inaudible voices. Truth was, Renji gained a massive head-ache because of them, and he really wanted to make them shut up!

Opening a wooden door which was immediately linked with a staircase down, he dumped Jigoku who ultimately landed flat down on her back on the concrete ground at the footing. She moaned in pain to the unpleasant treatment, and send daggers at the red-haired lieutenant.

"What the hell?" She questioned, rubbing the back of her head. Her eyes linked with a smirking widely Renji, causing a look of horror to appear on Jigoku's face.

"N-No, wait!"

"You bastard! Unhand me this instant!" Tōshirō ordered, struggling fairly to the iron grip Renji had on him. The red-haired male's smirk turned into a devilishly wide grin while the captain obliviously growled in pure rage.

"Sure~!"

And with that, he threw the white-haired small Shinigami down the stairs as well, slamming the door shut behind him and locking it to restrict them from running away.

Both Shinigami's eyes widened with pure terror.

"AAAAAHHH!"

-THUD

"…"

"…"

Jigoku thought that the whole evening had been extremely awkward, but this… this was just horrifying.

They were both surrounded by a very dim-lighted light, an awful lot of wooden crates filled with liquor, and some really odd smell neither of the two could identify. Jigoku had thought her evening would go a bit better than what she was living now. Being locked in a cellar with her nemesis wasn't particularly how she wanted to end the day. And especially not with his face stuck between her breasts!

Tōshirō was a tiny bit smaller then her, though he completely failed to misplace his landing. He had been planning on landing on the ground, but gravity obviously didn't agree.

'Someone please shoot me and tear me away from this nightmare!' She screamed in her head, trying to keep herself from fainting from embarrassment. She wanted to whimper in disarray, though decided against it. She mustn't have been the only one uneasy about the situation at hand. Let's face it, it almost seemed as though Tōshirō had stopped breathing…

"… You can get off me, you know." She stated, a small glare appearing on her flustered face. Okay, it was awkward, but he was getting just a tad too comfortable in her bosom.

"Move it, Smurf!" She yelled, blushing with the fact that he didn't move a single muscle. She was trying to catch his attention with an insulting nick-name she had thought for him not too many days ago.

No response. Not even that worked. What the hell?

"… Tōshirō?" She asked, mentally smacking herself for using his first name.

Still, no response.

Raising a confused eyebrow, she flipped both of them over so she was the one on top, and now finally noticed that the young captain had been knocked out completely from colliding with her blooming torso. His swirly eyes kind of made that crystal clear. She had figured that her chest would make the collision cushioned, though it seemed like she was wrong.

She gasped. What if he seriously hurt himself?

She grabbed him by the collar while setting herself down on his lap, lifted his upper body from the ground and started shaking him like no tomorrow.

"Wake up, moron!"

It didn't work. She decided she would smack him back to reality then. With her flat hand, she slapped him back and forth and shook him some more.

"Hey…" He moaned, coming around.

SLAP

"Hey! Knock that off!" He groaned annoyed, not liking the hits he was getting. He rubbed his right cheek with a glaring pout, his eyes closed to show he wasn't approving of her methods in the least. Not that she cared, really.

When he opened his intense tail orbs to look at her, he looked a bit too low and came face to face with her barely concealed chest. This unintentional movement caused the white-haired captain to quickly averted his gaze to the side to hide his embarrassment. A growl of irritation left his throat, mentally scolding himself for the retarded move he just made.

Let's face it, Jigoku was really a beautiful girl. Long hair which held a passionate color, deep glistering ruby red eyes, full kissable lips, doll-like face… very nice body. She was close to the same level of Rangiku in adoration by whole of Soul Society, though her big mouth kind of made the good first appearance go down the drain. Still, that didn't dismiss the fact that she was a babe.

Jigoku quickly got off of him, pulled the skirt down as much as she could, and took a safe distance from him. She could already feel her stomach tying knots. She simply hated being in the same room with someone from the other sex… especially Tōshirō. He was the only one who could make her so mad, but was still strongly attracted to him at the same time.

… that didn't make much sense.

Silence brewed around the delinquent duo, both looking at all things in the room but each other. Tōshirō noticed the unfamiliarity of where they resided.

"Where are we?" He asked himself more than Jigoku, getting up from the ground he was sitting on and looked around. She put a finger on her chin, pretending to think about it.

"Hmm, let's see. A shit-load of sake bottles, crates of wine and other liquor, beer and-" She grabbed a bottle from behind her, and read the tag only to raise a very confused eyebrow.

"-a brand of which I have no clue of what it is. But basically, if you put all that information together, I'm pretty darn sure you can make an educated guess."

Jigoku's sarcasm already rubbed him the wrong way. His eyebrow once more twitched in annoyance, and crossed his arms glaring the other way.

