Disclaimer: I do not own bleach nor do I own any of its characters

My third bleach fic. Enjoy!!!

Chapter I: Rivalry

It's summer in soul society and people are busy preparing for a once in every 3 years event—the shinigami prom night. Some people are busy taking care of the decorations; some are busy looking for something to wear. The others, mostly captains, are busy taking care of paperwork that their lazy fukutaichou's abandoned.

Today is exceptionally a busy day since later tonight is the ball.

But, perhaps the busiest of them all is the captain of the 10th division, Hitsugaya Toushirou. You see, unlike most vice-captains, his lieutenant—Matsumoto Rangiku—was more than willing to abandon ALL her paperwork. The other vice-captains were decent enough to take care at least half of their paperwork. Moreover, Hitsugaya is taking care of Hinamori's paperwork because she just recovered from her coma.

"MATSUMOTO RANGIKU, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU???!!!!!!!" the white haired boy yelled, scaring all shinigami within a 12 kilometer radius.

"Uhhh Rangiku-san, I think you should get back to Shirou-chan" Hinamori told her busty friend who is currently looking through some kimonos.

It's been 6 months after the war and Aizen's death and in the first three weeks of those six months, Hinamori went sick not physically but mentally. She refused to eat and talk to anyone. It was a good thing her Shirou-chan was always there for her. She clearly remember that day

Flashback

The petite vice captain curled up into a ball, blanket wrapped tightly around her slim figure. She's been like that for nearly 2 weeks and 6 days.

"Hinamori" a familiar voice called her from the other side of her messed up room on the last day of the 3rd week.

"Go away"

The voice replied by entering her room. His form is not so skinny anymore as his newly acquired lean muscles sculpt his body to a seemingly godly perfection. He is a head taller than Hinamori and has silvery white hair arranged in a spiky fashion which went to all directions with a strip of silver bangs on one side. He has bandages stuck to his right cheek, wrapped around his forearms and his torso (although not visible through his shihakusho).

"I said go away" she spat

Hitsugaya winced at her venom laced voice. "Hinamori, please don't do this to yourself. It's not good for you." the boy pleaded, emerald eyes fixed on her filled with nothing more than concern, care, worry and love. No anger, no arrogance.

"What I do to myself is none of your business" the silver haired captain felt like somebody stabbed him straight in the heart.

The boy took a deep breathe and grabbed is childhood friend's wrist, pulling her up.

"Ugh!! Let go" the girl struggled to break free of his vice like grip. Scratching his badaged forearm and inflicting deep painful wounds there since the skin has yet to fully recover and is still tender.

The boy ignored the pain and simply put his struggling friend into a hug, tightly wrapping his arms around her flimsy form.

"Please, Hinamori…don't do this to yourself. It hurts me; seeing you like this. Please don't drive me away" he pleaded, tears falling from his eyes soaked her uniform.

The girl's struggling became weaker and weaker until finally, she broke and let out tears of frustration, anger and sorrow. But mostly, she let out tears of guilt. She's guilty because 3 days before Aizen's death, she attempted to massacre her childhood friend. It was a good thing he has sharp senses. But that doesn't mean he walked out of the predicament unharmed as his abdomen was slashed, rather deeply, by Tobiume.

"I'm sorry….I'm so, so sorry…Shirou-chan" she sobbed on his chest.

"Hush, hush, Hinamori…you don't have to be sorry…I never minded the incident in the first place." She smiled at that.

"Arigatou, Toushirou" he slept with her that night just to ensure her nightmares won't haunt her

End of flashback

Hinamori smiled as she recalled that day

"Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, he can handle all those paperwork himself. You know Hitsugaya-taichou, he's all work and no play" Matsumoto retorted through piles and piles of kimono pieces.

"Uhhh, Matsumoto-san, I think you better be careful on what you say" Hinamori nervously told her companion noticing a small but continuous drop of temperature.

"Why is that?" the busty lieutenant inquired still buried under the piles of clothes.

"Because your captain may hear you" an annoyed voice replied. Matsumoto's head shot up as she came face to face with her captain.

"T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-taichou!!! Are you here to look--"

"All work and no play huh?" the boy cut her off. Matsumoto gulped at his tone. 'This isn't gonna end well' she thought.

Hinamori, on the other hand, just stood there with a stupefied expression. She didn't notice when he entered the scene…he just popped out of nowhere. She then noticed that his shihakusho is slightly loose showing some impressive chest muscles. The brown haired girl tried to suppress a blush as her mind wandered off to its fantasy world. In fact that reminded her something—she has to ask him out to the prom.

"Hinamori, sorry but me and my vice captain here has some paperwork to do" he told his friend gesturing to Matsumoto and snapping Hinamori out of her trance.

Hinamori nodded and whispered a 'good luck' to her friend being dragged a way by her childhood friend.

"Well, well, well…what do we have here?" a female voice called from behind her back the moment Hitsugaya was out of sight. Hinamori whipped around only to see three female shinigami smirking at her.

"Ayame…what do you want?" Hinamori asked her mortal enemy.

Tsusikyno Ayame is the third seat of the ninth division. She has short black hair that curl up by the end making it look like its embracing her face (she kinda looks like the former 6th espada Luppi). Her eyes are big but slightly narrower than Hinamori's and is brown in color. Her two posies are known only by the name of Mika and Mikki. Mika has red straight hair that stop just above the waist while Mikki has red, curly hair. Their both the 4th seat of the ninth division.

"Who is your prom partner? Oh wait…you don't have one" Ayame laughed maliciously together with her two posies.

"And I suppose you have one?" Hinamori retorted trying to build up courage. Just because she's a vice captain, doesn't mean she'll get the respect needed from her enemies from the academy. Ayame has been her mortal enemy ever since she discovered that Hitsugaya and her are childhood friends.

Ever since Hitsugaya came at the academy, Ayame has tried every single trick to win him but to no avail.

"Yes, I will go with Hitsugaya-taichou….or should I say my Shirou-chan" Ayame grinned at Hinamori's expression.

Hinamori's anger is now on critical level as she heard her say Shirou-chan. 'SHE HAS ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT TO CALL HIM THAT'. "Wait, he said yes?" the vice captain asked, hoping her assumption is not true.

"No but I'll ask him later today. He'll surely say yes." With that, Ayame and her two posies went out the store, laughing at Hinamori.

'Not if I ask him first' Hinamori thought as she paid for her chosen kimono and ran off to her childhood friend's office.

To be continued

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