My annual Bleach Christmas fic! HitsuHina fluffies for everyone ;3 HAPPY BIRTHDAY Hitsugaya-kun! And Happy Holidays to all!!
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach D=
Right Now?
"Welcome!"
The room of the 13th Squad building which Ukitake had agreed to rent out to Rukia for a Christmas party was full of decorations. There was a small tree in one corner of the room with streamers and tinsel and ornaments dangling off the prickly, green branches. Rukia stood at the doorway to this room, with a smile on her face and a festive red hat on her head. "Merry Christmas, Hitsugaya Taichou, Hinamori Fukuutaichou!" she greeted cheerily as her two honored guests entered the room.
"Merry Christmas, Kuchiki-san!" Hinamori chirped back happily. "Long time no see!" She gave her friend a quick hug.
Hitsugaya, on the other hand, had that trademark look on his face that said 'he hated parties with a burning passion and only attended this one because she had dragged him along and he just couldn't say no'.
So far, aside from Ichigo, who shared the 10th division captain's expression, they were the only other ones there. So far.
There was a crumpled red hat at the substitute Shinigami's feet, meaning he obviously must have been forced to wear it but had disposed of it the second Rukia turned her demonic little back. Hitsugaya prayed that Hinamori would not try to make him wear one as well, for he did not know if he had the heart to reject her.
"So who else is coming?" Hinamori asked her friend as Rukia placed a hat on her head.
"You'll see." Winked the raven-haired girl.
Within the next hour, most of the other Shinigami had arrived, including Renji, Kira and Hisagi who mostly just drank together in one corner of the room. A bit embarrassed, Rukia and Hinamori had removed their hats. Ichigo slipped out of the room as many times as possible without Rukia noticing and only came back in when he assumed she was getting suspicious. Hitsugaya kept to the corner nearest the door, his anti-social aura giving the room a chilly atmosphere that was perfect for the season, even though the snow outside already brought the temperature down significantly without his assistance. It was when Urahara Kisuke entered the room and got drunk like there was no tomorrow, or even a 'two minutes from now', when the white haired boy really started getting annoyed.
"Neh, neh, Hitsugaya-kun?" Hinamori's small voice made him turn his head in her direction. "Why are you just standing there with your arms crossed like that? You haven't had any fun all night." She scolded, then began to worry. "I-It wasn't me was it? Do you not want to be here? I'm sorry I made you come! You could have said no!" She fretted.
"Calm down, Bed-Wetter." He sighed; without even realizing it, she had unintentionally won him over, again. She seemed to have a knack for doing that. "It's not that, it's…" For once, the boy prodigy was at a loss for words. Hinamori looked at him with her worried chestnut eyes.
"Was it because your birthday was four days ago? Did something happen? Did you not like my gift? It was kind of stupid, wasn't it?" her eyes sank to the floor along with her heart.
"No! It's not that! Would you just let me talk?" He was mentally pummeling himself for being such a jerk. She looked like she wanted to back away and leave him be, but before she could even think of it, he reached forward and took her hand in his. She jumped a tiny bit and looked back up into his eyes as he continued. "I loved your gift." He informed her, remembering the intricate good luck, origami crane that it must have taken her countless hours of patience and hair-pulling to complete. "It's not you, okay? I just don't like parties that much."
"But you came to this one…for my sake?" She asked, feeling flattered and uncomfortable and comfortable all at once.
Hitsugaya was about to reply, but Rukia's voice interrupted their conversation.
"Hinamori Fukuutaichou!" the sometimes-a-bit-too-hyper Shinigami called from across the room. "Would you like to play a game?" Hitsugaya blinked and then quickly let go of her hand, not even having remembered taking it in the first place. Hinamori blushed and avoided his piercing aqua eyes for a moment before asking him, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm sure." He gave her a tiny grin. "Come on, let's go play that game of hers." He grabbed her arm and began leading the confused yet happy lieutenant across the room.
Rukia was sitting on the floor in the corner of the room opposite the drunk idiots she almost-sort-of regretted inviting. Ichigo sat next to her with an 'Oh-god-what-is-it-this-time?' look on his face. Hinamori took a seat beside Rukia and Hitsugaya next to her so that they formed a small circle.
"Is this everyone who's coming, Kuchiki-san?" Hinamori asked.
"You know, now that you mention it, I think there might be one more person…"
"Hey everyone! What's up?! Rangiku Matsumoto has arrived so let's get this party started!"