"Shut up! I know we're in Rangiku's cellar, alright? I was just…" He took a quick glance at the brunette a few feet from him, and immediately tore his sight away from her again.

"-disoriented."

"From what? The fact you crashed your head between my breasts?" She stated, not really believing the dumb retort he just gave her. He tensed a bit, not really liking her to state such embarrassing moments as if it were nothing. She copied his stance, and crossed her arms as well.

"Seriously, Shorty-"

Another irk-mark to add to his collection. She really knew how to tick him off.

"If you get disoriented by that, then I don't even wanna know how you feel when Rangiku accidentally bumps into you." She chuckled, already amusing herself picturing how that scene would play out.

"Why the hell are you calling me short? You're in no position to call me that!" He yelled back at her, raising his fist in an offensive manner. He had a good point. Jigoku herself was a very small young woman – 1.40 meters - but unlike him, it didn't bother her when they pointed out to her small frame. She had the power to prove that she was worthy of being called a captain, so first appearances really are of no use in her case.

"Because…" She smirked, giving him a wink. "your reaction to my statements never ceases to amuse me."

"What?" The confusion was clearly perceptible in his voice. He blinked his eyelids confused, his rage evaporated as if she never made the comments about his height in the first place. How the heck was she doing that? How the hell was she tempering with his emotions while he didn't even know how to suppress them himself?

It could just be because the smirk she had on her face made him somewhat uneasy, but other than that, he was clueless.

"I said that your reactions make me laugh. You're funny when you're pissed off." She rolled her ruby-red eyes, making the white-haired captain sweat drop to her stupidity.

"That's not… what I meant…"

"Let's have a drink!" She hoisted up a random bottle of liquor, already tugging at the cork that made it impossible for the sweet flavor of the alcohol to go to waste.

Tōshirō was really confused by now. Could she be any more random?

Just what was going on? She was a totally different person now that he got her in a room all by herself. Like he knew Jigoku, she'd be throwing one massive tantrum, throwing the bottles at his head instead of drinking them happy together with him.

It didn't make sense to him at all.

"I would really appreciate it if you would stop staring at me… Smurf."

The rebirth of the irk-mark didn't take too long.

"What was that?"

[ ]

"So I was running over to the 7th division barracks the other day, and actually ran into the wall because I was thinking so much about things I'm not even supposed to think about, and I'm not going to tell you what I was thinking about because it makes no sense at all!"

Jigoku was laughing hysterically with her own funny memories, while Tōshirō was being a party pooper and just listening to her drunken rants. She was making her sentences so long that is was practically impossible to completely understand them.

The yellow shaded brunette got up from her seat on an empty wooden crate a bit too fast, and wobbly made her way over to a small pile of crates to get herself another bottle of wine.

It was her third already, and it appeared as though it wouldn't be her last one.

"Honoo, that's enough." Tōshirō got up to stop her from making her drown herself with liquor, and grabbed both of her wrists to restrict her from taking this any further. His expression was stern and determined, he wasn't allowing her to have more alcohol than she already had. She was really starting to act like a moron!

"But Tōshirō-kuuuun~! Just one more~!" She wined, pouting her full bottom lip slightly outwards, her ruby-red eyes hazed as she looked at him. He shook his head, putting himself between her and her beloved crate of liquor while remaining to restrain her. He was slightly shocked to hear her say his first name other than an insult, and even more stunned when he felt his heart flutter due to it.

"Please~?" She looked at him through half-lit eyes, her deep red orbs glassy with the haziness of the drinks, and mind completely send into an abyss of neither right nor wrong. She found herself so fascinated by his tail orbs that she failed to noticed that she was drawing nearer and nearer to his face.

Tōshirō however, did notice.

He blinked a few times, and unwillingly a miniature blush crept onto his childish face. Did she even realize what she was doing?

She was going to kiss her nemesis, for crying out loud!

Just when he was about to open his mouth to comment on her strange behavior, she beat him to the punch.

"You have such mesmerizing eyes, Tōshirō-kun." She whispered, completely intoxicated with his scent. She never noticed how pleasant he smelled up until now. She always failed to notice how attractive he was too. His snow-white hair, perfectly matching his cold tail blue eyes, mysterious demeanor about himself.

Tōshirō gave her a look that clearly stated 'what the hell?'. Not only due to the compliment, but the fact she called him –kun was just… creepy.

He got even more uncomfortable when she ran her hand gently through his white locks.

His stomach tied knots and his heart missed a thump. He knew that she didn't even know what she was doing, but damn did that girl know how to mess with his mind. And the reality that they were mere inches apart from each other didn't particularly help him in any way.

"H-Honoo, stop that." He ordered, closing his eyes with an irritable expression. Though it was on deaf man's ears. He mentally cursed himself for stuttering too.

