I actually wrote this a while ago- originally it was going to be a drabble, and then I was going to use it in Cherryblossom-Hime's contest, but I used 'By Your Side' instead.
I've since re-editted it, and decided that I like it, and that I wanted to post it on here.
This is a hitsuhina one-shot completely unrelated to any of my other pieces of writing. I hope you like it.
Treasure of the Dragon
He was jealously possessive, and he knew it
Hitsugaya Toshiro was jealously possessive, and he knew it.
He could have justified it, by saying that it was Hyorinmaru's influence. Everyone knew that dragons jealously guarded what they treasured. He treasured Hinamori Momo more than anything, and was completely possessive of her- it wasn't a stalking thing. It was simply a complete awareness of her every move, every decision- and the threat of emasculation to any male who dared take an interest in her.
It was his job to take care of her, it had been ever since they were children, and he took it very seriously. He took everything seriously, including her every move and gesture. He'd learned to read her like a book.
He knew before she did, that she was infatuated with Aizen- he still couldn't bring himself to use the word 'love'. He knew that she would recover from it though, because despite protecting her, he knew how strong she really was.
She hadn't needed him to protect her for years, but he'd still done it. She hadn't needed him to talk to, because she'd found someone else she wanted to talk to, endlessly, and spend all her time with. She had created a new life, so had he, but… he'd still existed solely to protect her, and he still spent every spare moment he had checking up on her.
The truth was that out of the two of them, she was the stronger one.
Toshiro had only existed for her. Hinamori had only existed for Aizen Sousuke, but she'd moved on. Toshiro still only existed for Hinamori, his whole world revolved around her. He'd never been forced to relinquish his feelings for her, or question his reasons for becoming a Shinigami.
Everything he'd ever done had been for her sake, and it always would be.
Hinamori Momo had had only just learned of Hitsugaya-kun's feelings- even though everyone else knew about them, and had apparently known for quite some time.
Her panic over learning about those feelings and quite possibly losing her oldest friend (because she was sure she couldn't reciprocate) had started a crying fit. She was hiccupping, laughing and crying all at the same time- and wondering why Rangiku-san, Kira-kun and Abarai-kun had felt it necessary to inform her of the situation.
She'd been happy in blissful ignorance, and now she felt like her whole world was falling apart. She felt kind of guilty that Hitsugaya-kun had been pining away because of his feelings for her (according to Rangiku-san) and she'd not realised; and guilty that she'd been so happy and he'd been so unhappy.
She couldn't stop crying now that she'd started, and with the worst possible timing Hitsugaya-kun entered his office. Part of her was annoyed with him for coming in now, except that another part of her realised that it had been inevitable that he would eventually enter his own office- he was a workaholic. She felt guiltier than ever because she could tell that she had obviously alarmed him.
"Hinamori what's was wrong?" He asked immediately, crossing the room to sit down on the couch beside her, his hand reaching for her's.
She drew her hand back from him and panicked again, only this was worse than before.
"You love me," she blurted in shock, and then stupidly opened her mouth. "You fool- you idiot- how could you possibly feel 'THAT WAY' ABOUT ME?" She actually screamed at him, panic ruling her.
She was still terribly scared by the thought of losing someone so close to her, and hurt by the fact that he'd betrayed her by falling in love with her.
How could he pretend to be a friend- when he was in love with her?
How could her friends have betrayed her by telling her this?
How could they have betrayed her by NOT mentioning this sooner?
"Idiot?" he questioned, and then apparently lost his temper (-it was quite easy to make him lose his cool if you knew what to say), "WHAT IS WRONG WITH FEELING 'THAT WAY' ABOUT YOU?" he roared.
"You have no idea what you're talking about- and besides you don't know- you aren't-" she protested, not really sure what she was trying to say anymore.
He cut her off, hand over her mouth, suddenly very close, "Hinamori, listen to me, I love you, and that won't change," he said, green eyes intense, and then he kissed her firmly.
She froze, her mind trying to come to terms with this.
He was her best friend...
He loved her...
He was kissing her…
He was doing quite a good job too…
There was absolutely nothing immature or unsatisfying about this kiss…
He released her, and the look in his eyes was… content… satisfied- like a dragon that'd just defeated a powerful rival, or consumed a good meal. He seemed so predatory in that moment that for once, she was actually scared of him- and not of losing him.
She leapt off the couch and bolted from his arms and his office.
"Hinamori!" he yelled after her, but she didn't stop running.
