Rangiku Masumoto was going through the desk, looking for anything that belonged to him. Hitsugaya Toushiro died the day before and it was Rangiku's job to gather his belongings.
The idea that Hitsugaya died was still sinking in and seemed impossible. It was just a small hollow. How could it kill him? The question burned in her mind all night and even now. It was Hitsugaya Taichou for the gods' sake.
Hitsugaya Taichou. This was the man who trained with her, put up with all her crazy schemes to get out of doing paper work, helped comfort her when Gin betrayed them and when he was finally killed, and was just there for her when she really needed him. The fact that he had died so young, not even reaching his 350th birthday, put a feeling of regret in the pit of her stomach. "Why couldn't I for once do my paper work for him, do even more. I hate you Hitsugaya. Why did you have to die?"
Anger poured out of her and blurred her thoughts. It filled her entire being, causing her to grab the picture frame on Hitsugaya's desk and hurl it across the room, the delicate glass shattering on impact. The shatter seemed to drain the anger out and Rangiku ran over to pick up the remains. She looked at the photograph and smiled. It was a simple photo: her Ichigo Kurosaki, Momo Hinamori, and Toushiro. They had all gone to the human world for a carnival Ichigo invited them to. Momo was holding on to Toushiro around the neck while he stared at her from the side, smiling slightly. She and Ichigo stood behind them laughing silently. "This was Momo's favorite picture. I'll give it to her, along with the rest of the Photos Toushiro took. She deserves this at least."
Toushiro had purchased a simple black photo album in the human world, each page holding pictures of him and Momo in the human world. Rangiku had teased him about it numerous times; still she admired the fact that he took the time to cherish these memories. She took the carnival picture to the album and carefully removed the back and cardboard that separated the photo from the world's harmful touch. The moment the first cardboard was removed, a small wrinkled paper that was trapped between the two cardboards before the picture fell out, causing Rangiku's curiosity to spike. She picked up the paper, unfolded it slowly, and began to read.
Momo Hinamori grabbed another tissue and blew her nose. She hadn't left her barracks all day, not since yesterday. How could she not done anything to help him? She ran and hid like he told her to, but it caused him to be distracted, allowing the Hollow to strike him with a fatal blow. She could still remember the blood emitting from the wound, below the heart. She couldn't sit anymore. She rushed out and destroyed the hollow before it could eat Toushiro's soul, and used her Kido to stop the blood flow, but it wasn't enough. Unohana did everything she could, but in the end, even she couldn't save him. Toushiro Hitsugaya died within an hour. Worst of all, Momo never got the chance to tell him how she felt, or even get a chance to learn how he felt about her. More tears began to stream down her face at the thought of living forever with out knowing his true feelings, and the pain tour at her insides. " It isn't fair. IT ISN'T FAIR!" she screamed as another wave of tears began their decent. Momo buried her face within her pillow to muffle the sound of her tears as the her bedroom door began to open.
Hinamori-Chan?" a light voice asked as Momo felt the edge of her bed dipp\. She looked up to see Rangiku there, the small album Hitsugaya bought on her lap. "I- I was going through Taichou's stuff and I thought you'd like to have this." She placed the album on the bed and got up to leave the room. " Commander-General excused you from your duties for a while, so don't push yourself to do anything," Rangiku stated before leaving.
After she left, Momo grabbed the album left for her and quickly began to look through the photos. Fishing, the amusement parks, the water parks, the beach, they were all there. More tears began to roll down her face as she flipped through the pages. Hinamori flipped the final page and saw the picture she admired most, of when she along with Ichigo, Rangiku, and Toushiro went the carnival together. Next to the photo was a crumpled up piece of paper with Toushiro's writing on it. She slowly pulled it out and began to read it aloud.
Momo,
I had a lot of fun today at the carnival Kurosaki took us to, aside fro Matsumoto's constant teasing. I honestly didn't mind the picture we took, despite my attitude earlier. I didn't really mind Matsumoto's teasing either because, I love you. But who am I kidding ? I could never tell you that! It's the only reason I'm writing this letter. I'll tell you one day, just not this day
Love you,
Toushiro
The tears ran down faster as Momo read the not again. He did love her! He just couldn't say it, and now, he never would. "Oh, Toushiro-kun" she whispered softly as she held the not to her heart.
" I love you too."