She gave him a warm smile, the kind of smile that he had never seen her use before in the whole time they have known each other. And that was quite a while.

"Tōshirō-kun, can I kiss you?" She casually asked, making the white-haired captain completely freeze with just the mere thought. He broke out in cold sweat, a fuzzy feeling re-appearing in his stomach as he locked gazes with the brunette.

"What?" He questioned, completely astonished. Yesterday, she even threatened to kill him if he got too close to her, and now she wanted to make out? She was clearly too drunk.

Urgh, some predicament he was in.

Clearing his throat with a focused gaze, he got a hold of himself. The coldness of his stare intensified, and he seemed to have control over his emotions once more. Though the unknown feeling in his stomach remained.

"Honoo, get a hold of yourself. You should hear what you're saying. We detest each other, so acting like this is really annoying."

"You didn't answer my question."

Hitsugaya flinched. He thought she was drunk enough she wouldn't notice, but clearly he was wrong. Secretly, he did want her to, but on the other side, he didn't. He didn't know how to react to that. He was completely confused about this whole situation, to say the least. She was hitting on him, and as much as he hated to admit it, he actually liked it. But Jigoku hated him, even loathed him! Why was she doing this? If she's able to tell that he was adverting her direct question, then she must've realized what she was doing this whole time, right?

Was she just playing games with him? Deceiving and making him believe that she was so wasted, and using that excuse in order to get closer to him than she ever dared in public?

No, no, that wasn't it.

Was she trying to loosen up by the use of alcohol, and speak her true feelings now that they were alone? That could be it.

But no matter how you twist or turn it around, it was still creepy.

Tōshirō's train of thought was abruptly interrupted when he felt her wet pink lips putting pressure on his own. A single shiver ran down his spine, but couldn't conclude whether it was a pleasant, or bad one. As a reflex, he pulled his head back quickly to break them apart, only to collide with the edge of a wooden crate behind him. Pain was inflicted greatly by this move, and he groaned out in both frustration and hurt.

"Shit, that really hurts!" He muttered, holding his head not being able to stand up straight due to the throbbing. His whole body was quavering with all types of different emotions.

Attraction, delight, frustration, anger, but most of all, pain. He was really about to go crazy.

Jigoku pulled his smaller indignant figure closer to her body, and hugged him while putting a hand on the back of his head in an attempt to ease his ache.

"Let me go-!"

"Tōshirō… you really don't understand… do you?" Her voice came out as a whisper, comparable to the soft breeze of a silver wind in the night sky. It was so soft, so tender, almost warm enough to melt his icy personality. His eyes had opened themselves, staring straight into the black fabric of her shoulder. He found himself relaxing by hearing her affectionate voice calling out his real name, and kept himself quiet to hear what she wanted to say.

"You're confused… about why I'm acting like this… right?"

"… Yeah…"

He could feel her hand rubbing over the spot where he so smartly collided with the wooden crates, softly caressing his white hair in a soothing manner. Absent-mindedly, he started closing his eyes, enjoying her touch. Soon, his hands fell down limp besides his body, his forehead resting against her shoulder. His anger was slowly disappearing.

"It's actually… very simply once you think of it." She started, speaking on the same level of whispering tone as she did before. Her cheeks were somewhat flustered thanks to the alcohol, but her mind never had been more clear than it was now. She knew exactly why she was acting like this, and she knew that, if she didn't tell him how much her emotions battled with each other, she was never going to get rid of it either.

"I… I like you.. so much that it hurts…" She muttered, tightening her grip on his shirt. She could feel her eyes beginning to sting, tears forming in them while her heart started racing.

Tōshirō's eyes had widened, the only expression that was visible at the moment was pure shock. He did recover quickly though, and cast his eyes to the side.

"… If you really like me that much, then why the hell do you keep picking fights with me?" He demanded, clenching his hand into a fist.

"Because!" She exclaimed, releasing her grip on him and turned around not able to face him with tears streaming down her face. Tōshirō was somewhat surprised to her sudden outburst, but he was still confused. How can it hurt someone to like someone? Where was the logic in that? Aren't you supposed to feel really happy and joyful when you see someone you're attracted to?

"You didn't answer my question. I don't take 'because' for a reply. I want a real answer, Honoo!" He yelled at her, annoyed with the fact that she couldn't face him. Little did he know that just looking at him hurt her more then he could think.

"…"

"…"

"I… I hate it… I hate that I love you so much."

"And why's that?" He blinked a few times, somehow feeling a bit insulted.

"Because it's goddamn pointless to have such overpowering feelings for someone when you know that it won't ever be responded to, that's why! What's the use in loving someone when that person doesn't even like you?" Both her hands had clenched into fists, tears rapidly cascading down her doll-like face as overflowing rivers of despair. This was the first time that she and the tenth division captain ever had a serious conversation, and she never thought that she would break down this easily.

