Candy Canes

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Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or my life.

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Hitsugaya sat at his desk in the tenth squad headquarters, eyes trained on the piles of paper before him, yanking one after another from the towering mounds and slashing off his signature irritably.

He was pissed, really pissed. And it was all because of…

"TAAAIIICHOOO!" a feminine voice trilled from somewhere near. Toshiro scowled, and set down his pen, locking his hands together instead and staring grimly ahead to the doorway and the direction of the approaching footsteps, whose heeled owner came whirling through the door not a minute later laden down with…

His eye twitched…shopping. Oh, how he hated it when she did this, skiving off to go drinking, now shopping?!?!

Rangiku had set her bags down on the sofa that now bore a permanent groove form her frequent naps, and was feverishly leafing through them, seemingly searching for something.

It twitched again. Had she even noticed him? Lord, give him patience…

She bit her lip in concentration, now arm deep in it, tongue poking through her clenched teeth and eyes aimed ceiling wards.

Still not looking at him…

After five minutes the scrabbling around ceased and her arm began to slowly emerge from the carrier, pulling something with it.

Despite his annoyance at being ignored, she usually paid him some modicum of attention and respect. She had to, he was her taicho, after all. Toshiro had to wonder what had enthralled her so that she didn't fear being sent to the desk and ordered to do her paperwork, again.

He would soon find out.

"Found it!" Rangiku cried joyfully, waving her prizes aloft. His weary eyes travelled up to her hand and widened.

'Oh crap' he thought, and resisted the urge to look around for an escape route, and damn the consequences. He didn't get the chance however when one of the offensive items invaded personal space just then by tapping him on the nose.

"No need to look so tortured taicho" Rangiku admonished lightly, tapping him again with it.

He couldn't help it! This was what he had been afraid of, that the ever lazy woman would discover that he could not refuse a gift. He did wonder however, whether she knew that he actually disliked candy.

Probably not, he mused, if she had, then she, Ukitake and Yachiru would have been heard all the way over in squad one with their ear shattering screams of horror.

A crinkling sound of a wrapper being peeled back caught his attention and made him look at her. She was perched on the far side of his desk, and trying to look sulky while sucking the end of her…candy cane. She wasn't succeeding very well.

Toshiro rolled his eyes. 'And candy canes of all things. Christmas was almost three weeks ago!'

"You're such a kid, you know that?" he berated her. This made her break into a smile because he was finally talking to her.

"Yeah, I know" she agreed easily. "Still, why take life too seriously?"

Opening his mouth to argue, he stopped and shut it again, wearing a thoughtful expression for once at her statement. Rangiku looked on bemused. No shouting?

"Maybe…you're right" he said slowly. Heaven knows, they had enough to worry about, with Aizen likely to launch a fresh assault at any moment, tension was everywhere.

"I knew you'd see it my way taicho" she smirked and patted him on his snowy crown genially. His scowl immediately returned, times ten. Rangiku saw this and grinned. Time to put her plan into action.

Bringing her candy cane back to her lips, her let her tongue snake out and lick the candied treat slowly, repeatedly.

What had he been going to say? he wondered blearily. Whatever it was, it was gone now. All he could think about was the way that erotic tongue was moving. Seeing his eyes glaze, Rangiku felt like whooping. It was working.

Smirking around it, she bit it instead, showing her set of white teeth.

He was totally hypnotized at that point, and had he not been, he might have questioned her choice of timing. Why now? Well the answer was simple, ever since the last association meeting when Nanao had let slip that she had seen Toshiro staring at her several times when he knew she wasn't looking. Rangiku had been ecstatic and Nanao had had to stop her going over to him right there and glomping him, saying that would just embarrass him, and to wait.

'Well a week was long enough for someone with her impulse control (or lack thereof) to wait.

Holding out her free hand, she smiled as he stared at its contents incredulously. "Want one?" she asked.

Toshiro sighed. Temptation was a bad thing, a very bad thing.

But when a sexy redhead offers it to you on a metaphorical silver platter…bad is good.

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Yes, I know its bad! I haven't written much in ages and I'm easing back in. This was done as a quick favour for my very best friend in the whole wide world who downloaded loads of music for me. So I hope you found it some bit decent Jen-chan :)

Read and Review! You make me happy :)…