Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Bleach series in any way. All copyrights go to Tite Kubo.
Synopsis: Nothing scares Hitsugaya Toshiro. So, in order to prove him wrong, Hinamori Momo made various attempts to scare the young prodigy including the ones during their investigation at a haunted house in West Rukongai District 80.
Author's Note: My 2009 HitsuHina Short Shot Halloween Fan Fiction. What else is there to say? Enjoy!
LEGEND
"Talking." "Thinking."
BOO! Were You Scared?
Part I: BOO!
"BOO!"
"Matsumoto, what are you trying to do?" Captain Hitsugaya asked. "What's with that mask you're wearing?"
The vice-captain snapped her fingers with slight frustration. Her attempt of scaring her own captain in his office has failed miserably. Removing the Hollow looking mask from her face, Matsumoto Rangiku complained, "You're so stingy taicho! Why can't you be scared for once?"
"If I were scared in the first place, I would have not decided to become a captain of the Gotei 13," he replied. "Besides, that type of scaring is child's play."
"Someone definitely has lost his inner child," she said, grinning at him.
Knowing Matsumoto for so long, Hitsugaya knew she is going to once again stir up trouble for him. He glared at her. "Just what are you up to this time?"
"Nothing really. I want to talk to you about this special holiday that is going on today in the living world."
Placing an elbow on his desk, he allowed his chin to rest on his hand for support. "If it's about Halloween, I already know about it."
"Eh, you do? Since when did you find out about it?" Matsumoto asked. "Don't tell me Ichigo or the others from the living world has told you about it."
"No, but I'm certain when I heard about it from her, she was told by one of them."
"Her? You mean you heard it from Hi--" Hitsugaya interrupted by raising a finger up in front of her, telling her to be quiet.
Matsumoto blinked a few times as she watched him leave his seat and head towards the slide door. He opened it and looked outside to find no one there. "Captain, is there something wrong?" she asked.
Hitsugaya ignored her question as he looked left and right of the empty hallway. It is moments later, the prodigy stepped out of the office to examine the scenery more thoroughly. For a brief moment, the strawberry orange haired Shinigami could have sworn she felt a familiar presence enter the room. But then again, it's probably Captain Hitsugaya's presence. Toshiro re-entered the office with his hands in his black kimono sleeves. After closing the door behind him, he returned to his seat behind his desk.
Just as he sighed with defeat, Matsumoto saw a pair of arms extend from each side of him. From the looks of things, it appears that whoever's arms they belong to, the owner wants to scare the life out of Hitsugaya Toshiro. "Hinamori, I know you're behind me," he finally said. "It's no use trying to scare me."
With a pout of frustration, the raven haired girl appeared from behind the young captain and asked, "Mou, even if I concealed my reiatsu with kido, you're still able to sense me?"
"It's the fact you used kido that I'm able to figure out it was you. Knowing that you're the master of kido techniques, I expected you to try something like this," Hitsugaya replied. "Also, considering the fact that we had that pointless dispute this morning."
"But Shiro-chan, there has to be something that does scare you!" fifth lieutenant, Hinamori Momo said. "Every single one of us has at least one fear. Even Yamamoto-soitaicho fears of something despite his...um, appearance. Therefore, you're no different."
"How many times do I have to tell you to drop the Shiro-chan already? It's Hitsugaya-taicho!"
As the childhood friends continued to bicker with one another, the tenth division vice-captain grinned with amusement. She is liking how the predicament is turning out. Suddenly, she arm hooked around Hinamori's neck and began pulling her away. "Ah Rangiku-san, what are you doing?" Hinamori asked.
"You're coming with me for a moment," Matsumoto replied. "We have some serious girl talking to do."
"If you haven't already known, you're not going anywhere until the paperwork's done," Hitsugaya said to his fukutaicho.
"Daijobou taicho, I'm very certain you're able to finish it without my help. Besides, the paperwork is due tomorrow morning. Ja ne!"
Just as she dragged the fifth division lieutenant out of the office, all they heard is Hitsugaya's loud voice, calling out to her; something that every Shinigami who has been to the tenth division headquarters, have heard at least once in their life. "MATSUMOTO!"
"You have to tell me the story from the beginning," Matsumoto said. After successfully fleeing from the wrath of her captain, the two vice-captains retreated to the fifth division headquarters for some private time between girls.
Hinamori sighed with defeat. There is no use trying to hide things from her; all secrets will be spilled out by the end of the day. "It was early in the morning when I decided to go to visit Hitsugaya-ku...I mean Hitsugaya-taicho to deliver some paperwork. We exchanged our usual greetings whenever we see each other and talked for a few minutes. I decided to tell him about Halloween, something I heard about from Kuchiki and Abarai-kun which originally heard about it from the Substitute Shinigami."
"So they heard it from Ichigo, huh?"
She nodded with agreement. "Hai. Back to the topic, after explaining to him about the holiday, a thought came up to my mind. So I asked him, what are you scared of? Then, he replies that he's not scared of anything."