She was crying in front of him. She was crying because she knew she would get painfully rejected.

"That's why it hurts so much, and that's the reason why I hate loving you!" She fell down to the ground on her knees, and cries so hard in the palm of hands that her vision blurred. "It's because I know that you wouldn't ever feel like that, that I decided to catch your attention by simply annoying you to death!"

"Honoo-san…"

Tōshirō was officially dumbstruck. He had no idea that she was feeling so strongly for him. He had always assumed that she hated him because of who he was, so naturally they would get in fights with each other. But he didn't even have the slightest clue of her true intentions. She didn't even give him the tiniest sign, at all! How the hell was he supposed to know?

He gave her a concerned glance, noticing how grim the situation had just become. He didn't want her to feel so bad about loving him, really. Her assumptions were literally tearing her apart. He couldn't watch her cave in like that. He knelt before her, and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Jigoku, stop crying. Please."

"I'm so sorry Tōshirō, I really am." She sniffled, whipping the tears that leaked down from her eyes, trying to reclaim her composure. He had never seen her so sentimental before, and at some point, he really didn't want to see her like this. He even felt sorry for her. She usually had a very stern and serious expression plastered onto her face, but everything he thought he knew about her flew completely out of the window. It was almost as if he met a new girl who had the same body as Jigoku.

"What are you sorry for? There's no need for you to apologize." He assured her, using his sleeve to wipe her fallen tears with. As soon as he withdrew his hand, she shook her head.

"I have to apologize, for being a weakling." She muttered, not able to face him. Her ruby-red glistering eyes were cast away from his tail ones. He blinked his eyelids with slight confusion.

"A weakling?"

"Yes, a weakling. I'm incapable of controlling myself around you… my words always come out wrong whenever I see you, I just…" A sigh escaped her lips, not finding the right things to say at all.

"It's hopeless." She stated to herself in a sarcastic manner, something that Tōshirō was all too familiar with. Seemed like the alcohol started to subside. That was, if she was drunk to begin with.

He gave her a raised eyebrow, but chuckled afterwards.

"You're really a mystery, lazy bum."

She shot him a small glare.

"Shut up Sho-"

Her insult was completely cut off when she felt his cold lips capture her pink full ones, eyes widened by sheer shock. He placed both his hands on her cheeks, pulling her closer to him to deepen it, which she obliged to without any hold back. Her deep crimson optics closed, her mind completely being swallowed up by the temptation of his kiss. His taste was even more addicting than his smell.

She soon felt herself being mesmerized as her mind was swallowed up by sheer satisfaction, and draped her arms around his neck. Following her movements, he put both his hands on the curve of her hips, and pulled her lower body tightly against his own. His cold skin made hers tingle, and she couldn't contain the moan building up in her throat as he stroked her sides affectionately.

Tōshirō didn't waste any time, and soon found himself already captivated by her lips. His tongue brushed over her pink ones in soft manner, tickling her faintly. She figured she had waited long enough for this opportunity, so immediately obliged and parted her lips to some extent. He got an additional satisfied moan from the girl as his tongue played with hers, and felt soft tugging at his white locks.

She could feels shivers of excitement running up and down her spine, goose bumps rising to the surface of her skin. Sadly, her burning lungs started crying out, desperately craving for new oxygen, so both of them were forced to part.

Their eyes locked as pants in need for air filled Rangiku's cellar, their foreheads resting against each other as they were being fascinated by the intense color their eyes harbored. Jigoku, eyes as warm as a burning flames from the depths of hell, while Tōshirō had eyes as cold as the thickest ice of a frozen ocean.

Tōshirō blinked a few times when he found the brunette giggling like a little schoolgirl, and raised an eyebrow to demand an explanation. Did he do something wrong? What if he embarrassed himself?

"What's so funny?" He demanded in a somewhat harsh tone. She waved her hand in front of her face in an apologetic manner, and shook her head.

"I'm not laughing at you Tōshirō, not at all." She giggled. "I'm just so relieved that I purely can't stop laughing!"

As the young girl continued laughing to her heart's content, the white-haired captain found himself smiling at her happy figure. For the first time in a long while, he was pleasantly surprised with her new-found secret, one that was bigger than he ever imagined. His nemesis, secretly holding an enormous amount of fondness for him, clashed against her own heart in order to keep it behind sealed lips.

What a strain that must've been. No wonder love can hurt someone.

So all the swears, insults and fights, were all a façade? Everyone really believed that she hated him to death, and he was trying to keep the peace between the two of them, but it was really he who triggered her to rebel against her feelings.

Lucky for her, Tōshirō was silently keeping his sensitivity behind a closed door as well, a locked fragment of the thickest ice frostily protecting his heart from ache.

Seems like no matter how hard you try, there is no one who can hide from Cupid's arrow of love.