AN: Hey there! This is my first Bleach fanfiction, just something that's been buzzing around my head for the past week or so ever since I read the latest manga chapters. But there are no spoilers, so don't worry. The entire thing is set in modern day, hence where the whole bicycle thing comes in. I guess it's sort of parallel to the part where Hinamori first begins to go to the Shinigami Academy and Hitsugaya's at home with his adorable ickle hairstyle. There's no real romance, I'm afraid, just a lot of fluff and HitsuHina-ness in general. Enjoy!
Of riding lessons, ice-cream, and mistrusted classmates
Hinamori Momo was sitting in her bedroom, contemplating an idea that had just been expressed by one of her classmates. It sounded fun and she was pretty sure that everyone would enjoy it. There was just one little problem. And she knew exactly who to go to for help.
Pushing open her bedroom window as far as it would go, Hinamori stuck the upper half of her body out and began to holler down the street. "Shiro-chaaaaaaaan!" she waved, one hand clutching on to her window and the other doing everything possible to attract the attention of the scowling boy just visible through the window of the opposite house. "Shiro-chan!"
Hitsugaya frowned before contemplating whether to innocently draw the curtains of his window closed or not. After a couple of minutes of though, he decided that he might as well find out what all the fuss was about and return to his headphones in peace. "I thought I told you never to call me that again," he called back as a way of greeting her. "What do you want?"
"Can I come 'round for a few minutes? I wanted to ask you something!"
Glaring at the elder girl, he reached out for a plastic plate and flung the contents as hard as he could towards the offending window. She attracted the attention of all their neighbours just to check if she was allowed to visit? As if. Hinamori Momo had been known to turn up at his doorstep randomly just because she felt like it. There was something behind all this. She probably wanted something from him. A shower of watermelon seeds flew across the road, causing Hinamori to duck with a yelp before re-surfacing. "Stop littering, Shiro-chan! That was mean."
"Go away. Seeing as the entire area can hear our conversation anyway, why don't you just ask on the spot? Besides, if you're lucky, you'll now be able to have your very own watermelon patch right on your front garden." And I'll steal them all, he added silently. However, when he turned to glance at the opposite window again, Hinamori had disappeared. "Where did she-?" And before he knew it, the doorbell rang. Sighing, he descended the stairs and opened the front door. 'Lo and behold, there she was.
"I thought that seeing as you told me to fire away, it wouldn't matter too much if we did it a little less openly," she grinned, patting the boy on the head. "Anyway, Shiro-chan you know how to ride a bicycle, right? I mean, seeing as that's how you get to school and everything, you must do. So I was wondering if…" She paused and made a face, not particularly willing to phrase her request. After all, she was nearly thirteen, and the fact that she still hadn't learnt how to ride a bicycle yet was a little, well, embarrassing to say the least. Not to mention that she was enlisting the help of someone who was still in primary school.
"Bed-wetter Momo doesn't know how to ride a bicycle," Hitsugaya stated, trying to keep a straight face. As much as he pretended that he completely despised the girl, they both knew that one would be at a loss without the other. It was a sort of mutual agreement. And because of that, he would never offend her in any way.
Blushing slightly, she nodded. And that was what caused him to glower for a few seconds before shifting his head to the left slightly as a way of agreeing. Firstly, because he knew that he'd probably never be able to say the word 'no' to Hinamori. And secondly, because it seemed as if she was so distressed by it that she didn't even notice what he'd called her by. Besides, teaching somebody how to ride a bicycle couldn't be all that hard. After all, it had only taken him a couple of hours at the very most. He didn't see why not. "Why are you all pent up on learning all of a sudden, anyway?"
"Hmm? 'Cause Kira-kun was planning some sort of outing for Abarai-kun's birthday and it involves bicycles. He did say I could sit on the back of his, but I thought it'd be better if I-"
"We're starting now," he announced firmly. He knew all about Kira-kun, alright. And he wasn't about to let Hinamori sit on the same bicycle as him, most likely holding onto him at the same time in order to prevent herself from falling off. Not if Hitsugaya Toushiro could help it. It just wasn't going to happen. He made a mental note to stalk the party. Oh yes.
"Eh? T-That'll be great! But weren't you busy or something? I mean, Abarai-kun's birthday isn't until next weekend. There's still plenty of time."
"Hmph," was all she got as a reply as she followed Hitsugaya to the back of the house where the bicycles were kept. "I guess you can borrow my sister's. She's only a little older, and we can adjust the height of the seat as appropriate. She won't mind," he added as an answer to the expression on her face, correctly interpreting it.
Hinamori nodded as she wheeled Rangiku's bicycle out to the small road in between their houses. It should be a good enough place to practise; cars rarely came down this far and the majority of the drivers were nice enough to stop before they crashed into some innocent children. "It's simple," Hitsugaya began as he held the bicycle steady in order for her to sit on it and get comfortable. "You just sit, hold on, and pedal, okay? I'll be behind you holding it steady, so try not to worry as much about keeping it balanced."
"Ready," she grinned as she held on to the handlebars, one foot on the ground to steady herself and the other on the pedal. As Hitsugaya began to push from behind, she placed her other foot onto the pedal as well and tried to move forwards. However, the normally very good at multi-tasking Hinamori couldn't seem to move her legs and steer at the same time. Within seconds she wobbled and toppled off the bicycle. "Ouch," she winced, untangling herself from the vehicle and brushing any unwanted dust from her clothing. "Could we do that again? I'll try to be a little bit more careful."
