DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT own Bleach or it's characters. That all belongs to Mister Tite Kubo. Oh, but Haruka is mine.
"...Hi... They said you'd be here."
No reply.
"C'mon. Open your eyes, sleepy-head."
The captain gave an annoyed grunt as he felt the finger poke into his side. A quiet giggle reached his ears and he rolled over, away from the sound.
"Please?"
Another irritated groan.
"But you have such pretty eyes."
He smiled into the pillow but reminded himself that he was sleepy and did not want to be pestered.
A sigh came from somewhere behind him- the direction he had rolled away from.
"I see... Having a lazy day, huh?"
He almost made a weak attempt to nod, but stopped himself. Might as well humour the visitor in their stupid, kiddy game. Pretend to be asleep for just a while longer.
"Hmm..." the voice trailed off and didn't return for a few seconds- as if the intruder was pondering something. "Don't you have a HUUUUUGE, big pile of work to do?"
Darn. This one was good. Knew just where the nerve was. Lucky for him...-
"Day off." he murmured quietly.
"Oh... Aha, so your ARE awake."
He sighed. His cover was blown. Time to go into the denial phase.
"Aslee-"
"You're awake!
He faked a realistic snore.
"Oh, pssshh. We both know you don't snore, but, fine."
The boy smirked. He had won after all. Now he could relax and go back to sleep... However, a sense of suspicion grew as he heard soft foot-steps that travelled throughout the room. He heard a shuffle and then a faint swishing noise that sounded like paper... pages? The foot-steps returned and became slightly louder. And louder... Then they stopped... What was going on? The blanket shifted then came a faint thud. He sensed... something... or... someone at his back, which brought back a returning suspicion.
"Hm?" He opened an eye and glanced over his shoulder to find a pair of big, brown eyes. A chuckle escaped his throat as he noticed the book that had -almost- completely sucked in the entire attention span of his visitor... Almost the entire attention span. The gaze wavered away from the novel and fixed themselves on his face. A wide smile spread across the small mouth.
"Hey." he grinned, rubbing his eyes groggily.
"Knew you were faking it." she said, somewhat smugly.
He sighed. "I know... But I was sleeping before you barged into my room and woke me up."
"Oh, is this your room? I had no idea!" she giggled sarcastically.
"Seriously, Ru..."
She smiled at her nickname.
"Haha, okay, sorry... It's nice though."
"It's just a room."
"Yeah, I guess." she murmured, looking around the room with curiosity. "You have a few spinning tops over there."
"...Yeah. I used to play with them when I was a kid."
"Oh... Hey, what's this?" she reached over to a tiny shelf and retrieved a small bag. "Um, what's in here?"
"Geez." he rolled his turquoise eyes. "You sniff out sugar just like Kusajishi. Those are jelly beans."
"Really? Never knew you liked them... But, where did you get them? I've never seen anyone selling jelly beans in Seireitei."
"Um..." Why was he hesitating? It wasn't like he'd be embarrassed... She wouldn't laugh. "My... grandmother."
"Aaww! That's so sweet!" she giggled.
His face reddened a little. "Uh. Yeah... She's... You should meet her one day."
"Yeah! I'd love to meet your granny!"
... He was just spilling his guts, wasn't he? ... Sheesh.
A few minutes passed in awkward silence.
"You really should get up." she suggested. "It's already the afternoon."
"Like I said, today's my day off."
"You always sleep when you have time off?"
"Napping. Yeah, I guess so."
"Doesn't that get boring? I admit, you need time to relax but you can't just take naps all the time."
"What else am I supposed to do? Paper-work?"
"No!" she laughed. "You're a work-o-holic."
He smirked. "That so?"
"Yep."
"Then napping, it is." he said triumphantly, closing his eyes.
"Nice try." she retorted, poking him in the chest. " If you go back to sleep, I'll just wake you up again."
"Well, I guess you won't have to, because I can't go to sleep while your here."
The boy suppressed his smirk as he watched the her blush like crazy.
"Heh.- Well.-... Now why is this?" she stammered.
"Rangiku will jump to the worst possible conclusion if she bursts in here at any given moment."
He pictured how this scene must look. It wasn't like anything was going on, but Rangiku had a very dirty way of seeing things. He tried to put himself in her perspective if she walked i-
"EW! No way! I-...You-... NEVER!" It was as if she was reading his exact thoughts.
He glanced over to find her face contorted in disgust and embarrassment. He couldn't help but laugh even though his face burned just as red. She was so innocent.
"I know, I know. She just thinks in gross ways." he reassured her.
"PHEW! Okay. Um. Let's. Er. Just forgot anything to do with Rangiku or her disgusting ideas!" she exclaimed, inching away slowly, putting a little more space in-between them.
"Alright." he chuckled.
"Yeah." she muttered, going back to her book.
He flopped his head back and stared up at the ceiling, just realizing how awkward this situation was.
He looked over to find her curled up, book in hand. She was twirling her hair between her fingers and reading with wide, curious eyes.
She really was innocent. And kind, and caring, and cute. She always laughed and took things lightly. Except when she was embarrassed. Then she blushed like mad and stammered, trying to get out of the situation. Or when he- or someone else she cared about- was upset. Then she tried to apologize (sometimes for things she didn't even do) and cheer him up- which sometimes didn't work so well because she'd have a really worried look on her face.
"..?" She caught him staring and eyed him questioningly.
He just shook his head in a 'Never mind, it's nothing' gesture.
She shrugged and went back to reading.
"Good book?" he asked.
She smiled and rolled over onto her stomach.
"Yeah! It's awesome!"
"What's it about?"
She cleared her throat. "Well.." then proceeded to go into all the details of the story, up to the part she was at.
"Sounds good."
"Yeah! It is."
He laughed.
"...Mind if I... read it too?"
"Er, you wanna borrow it when I'm done? Or you wanna... like, read it now...?"
"If you don't mind."
"Oh no! Not at all." she said hastily, placing the book between them.
He rolled onto his stomach so he could read, and she shuffled closer to see better.
They read.
And read. Eyes, flying over the page, scanning each line.
He became so absorbed in the story-line, that he didn't notice that the sun was setting outside. He looked over and found the girl sleeping with her head resting by the book. At this sight, his own eyelids became heavy and he yawned. Maybe he could rest his eyes, too. For... just a moment.
"Sweet dreams, Haruka," Toshiro murmured, and fell asleep.
"The captain's been in his room all day!" Rangiku thought out loud. "Maybe I should go check on him... He did have someone come looking for him, didn't he?"
She wandered the 10th Squad's quarters until she arrived at his room, and pressed an ear to the door. No sound at all. Rangiku opened it quietly and peeked inside. She had to slap her hand over her mouth to keep herself from giggling and squealing like a child seeing a baby animal.
Because there she saw the Captain, curled up gently with -what humans would call- his girlfriend. Breathing quietly and smiling in his sleep.