"I'm leaving." Hitsugaya made a move to get up but Hinamori stopped him.
"Stay just for the game, neh Hitsugaya-kun? Come on, just one round." She easily persuaded him to sit back down. "So what is this game anyway, Kuchiki-san?" Asked the lieutenant.
"It's called…" Rukia reached from behind her and placed one of the empty sake bottles in the center of the circle. "Spin the bottle."
"See ya!" Ichigo was about to head for the hills until Rukia punched his ankle and made him take his seat again.
"What's spin the bottle?" Hinamori asked in that honestly, innocent, adorable way of hers.
"Ooooh! Did I hear spin the bottle?" Matsumoto came out of nowhere and made Hinamori jump and squeak in surprise. "I'm playing!" She announced matter-of-factly.
"And I'm going home." Hitsugaya tried again but he realized, too late, that he had pretty much promised to stay for the first game. "After the first round." he finished, stealing a glance at Hinamori who smiled sweetly. Besides, maybe I can get Kurosaki or Matsumoto to do something stupid. He reasoned.
"Okay, listen up everyone. The rules are, one person spins the bottle and whoever it lands on is dared to do something by the one who spun it. Either you do the dare or you're out of the game. Got it?"
"Unfortunately." Ichigo was hastily silenced with a jab in the gut.
"I'll go first!" Matsumoto volunteered and took the bottle from Rukia. Suspense and tension hung in the air like a lighting storm as the bottle slowed down and came to a stop on Ichigo. Yes! He thought. Now I can just refuse her dare and be out of the game! He was doing a dance in his mind and thinking how he would rub it Rukia's face later on, until he heard Matsumoto's dare. "I dare you to…stay in the game and not be out until the very end." She smiled wickedly.
Ichigo felt as though he had just been smacked repeatedly with a giant rock that said "PWND" on it.
Rukia and Rangiku slapped high-fives as the orange-haired lieutenant slid the bottle over to her captain. "Come on, Taichou! You're turn!" Hitsugaya, who was actually enjoying this game so far at the expense of the other boy's pride, growled at her but spun the bottle nonetheless. It almost passed off as landing on Rukia, but he decided to tweak its position just a bit with his icy wind.
"Now," he said smugly to his lieutenant. "I dare you not to get drunk at all until this party is over." It was almost like an order, but those never worked on her anyway. So maybe she would play by this stupid game's rules if not his.
Matsumoto's shoulders slumped and she pouted.
"Aww! Sorry, looks like I'm out." She slid back from the circle.
"What?!" Hitsugaya barked.
"I can't do that dare Taichou, so I'm sitting out till the next game." She winked, standing up and making her way over to her fellow, wasted lieutenants.
"Oh well." Rukia shrugged, taking the bottle and spinning it as Hitsugaya fumed and glowered. Ichigo was still moping and only just lifted his head to "thank God, or whoever the Hell it is up there, that she's gone!" However, he was still frightened about what Rukia could do to him and he began devising plans for her not to dare him if he spun and it landed on her.
Rukia's spin ended on Hinamori, who was both nervous and excited. Rukia went easy on her the first time and dared her to skip her turn, which Hinamori, almost thankfully accepted. Hitsugaya spun again next.
"Hey! What the Hell? What about my turn!" Ichigo complained.
"Oh shut up, Kurosaki. That is, unless you want to challenge a captain. Let's take this outside then." Hitsugaya formed an icy snowball in the palm of his hand.
Ichigo swore not to open his big, dumb mouth for the remainder of the night. Oddly enough, Hitsugaya's spin landed on none other than Ichigo.
"I dare you to do whatever Kuchiki tells you to for the remainder of this game." He smirked. Rukia straightened up and met the captain's eyes before sending a devious glance in Ichigo's direction.
"Why do I even try?" The Substitute Shinigami whimpered.
Again Rukia spun, and again it landed on Hinamori.
"O-kaaay, let me see…" Rukia pondered before she came up with the perfect dare that she knew would prove beneficial to all by the end of the night.
Leaning forward a bit, Rukia whispered just barely loud enough for Hitsugaya to catch her words. "I dare you to kiss Hitsugaya Taichou."
Hinamori's heart stopped. Her jaw dropped slightly for a second before she shook her head, but she could not speak for a moment.
"R-Right here? Right now? J…Just like that?" She stammered. Rukia nodded, motioning towards a bit of mistletoe hanging above the doorway. Hinamori just realized that all the drunken laughter and chatting had almost ceased and the Shinigami kept glancing across the room, murmuring and cackling.
