Me: Never read the Bleach manga.

Me: Watched only 70 (perhaps less) percent of Bleach anime dubbed.

Me: Will get things wrong, probably (not too much, I hope).

You: Please bear with me and forgive because you know I suck and am human.

Me: Thanks!

Tōshirō Hitsugaya.

That was his name.

Captain Hitsugaya.

That was his title. (Ichigo Kurosaki never understood that.)

Shirō-chan?

That was neither his name nor his title, yet as long as only one person called him that, he'd answer.

Momo Hinamori.

Not only was she the only one allowed to call him Shiro-chan (well, her and Ukitake, but he was too lazy to correct him) and leave without a scathing remark, but also his best and dearest childhood friend. A BFF, so to speak.

Perhaps in the depths of his perpetually icy soul (figuratively speaking), he'd even call her a crush.

Not that he'd ever use that childish word.

More importantly, that he'd never say that in public. Ever.

"Thinking about Momo again, Captain?" Rangiku asked, a smirk growing on her face as she trounced into the room, a (surprisingly) unopened bottle of sake in her hand.

Tōshirō was instantly broken out of his reverie and moment of naptime-peace and turned to snap at her. "Rangiku, you're late."

His voluptuous lieutenant merely laughed and waved a finger at him accusingly. "Don't change the subject."

When he didn't answer and instead stonily turned towards his paperwork, she gasped scandalously, as if she had just heard a juicy piece of gossip.

"You were, weren't you!"

"No, I was not," Tōshirō replied monotonously, his face never betraying a single emotion, although he could feel himself break into a cold sweat. He turned to hand his lieutenant the stack of paperwork he'd been holding. "But you, on the other hand, need to think about getting these done."

"Oh, Captain, don't make me work now. I was just out having a little fun," Rangiku cooed, tilting her bottle of sake at him.

Tōshirō sat unamused. "Keep up that act and I'll start putting you up on sake probation again, Matsumoto."

Rangiku's popped open and her mouth dropped in horror. "No, no, anything but that!" Without another complaint, she yanked the stack of papers from him and began to furiously fill them out.

"Now that we're done changing the subject," she drawled, after a moment of peace, in which Tōshirō tried to return to his nap. He opened one suspicious eyeball at her, but she paid him no mind. "You were thinking about Momo, right, Captain?"

Tōshirō gave a huff. "No."

Rangiku instantly turned from her work to grin at him, her eyes bright and excited. "You're lying! I saw it in your eyes! That dreamy, faraway look you get when you're thinking about her!" She paused and looked thoughtful, before turning towards him deviously. "Well, it also seemed like Ichigo seeped into your thoughts for a moment there, Captain, but I didn't know you liked him like that!" Rangiku smirked and elbowed him suggestively.

If Tōshirō thought blushing was an acceptable form of showing embarrassment, his face would have turned an angry red, but, since he did not believe it to be fitting of a captain, his face remained stoic as ever, even as his insides melted from humiliation.

Instead, he did what he did best in times like these: he changed the subject. Well, sort of.

"If I remember correctly, Rangiku, I was trying to take a nap and my eyes were closed when you barged through the door."

Rangiku shook her head and waved her hand nonchalantly at his rebuttal. "Well, call it a woman's intuition then." She gestured towards her curvaceous chest casually. "I do have the perfect example of a womanly figure, don't I, Captain?"

Tōshirō felt the veins pop out of his head. Did she always have to make some kind blasé remark about her breasts? It was quite unbecoming of a lieutenant, especially one with a captain as dignified as him. And as short as him, too, but that was another matter all in itself.

With a loud scrape, he pushed his chair back from his desk and gave Rangiku a stern look.

"I'm going out—"

"To see Momo?" she interrupted, looking at him with a suggestive gleam in her eye.

"—And I won't be gone long, but by then, you should have that paperwork finished," Tōshirō finished, expertly ignoring Rangiku. Besides, even he didn't know where he was going. All he knew he had to do was get out of that stuffy room and avoid all of Rangiku's prying questions.

Nevertheless, leaving Rangiku in the room alone with alcohol was always a bad idea. He outstretched his palm and gave her a look. "Sake."

"Oh, but, Captain—" Rangiku whined as she handed him her lone bottle of sake. She gave him a sneaky smile. "You know I have more in the cabinet, right?"

Brusquely, Tōshirō replied, "And I counted 7 bottles this morning. If even one is missing when I'm gone, you're on a strict three-week probation."