She finally stopped when she reached her room, she slammed the door shut behind her and then she collapsed onto the floor.
She began crying again- she'd only just begun to recover from Aizen's betrayal, and now Rangiku-san and the others dumped this on her! She had not needed to know this, she'd been so happy, and yet she was still angry that they'd waited so long to tell her. It was a strange emotion- to be angry for two completely conflicting reasons.
"Momo-chan? Are you well?" Nemu-chan's voice carried through the door.
Momo belatedly remembered that she'd promised to take Nemu-chan out for desert- it was the other woman's birthday. To be exact- it was Nemu-chan's creation day, but the SWA (mainly Yachiru-chan) had decided to call it her birthday, simply for the sake of consistency.
Momo wiped her face, and opened the door.
"Momo-chan?" Nemu-chan looked worried.
"Sorry Nemu-chan, please just give me a few minutes to get cleaned up and changed," she said, plastering a fake smile on her face.
Nemu-chan looked very pretty in a full length lavender kimono, patterned with feathers, which reappeared on the black and sky blue obi around her waist. Her hair was pulled into a tight French knot, with several pretty hair clips, and she even had a little makeup.
Momo didn't think she could compare to Nemu-chan in terms of beauty, especially not today, and besides, it was Nemu-chan's day, so she shouldn't even try. She pulled out a leaf patterned grass-green kimono, and a flower patterned orange and yellow obi. She washed her face, but didn't bother with makeup, and simply patted her hair back into place, so it looked neat.
Even if her life was falling apart, she would still try her best to give Nemu-chan a fantastic birthday. The other girl was in a much worse situation than Momo was. At least Momo wasn't constantly abused or bullied, and at least Momo was allowed to have a life and friends.
Even if a best friend betrayed you by falling in love with you, not telling you- letting someone else do that and then kissed you.
She still felt that it was a horrible betrayal for Hitsugaya-kun to have fallen in love with her. His friendship with her, once based on a sturdy foundation of childhood, was now based on lies- he was as bad as Aizen.
She refused to be in a relationship with someone like that. In fact; she planned to avoid him altogether.
"Let's go Nemu-chan," she said with a smile.
Toshiro was still wondering if this was a good idea- Matsumoto was sublimely confident, while he was on the point of heart failure. Hinamori had actually run away from him- in no scenario had he ever envisioned that. He'd actually had her pegged for slapping him, not being frightened by him.
He was sitting beside Matsumoto, who was chatting madly to Ise-san and Unohana-taicho. The other SWA members were all chatting quietly, and regarding him curiously. He still wasn't sure if it was safe for one man to be alone with the SWA, they were a dangerous force.
Hinamori and Kurotsuchei-san entered the café and immediately walked over to the table. Hinamori met his eyes briefly and then looked away; he knew what tactic she planned to take now. He also had an idea of how to beat it- and how to annoy her.
Matsumoto also- inadvertently, helped.
"Momo-chan, you sit next to taicho- Nemu-chan, you are next to Isane!" she cried.
But, considering this was Matsumoto, perhaps his devious fukutaicho was making quite deliberate strategy, and perhaps she wasn't as ditzy as she seemed.
He then watched her breasts almost fall out of her top, and the way she laughed about it, and he reconsidered his last statement.
There was no way Hinamori could ignore Matsumoto's command, without being questioned. They were best friends after all. So she reluctantly sat beside him, and he inwardly smirked. She shrank as close to Kurotsuchei, and as far away from him, as her chair would allow- but it wasn't enough.
He ignored her, instead he focused on Kurotsuchei, "Happy birthday Kurotsuchei-san," he offered politely.
"Arigato Hitsugaya-taicho," the pretty girl replied in a level, almost monotonous tone.
"Have you had a nice day?" he asked, persisting in the conversation.
"Hai, Mayuri-sama allowed me to have this afternoon off, and this morning he gave me a complete check over, and some updated modifications as a present," she said in a slightly more enthusiastic tone.
Toshiro's mind shuddered away from that statement, and he noticed that the rest of the SWA were quite creeped out by it as well.
"How pleasant," he managed to say, in an almost normal tone.
"Actually it hurt quite a bit, but I will be more efficient for it," she said, in such a matter of fact tone that he was even more creeped out.
"I see," he said, really glad that he had never allowed Kurotsuchei Mayuri anywhere near him- especially not in the research labs.
"So, have you had a pleasant day Hitsugaya-taicho?" Kurotsuchei-san asked him.