This time, she managed to stay upright for exactly five seconds longer before she began to tip towards the right, followed by a shrill, "Kyaaaah!" And ever the hero, Hitsugaya was there, arms out, to prevent her from re-enacting what had happened previously. "Thank you, Shiro-chan," she smiled, putting both feet on the ground and straightening the bicycle once again. After receiving a grunt in reply and watching his cheeks go slightly pink, Hinamori giggled and returned to her former position. "Okay, let's try this one more time!"
For a few seconds, it seemed as if she was partially succeeding. She certainly was moving forwards, albeit at a very slow speed with the handlebars twisting here and there all the time, but it was at least something. Until she began to panic, that was. "Shiro-chan, there's a tree in front of us!"
"So steer away from it. That's what the handlebars are for, Momo."
"Steer!" The pitch of her voice began to rise steadily. "What do you mean, steer? I can't do it! Aaaargh it's coming closer and closer! Make it stop!"
It was at that point that Hitsugaya decided that he should stop pushing, and the bicycle fell with a clatter onto the ground again, taking Hinamori with it. Scowling, he rubbed the back of his head. This was going to be a dreadfully long day. "Honestly, can't you do anything right, Bed-wetter Momo?" he sighed, standing the bicycle upright yet again. "I thought you were supposed to be clever one and everything."
Sniffing slightly, Hinamori ignored his comment for the time being and examined the side of her leg. It wasn't particularly injured in any way; she'd simply grazed it slightly. Nothing big to cry about, right? "It's hard. Much harder than I thought," she replied finally, rubbing her nose and hoping that it hadn't gone red. Nothing could be worse than breaking down like a little child in front of her Shiro-chan.
The pause that followed was rather awkward, with Hinamori pulling faces discreetly to stop herself from crying and Hitsugaya wondering how to handle the situation. Maybe he had gone a little too far with the playful insult. As much as he hated to admit it, she had always been the one looking after him and making sure that he was all right. Sure, he always made a note to beat anyone who picked on her into a pulp, but that was just about the extent of what he could do. And now that she went to a different school as well, there was even less that he could do. "I-I'll treat you to," he paused, glancing around for something – anything – that might appeal to her, "ice-cream?"
"Really?" she smiled, looking a lot happier all of a sudden. Glad that he had said something correct, Hitsugaya returned the smile in response to her question.
"We could call it a day if you like, and you can drop round after school tomorrow and we can carry on," he offered, still rather firm about the idea that she absolutely had to learn how to ride before Abarai's birthday. There was just no way that he was going to allow Kira within a metre of her. Although he had never met the person, he was pretty sure that he wasn't anyone decent and couldn't understand why Hinamori was such good friends with him. Along with that Abarai; Hitsugaya didn't like the sound of him either. In fact, he didn't think much of any of the boys his neighbour associated with. "Come on, ice-cream van's over there." Smiling faintly, he reached out with one hand and offered to help Hinamori to her feet. "Is your leg all right?"
"Yup, it's fine," she beamed, taking hold of his hand and jumping right up, full of energy again. "Wow, I can't believe Shiro-chan is going to buy me ice-cream. I guess I'll have to pick something nice and expensive for all those times you were mean." Giggling, she ruffled his hair, completely ignoring his scary-glare-look and the two made their way towards the ice-cream stall. After paying and receiving what they wanted (and naturally, Hinamori most definitely did not choose anything even remotely expensive) the two returned and sat down on Hitsugaya's front garden.
Licking her ice-cream quietly for the first few minutes, Hinamori glanced at her neighbour. "Hey, Shiro-chan... do you really think that I-you have ice-cream on your chin, by the way. It looks silly."
"Shut up," he growled, scowling yet again and proceeding to wipe the superfluous splodge of white off his face amongst her giggles.
"You missed a bit-"
"Geroff me!" Scooting a few inches to the right, Hitsugaya proceeded to seriously scrub the ice-cream completely off, wondering what he had done to offend it. There. Good riddance. "Weren't you about to say something?" he added grumpily.
"Huh? Oh yes! Erm, do you really think that I'd be able to learn how to ride before next weekend? I didn't it would be this hard. How long did it take you to learn, Shiro-chan? A couple of days?"
"An hour or so," was the reply.
"Ehh! That's unfair. More importantly, why is it that you're able to learn everything so quickly?" She would have proceeded into a little rant had Hitsugaya not stepped in.
"I'll make sure you can ride a bicycle properly before next weekend, Momo. I promise."
Smiling genuinely, Hinamori held out a little finger and gestured for him to do the same. With their fingers interlocked, she sang, "It's a deal. Thank you, Shiro-chan." Leaning forwards, she kissed him on the forehead. "But if it doesn't work, I'll make you spend all your money on buying ice-creams for me!"
"Ewww, Momo germs," he grumbled, rubbing his forehead with the back of his head. But secretly he was glad to have an excuse to be with her. And so was she.
Primary school is the British equivalent of elementary school. Not that I think Hinamori and Hitsugaya would be living in Britain, but it's how I write. Hope it's okay. (:
AN: And there you have it. What did you think? Were the characters all right or did they seem too out of character? Please drop me a review if you can! I did originally intend this as a simple one-shot, but whilst I was writing it, a few more ideas came to my head and I figured that I could actually keep writing all the way until Renji's 'party' thing. Do you have any thoughts about it? Feel free to tell me what you think! Thank you very much for reading this fic!