"I…" Hinamori swallowed, casting several confused and unsure glances over at her childhood friend, who also was speechless at the thought of her kissing him in front of all these people. "I…I think I need to go home now." She finished.
She stood and bowed shakily to her hostess, softly wishing her a Merry Christmas before sliding out the door.
All eyes stared after her, and Hitsugaya gritted his teeth and raced after her.
The chattering and laughing started up again once the two were gone.
"And now, we wait." Rukia gave a genuine smile, her violet eyes soft as she stared at the door.
Go get her, Hitsugaya Taichou!
Hinamori miserably made her way back to her quarters.
She felt tired from the party, she felt horrible for running away from Hitsugaya without even saying good-bye, and she felt betrayed by her best girl-friend. "Kuchiki-san has never done something like that to me before. Didn't she know it would be embarrassing and uncomfortable? Why would she do such a thing?"
The girl sighed as she sat down on the couch in her office. She rested her elbows on her knees and held her head in her hands. This was not the way she had planned on spending Christmas Eve, and she just wanted tomorrow to be a good, fun, happy day. But now, the chances of that seemed pretty slim at best.
Her head started hurting with all the thoughts buzzing around it, and her heart was hurting too with all the emotions assaulting it. She leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes, breathing deeply, yet even with her eyes closed she felt tears begin to form.
A knock came on her door and she assumed it was Rukia coming to apologize. Even though Hinamori would forgive her in a heartbeat, it still would not mend the awkward atmosphere that was sure to be floating about her and Hitsugaya for the next few weeks.
Slowly, the exhausted lieutenant got up, wiped her tears on her sleeve and opened the door. "Kuchiki—san, I-" Hinamori stopped mid-sentence as she saw Hitsugaya standing at her door instead. "H-Hitsugaya-kun!" she gasped.
"Hinamori…you've been crying." He observed. The girl sniffed, knowing there was no use trying to hide it from him, but wondering if it had really been that obvious.
"Come in." She said almost inaudibly, and he slid the door closed behind him.
For a moment's worth of uncomfortable silence, the two stood there across from one another, looking in every possible direction and at every possible thing aside from the other's face, neither knowing what to say or do. Finally Hitsugaya took one step closer to her and she took one back, finding herself trapped against the wall.
"Hinamori." He said softly, moving closer to her still. "I want you to kiss me."
"E-Eh?" she did not know how much more of this her poor heart could take as it erratically started fluttering like a frantic, caged bird. "B-But-"
"Shh. Just listen to me. This isn't a dare. I want you to kiss me. I'm not forcing you. I want you to, but you don't have to. Do you understand?" Her eyes flicked to look at his, and she realized that they were now level with hers. It just occurred to Hitsugaya that Rukia must have meant for this to happen and that she knew what the outcome would be. He smirked a little and thanked her in his mind. "I want you to kiss me."He repeated to the girl in front of him.
"…R…Right now-?" She was cut off as Hitsugaya pressed his lips against hers.
Then she realized that when he had said 'kiss', what he really meant was 'kiss back'.
So she relaxed her extremely tense shoulders and closed her eyes, giving in to him. She had never done this before and she was not quite sure what she was supposed to do or feel, but she knew it felt wonderful and that she never wanted to stop.
He pulled her in by the waist and kept his arms around her tightly as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Sadly, that pesky little thing called oxygen got in their way and they were forced to break apart. Her heart was pounding like a stampede of horses and Hitsugaya smirked when she blushed about it. Once they finally caught their breath, chestnut locked with aqua and they stayed that way.
"Merry Christmas, Hinamori."
"Happy belated birthday…again, Hitsugaya-kun." She tried to choose the sentence that would sound best, but just ended up jumbling all the words together. Somehow, it worked. And, needless to say, Hinamori had 100% forgiven Rukia and understood her friend's true methods now. She made a mental note to hug her enthusiastically the next time she saw her.
"Hitsugaya-kun?" she asked.
"Hinamori?" he smirked back at her, because he knew it annoyed her when he did that.
"I want you to kiss me." She blushed with a smile.
"Right now?" He asked, leaning forward again.
"Yes," she replied just before their lips collided. "Right Now."
A/N: Aw cute, neh? I don't really know why, but in all my fics like this one, Rukia is always so abusive to Ichi. Its not that I don't like him or anything, its just funny or cute or something XD
Happy Holidays!!
Please review if you would!!