"After that, you wanted to prove him wrong," Matsumoto continued. "Since then, you have been trying to scare him."
"Yes, I did, but he wasn't scared at all; not even a startle!"
"What have you tried already?"
"My first attempt is to put a toy cockroach in his desk drawer and get him to jump when he opens it, but it turns out that he wasn't fazed at all. As a matter of fact, he told me that he's not scared of bugs. In my next attempt, I have attempted to a fake arm to tap him on the shoulder, but Hitsugaya-kun scared me instead by suddenly appearing out of nowhere from behind! My last attempt is what you witnessed a while ago."
"Sugoi, you have a lot of time in your hands," the tenth vice-captain said.
"Mou Rangiku-san, focus!"
"Ah, sorry...now what were you saying?"
Momo sighed with defeat. "None of my plans seem to work on him."
Matsumoto placed her pointer finger and thumb on her chin. Thinking about the situation carefully, a thought came into mind. "In that case, you can try to scare him while you're in West Rukongai District 80."
"West Rukongai District 80? Why do I have to be there to scare him?"
"I think you have a better chance to succeed over there. To be honest, later in the day, I was supposed to investigate something over there, but I decided to let you do it for me."
"M-Me? What do I need to investigate?"
"Apparently, there has been word that there are strange happens in the haunted house over there."
"H-Haunted House? What haunted house?"
"Oh, you didn't know?" Matsumoto asked. "This rumour has been flying around Soul Society for years or even decades. Luckily, it only appears at night time. People say that there are scary beasts that lives in there. A few Rukongai residents and even Shinigami have went in there to investigate, but they never returned at all."
"N-Nani and you were going to go there?"
"Daijobou," Matsumoto said, patting on the girl's shoulder. "I asked taicho to come with me."
"Souka?"
The strawberry orange haired woman smiled. "Don't worry Hinamori. You're in safe hands."
"Mou, but why do you need to stay here?"
"Ah, well...you see."
"Hn?"
"Ja ne and have fun!" Matsumoto exclaimed as she bolted out of the fifth division office.
"Rangiku-san, chotto...mou," Hinamori said. "I guess I have no other choice then."
He almost ran out of patience. Unlike her terrible habit with paperwork, the prodigy knew his vice-captain is more responsible when it comes to missions. They were supposed to meet in the tenth division courtyard at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. No one is to be late. "Damn, what is taking Matsumoto so long?" Hitsugaya wondered.
All of a sudden, he sensed a familiar presence approaching his direction and it is not Matsumoto. "Hinamori, what are you doing here?"
"Rangiku-san told me she couldn't come. So, she asked me to go in her stead," the fifth fukutaicho replied.
"Really?" Hitsugaya said. He sighed with defeat. "Fine then. Let's get going."
Momo nodded with agreement and followed her childhood friend all the way to West Rukongai District 80 with a determined will to prove to her childhood friend that even he can get scared.
By the time they have arrived to their destination, the sun has already set, leaving the bright moon to appear high up in the clear sky. It is night time. "We might encounter it during our investigation," she thought, remembering what Matsumoto had said hours ago. Looking at the big and scary looking house, it looked old and rusty as if it is ready to collapse at any moment. "This is the place."
"Yeah, it is," Hitsugaya replied as he placed a hand on the cold gate to push it open. It creaked loudly. Just as the tenth captain began to walk through, Momo couldn't help but stay close behind him. "Hinamori."
"Nani?"
"Are you scared?" It took a while for her to notice that she eventually had her hands gripping on the back of his haori. Momo quickly pulled back and shook her head back and forth.
"What are you talking about? I'm not scared!"
Suddenly, a grin appeared on Hitsugaya's face. "Are you sure, Bed-Wetter Momo?"
"Don't call me that!"
"But it's true."
"Mou, let's just get going," Hinamori said as she began marching ahead of him. "What are you doing? You're supposed to be scaring Hitsugaya-kun as we're doing the investigation." She slapped both sides of her cheeks with her hands and clenched them tightly with her new found determination. "That's right. This time you will get him! You'll prove him wrong. He just like everyone else gets scared!"
Watching her from behind, he couldn't help but wonder. "Oi, don't tell me you're still thinking about scaring me at a time like this," he thought. "We have a mission to finish. No wonder Matsumoto decided to bail herself out of this mission."
Hitsugaya sighed. At least she's helping him keep his guard up. Who knows what could happen once they step into the haunted house. All of a sudden, they heard a loud scream.
References
Taicho - Captain, Reiatsu - Spiritual Pressure, Soitaicho - Captain Commander, Fukutaicho - Lieutenant/Vice-Captain, Daijobou - It's Alright, Ja ne - Good Bye (informal/casual), Hai - Yes, Sugoi - Amazing, Souka - Really/Is That So, Chotto - Wait
Author's Note: Well, I hope you enjoyed it. This is a three part story I plan to complete by Halloween. So, expect another update within the next two or three days. In the meantime, please review! Thanks!