Disclaimer: I take no ownership over any of the characters used in this fic. All properties belong to Kubo Tite and no one else.
Walking towards the door to the captain's office of the fifth squad, Hinamori Momo was a little nervous, to say the least. One reason was because her dear childhood friend and captain of the tenth squad, Hitsugaya Toushirou, had given her this puzzle and she didn't want to look stupid to him because she could not solve it, even after he had explained all the rules, and two was because… she was going to ask her captain for help. Now, she knew that, for the most part, her captain was extremely busy with the care of his squad and the uncountable stacks of paperwork that was delivered to his office daily by the Head Captain, Yamamoto. She wondered sometimes if captains were all about signing paperwork and forms instead of actually fighting Hollows and protecting the souls of the World of the Living. If so, then she was glad to be a lieutenant. Signing all that paperwork must be a terrible burden. She remembered her academy friends, Renji and Shuuhei, laughing over the matter, thinking that the all-important captain's exam was only to see if the candidate was simply a fast writer and could handle more paperwork. This could explain how the captains of the Gotei 13 could handle so much paperwork in one day, and finish it.
Shaking her head, Momo snapped out of her reveries of paper and work and thought more on what was in front of her. The point was her captain was very busy, but still… she sighed, knowing the real reason behind this was because she had wanted to spend some more time with her captain. He was so busy as of late, that she hardly saw him, and he did not even have time to talk with her between stacks and mountains of paperwork that needed his approval by this or that time. She had heard from Captain Ichimaru that Captain Aizen liked puzzles and that he was a good puzzle solver, and sighing dreamily, she wondered why he wouldn't be. It wasn't a big secret that she was enamored, maybe even in love with her captain, and what's there not to love? He was incredibly smart, kind, generous, sweet, loving, caring, good-hearted person, and always had a smile on his face. His looks were a personal opinion, but she did not dislike them. He was also always willing to help her when need be. That's why she thought of him the instant her friend gave her the infuriating puzzle. But… would he even have time in his busy schedule to help her with some silly little game?
She gulped when she reached the door, and stared at it as though it would come alive and eat her. Finally, she took a breath and pushed the sliding door open, putting on a smile and facing her beloved captain; "Good afternoon captain! How are you doing?"
The captain looked up from the paper in front of him, brown curls falling back to show his chocolate eyes in a little shocked, curious, yet happy expression. He didn't expect her to show up at random, but he should have been used to it by now. Little Momo tended to show up in his office, either because she needed help or because she wanted to bring him his afternoon tea, and since the image in the doorway was Momo minus one tray with a teapot and cup, he guessed it was the former. He smiled to her, putting his pen down and turning to her; "What is it Momo? Is there something that you need help with?
She gasped at his guess, amazed that he knew what she needed and thought that he must have been psychic or something. "U-uhh..I-I mean yes! That was amazing… H-how did you know captain?"
Putting his index finger on his chin, he pondered a moment before answering her; "Lucky guess?"
She smiled to him, fidgeting a little. Would he really help her? He was right in the middle of some paperwork, she saw his pen on his desk, and the paper in front of him, but still… she hoped he would. Walking over to his desk, she stuttered her question, looking away from him. "C-Captain!...There's something… well, I was sort of hoping that… that you could…help me with this puzzle!!" She shouted at the end, holding out the page with the damned puzzle on it with a blush on her face.
How embarrassing. She wanted to show, both to Hitsugaya, and her captain, that she was smart and that she could solve this all on her own, but she didn't even understand the concept of this strange puzzle. The numbers didn't make sense to her. Aizen looked up curiously to her and said, "Here, let me see…" taking, the page from her fingers.
Upon inspecting the page, he was also confused at the numbers that were randomly placed in this small box. He glanced to the top of the page at the name, and then looked to his lieutenant. "Sudoku?"
"Yes captain" replied Momo, "It's a popular puzzle game in the World of the Living. Toushirou gave it to me and said that if I could finish it, he would stop calling me a be- I mean, would stop calling me names. Apparently, Rangiku got it the last time she went to World of the Living and could never solve it." She sighed inwardly. Never did she want her captain to know that Toushirou called her a bed-wetter.
"I see," he said, "So what are the rules of this game?"
"Umm…well captain…" She was a little nervous. She hoped that she could remember all the rules correctly so that when he tried it, he wasn't as confused as she was. "What Toushirou told me was that each row, column, and box holds the numbers from one to nine, and that to win, you have to arrange the numbers so that there are the numbers one to nine are in each row, column, and box only once, with no doubles." She was pretty sure those were the right instructions.
Pondering in silence for a moment, Aizen looked seriously towards the page in front of him, then turned to his lieutenant with a smile that made her blush. "Well, it seems to be simple enough… would you like to help me with this? I'm sure we could turn you into a master, and then you would not need my help to do another one of these, umm… Sudokus." He said, glancing to the paper.
Momo's face brightened and she nodded happily, "Yes! I would love to captain!" and glided over to his side, blushing considerably when she though of how close they were. She didn't even realize she was getting distracted.
"Now listen Momo, here's what you have to do if you want to do these right, alright?" Aizen stated, looking back at her and catching her jump back to reality and blush and fidget nervously.
"Uh, y-yes! Captain… I'm listening." He smiled to her and turned back to the puzzle. "Good, then if you want to get this puzzle right, all you have to do is-"
After the puzzle was completed, and rather quickly, she noted, Momo held her accomplishment up high and jumped. She giggled as though she had just won a prestigious competition and smiled brightly. She looked to her captain with that same smile and exclaimed loudly; "Thank you so much captain! Now I can finally tell Toushirou to stop calling me be- I mean, names!"
Aizen chuckled and held up his hand in a gesture to, hopefully calm her somewhat. "It's no trouble at all Momo, after all, what kind of captain would I be if I didn't help my subordinates with whatever problem they have, both big and small?"
Momo stopped jumping around and calmed herself, looking right into his eyes with the warmest smile she could muster. She hoped that the feeling for him within her would reach him somehow. "I really do mean it though captain. Thank you so much… for everything… my captain."
And with that, Momo spun around and walked out of the office door, closing it behind her and not even looking back at his smiling face. Once she was gone, Aizen could hear her little feet running down the hall, gradually getting quieter as she left the hall, and most likely, the barracks. He sat in front of the rest of his paperwork with a smile, head dipped down, thinking about Momo for a few more minutes before picking up his pen again and finishing his work. He thought that he might actually miss his spunky little lieutenant more than he thought when he finally left. He knew he would miss little moments like that between him and his lieutenant, but time was almost up, and the mask was going to be taken off soon. He wondered if any of the beings in Hueco Mundo liked to play puzzles too. There was only one way to find out…
A/N: Sorry, I've been away on such a long hiatus, but I've been so busy with school and whatnot. I'm in the IB program, so I'm usually stuck in my room with mountains of homework, and no social life.