"I've had a lot of paperwork- that's why Matsumoto dragged me here," he said depreciatingly, "she claims I'm going to work her into a grave and that I 'need to loosen up'," he mocked his fukutaicho.
There were some smiles exchanged around the table at this. But Momo wasn't surprised, she was one of the few who knew that Hitsugaya-kun had a sense of humour beneath his exterior- it was rare for him to show it though. He was caught up in a constant struggle to make everyone look past his childish exterior, and respect him for his abilities.
"I hope it is okay for me to invade these celebrations," he said quietly, looking a little awkward.
"Perfectly fine Hitsugaya-taicho. Nanao-san often says that out of all the taicho, you are the only one who knows how to treat a woman respectfully, which means that you are very welcome here," Nemu-chan said without a trace of irony or embarrassment.
Nanao-san had turned a deep shade of red, and Hitsugaya-kun raised an eyebrow, "arigato for the complement," he said wryly.
They all burst out laughing, except for Momo, she was trying not to cry.
The entire afternoon was torture.
Hitsugaya-kun was unusually social- he completely charmed the SWA, and was invited to any future events they were throwing. He also ignored Momo completely, and even though he was sitting close enough for her to feel the heat of his body underneath his robes, he was as distant as the moon.
Therefore she was surprised when he acted like a gentleman and helped her out of her seat. His hand firmly grasped hers- and the feel of his skin against her brought memories of the kiss to her mind, and a hot flush to her cheeks. Her stomach churned, her heart jolted, and her knees felt shaky.
"Momo-chan are you alright?" Rangiku-san asked, breaking the spell.
Momo bolted, tearing her hand out of his, and racing out of the café. She couldn't have cared less what the other women thought. She had to get away from him- away from this…
She didn't get far, he was suddenly in front of her- he'd used Shunpo…
Why hadn't she thought of that?
"Momo," the way he said her name made a cool rush go over her skin. She turned, ready to bolt again.
But he was already behind her, holding her back, "we need to talk," he informed her, as if she was an idiot.
She was annoyed, and shot out something she didn't mean to say, "How dare you ignore me like that!"
If he wanted to talk to her- why hadn't he talked to her in the café?
Why had he been so charming and nice to all the other women, and not her?
Was he in love with her or not?...
Or was he just playing?
Had he really changed that much?
Was he as confused as she was?...
Was anyone?
"So you did notice," he sounded amused.
She resented the implication that she was jealous- she wasn't. She just…
She just…
"How dare you lie to me!" she accused, trying to move on from those disturbing thoughts.
"I didn't lie about anything- we're friends and I love you," he knew exactly how she felt and what she meant- he had always understood her best- and it was irritating.
"You can run all you like- but I'm not giving up on you Momo," he said.
Somehow with those words, she just felt her anger completely melt away. He released her and walked away, and she watched him go, feeling like a complete fool.
He was nothing like Aizen.
Out of the two of friends, the only traitor was her. She'd betrayed him by not wanting to see how he felt; by not seeing anything beyond her own concerns. She couldn't believe how selfish she'd been, or how much she'd hurt him.
'Hitsugaya-kun…'
'I'm not giving up on you Momo,'
It took her the rest of the day to finally understand and accept that she would never change his feelings.
It took her the rest of the week to decide that she really didn't want to lose those feelings.
She had a distinctly dreamy smile on her face for the rest of the day- but work stopped her from telling him what she felt. So she stole into his office later that night and caught him sleeping amid the mountains of paperwork.
He looked so peaceful that she couldn't bear to wake him. She just wished she could capture the moment and keep it in her heart forever.
Instead she crept over to his side, and gently kissed him on the cheek, "I do love you Toshiro," she whispered.
Then she walked out of the office, closing the door as soundlessly as possible behind her.
Once he was sure she was gone, Toshiro smirked, 'I guess Matsumoto was right- I just needed a change of tactic,'
He refused to tell the blonde that her advice had worked- he'd die before inflating her already massive ego.
Instead he wondered if he'd tell Hinamori that he'd heard what she said, or watch her panic about the best way to enlighten him the following morning. He fell asleep still undecided, but with a smile on his face.
I hope everyone enjoyed this piece, please R&R to let me know what you think.
Oh, before I forget, SWA- Shinigami Women's Association
If you want me to add a Japanese glossary- I will, I simply thought that since I was only using suffixs in this piece, it was pretty useless.