It was always interesting going to the human world with Vice Captain Matsamoto. Though she partially thought she was only there to hold onto bags of clothes that the vice captain bought, the world of the living was always peaceful and full of excitement. It was a rare occasion that she would buy anything with the little money she would bring, but today was a little different.

"Matsamoto-san, may I ask you something?" she asked timidly. The woman was already stuffing herself with sweets, but had stop to hear the smaller girl's question.

"Hmm? What is it Hinamori-chan?" she asked, her blue eyes curiously glancing at her.

"It's that time of year again, and I was wondering-"

"Oh! You mean the captain? Aw, aren't you just the sweetest?"

Hinamori blushed at the compliment and thinking about their past years together. Shiro-chan might not like celebrating parties or relaxing too much, but they were still children and they at least needed a birthday party.

"So, what are you going to get him?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you about. What do you get for Captain Ichimaru on his birthdays?" The vice captain did a spit take on that. Once she had recovered from the sudden lost of coffee in her mouth, she asked, "Where did you hear that I give gifts to that fox face?"

Hinamori tilted her head to the side. "Captain Aizen tells me that Captain Ichimaru is always happy on his birthday because he always gets a gifts from you and Izuru. But he never accepts gifts from anyone else. Do you do anything special for him?"

The sudden redness on the older woman's cheeks gave Hinamori the thought that someone had spiked her coffee.

"Don't mind me! Besides, the captain isn't really into the things I do for Gin!" she said, almost screaming out the words. After seeing that she had cause a commotion, the Matsomoto beckoned the younger girl out of the cafe in order to talk in a more comfortable environment.

They had stopped at another store, but this time not one for clothes for once. Momo wondered slightly why they were here, but knowing Matsomoto, she had a plan.

The store was filled with people, each gathering fruits and vegetables in bags so that they may prepare a dinner for their individual families. The two vice captains grabbed baskets and wondered around the grocery mart. They spoke about several ideas for the captain's gift while gathering several sweets and other delicious items to eat on their way back to Soul Society.

One thing, however, caught the petite girl's eyes. She smiled and grabbed quite a few of the fruit. Rangiku looked over her shoulder to see what had grabbed her attention. She smiled and hugged at how cliquish the young girl was.

Momo, rolling her eyes and her friend's amusement, grabbed a few more of the fruits and went out to pay. She had only hope that her captain wouldn't mind if she had dipped into his own birthday funds.

Hitsugaya felt that he was lucky. It was his birthday and not a single Matsomoto or Momo had came by to force a horrible cake down his throat. It wasn't that he hated the pastry, it was just that neither one of the two were very good cooks.

At the end of the day though, he felt empty. Like something inside him wasn't there anymore. Perhaps he did like the annoying parties the two vice captains threw.

Then again, he did skip lunch to do the extra paperwork Matsomoto gave him. Yeah, that was probably it.

Just when he was about to go asleep, he heard knocking on his door. Sighing and wondering who could be out this late, he walked up to the door to see who had stopped him from his own time to relax.

It turned out it was just a prank, probably Gin, and that just left Hitsugaya even more annoyed than before. He sighed and was about to close the door again when he noticed the basket of fruit by his feet. He picked it up and read the label that was attached to the hand-woven basket.

"Happy Birthday Shiro-chan! These are some peaches I bought in the world of the living. They're called white peaches. I thought they were a perfect combination of our names! I hope you had a good day without us, or the party. You can thanks me later. Happy Birthday!"

The child prodigy initial thought was to go to his childhood friend's room and scold her for calling him "Shiro-chan" of all days. He was so frustrated with her that he absently brought his hand to the fruit and took a bite of it. The sweet taste was unbelievably wonderful.

He took the basket into the room and at ate to his heart's content. He could scold bed-wetter Momo at anytime. Right now, it was time to enjoy her little birthday gift.