She turned towards him with terror in her eyes as she quickly sorted through the paperwork. "But, Captain!" she groaned. "You know sake makes me work better!"

"No, sake makes you goof off better," he said sternly, as he began to stalk out of the quarters.

"Oh, and Captain? If you need flirting lessons? You know, for Momo? Feel free to come and ask meeee! You can always inquire of my womanly intuition! The 'Queen of Flirting' is always at your service!"

"Hirako," Tōshirō greeted with a firm nod towards the 5th Division Captain. "Have you seen your lieutenant anywhere by chance?"

"Maybe," Shinji smirked. "But not by chance."

Tōshirō didn't know what to make of that comment but was sure it was meant to be goading. Instead, he ignored it. Shinji was Momo's captain after all. Suspecting anything going on between them was like suspecting something was going on between Rangiku and him. He shivered in disgust at the very idea.

Shinji raised an eyebrow. "Cold, Hitsugaya?"

"That's Captain Hitsugaya, Hirako," Tōshirō snapped. "Anyways, where is she? Where is Momo?"

Shinji mumbled something under his breath, and Tōshirō had to use all his might not to make a snarky remark. "Last time I checked, she was refining her kidō."

This time, it was Tōshirō's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Isn't her kidō already mastered?"

The 5th Division Captain shrugged. "Beats me." With another involuntary shrug, he stalked away. "But you'd better hurry up, Hitsugaya, before she snags another date."

Tōshirō's "And just what's that supposed to mean!" screams were ignored as Shinji walked away, laughing.

Shinji hadn't been lying.

When Tōshirō finally found Momo (just by saying she was practicing her kidō wasn't very helpful), he became immersed in her movements and how easily the spells and incantations flew from her lips.

"Hadō number 88—Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!" The power flew from her fingertips easily.

Tōshirō was impressed. That was quite a high-level form of kidō, and he'd only seen a handful of shinigami use it before. For the record, if anyone could master such kidō, it would definitely be Momo.

"I saw it in your eyes! That dreamy, faraway look you get when you're thinking about her!"

Damn you, Rangiku.

"But you'd better hurry up, Hitsugaya, before she snags another date."

You too, Hirako.

Was he really that obvious?

He thought he'd been discreet—he had a reputation to maintain after all.

If Rangiku saw it using her womanly intuition, and Shinji saw it using his—his—whatever, who else would have noticed?

Renji?

Rukia?

Kuchiki?

Ukitake?

Hisagi?

Hell, maybe Yoruichi and Urahara?

Ichigo?

Damn, damn, damn! He was screwed.

"Oh, hi, Shirō-chan," Momo greeted with a smile, her fingers poised to perform another round of kidō.

"Hinamori," he nodded curtly, even though his insides were burning with childish excitement at the sound of her voice.

Childish.

He hated that word.

Momo gave him a look. "Momo," she corrected. "You don't have to be so formal with me, Shirō-chan."

"And you don't have to be so casual with me," Tōshirō snapped, his mind still focused on the word childish.

Damn, that wasn't what he meant at all! Stupid words, just slipped out of his mouth without the consent of his head! He wished he could take them back. Momo was right, if there was one person he didn't have to be formal around, it was her. Hadn't he recently just thought that Momo was the only one who was allowed to call him that?

When he saw the slightly taken aback in her eyes, his wish to take back his words rang even truer.

She gave a slight bow of apology and nodded. "Apologies, Captain Hitsugaya." She stared at him strangely before turning the opposite direction. "Well, I'd better go now—Captain Hirako will be wondering where I am."

No, you fool! He knows where you are! He won't be worried—or wondering for that matter!

"Momo—wait—I'm sorry—" The words tasted bitter in his mouth, but he knew he had to say them.

She gave another bow, deeper this time. "No worries, Shir—Captain Hitsugaya. You have your ways and I have mine. We'll see each other next time we go visit 'Granny'."

She was gone in a flash, leaving Tōshirō's outstretched arm grasping nothing.

Quickly putting his arm back in its place, he looked around if anyone saw the encounter. If they did, his reputation would suffer direly.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Tōshirō sunk to the ground, shaking his head and internally berating himself.

Nevertheless, one thing did bother him about Momo's reaction. Momo knew him. She knew what he was like. Would she have normally taken such offense at his words? His tone?

No, he decided. Something must be wrong.

With that, Tōshirō bowed his head and sighed.

Looks like he'd have to go to Rangiku for those flirting lessons after all.