Title: Taicho
Author: Gypsy Dancing Girl
Fandom: Bleach
Pairing or Characters: No pairing intended. Matsumoto Rangiku, Hitsugaya Toshiro, mentions of Unohana-taicho and former 10th Divison Captain and Vice Captain (very vague).
Rating: T
Genres: Friendship, General
Warnings: Matsumoto drinks . . . if you watch/read Bleach, this shouldn't come as a big shock to you. Spoiler for the Bleach Special Chapter on Toshiro and Matsumoto's first meeting. Long drabble-ish.
A/N: I love the 10th Division almost as much as I do the 11th Division (11th Division is 'my' division). The relationship between Toshiro and Matsumoto is entertaining and exhausting, but surprisingly consistent. She's there when he needs her. He's there to keep her in line. I think it's good for both of them.
She had taken an interest in the boy.
It was against regulation and against orders. But Matsumoto Rangiku could not help herself. Hitsugaya Toshiro was too young, too powerful, and too opinionated to ignore. And Matsumoto prided herself on being the only shinigami to have followed the boy-genius' career from start to present.
Only she had been present at his finding. She had completed the application paperwork for his Entrance Exam personally. She had attended his graduation and she had switched divisions when he was assigned to 10th Division on his own.
He was only a boy and he needed looking after. He was rising through the ranks too quickly (he'd already mastered bankai; Matsumoto had witnessed it with her own eyes). Matsumoto didn't regret ordering him to become a shinigami and a man capable of controlling his power. But she did regret the burden slowly shifting onto his small shoulders.
So she stood in his way, hanging on to her hard-won 3rd Seat with fangs and claws, using her experience to keep Hitsugaya from rising any further. She made every job difficult and Hitsugaya began spending his nights pulling her out of bars, chasing her through the streets, and finally turning her over to Unohana-taicho for hang-over remedies. Too valuable a resource to fear punishment, Matsumoto made herself a full-time job, one that the 10th Division Captain gladly delegated to the 'genius-brat.' Hitsugaya's training-into-the-ground-ritual became a thing of the past for both of them. But Hitsugaya continued to improve.
And now their Captain was dead, having contracted a disease from a Hollow-attack which left him dead in less than twenty-four hours. Matsumoto knew Hitsugaya would be promoted. The Vice Captain hadn't mastered bankai and neither had Matsumoto. So when the announcement was made, she was not disappointed.
That night . . . the night before Hitsugaya's first day as Captain . . . Hitsugaya could not find her in the bars, at home, at her friends, or any of her other frequent haunts . . . because Matsumoto didn't go to them.
Matsumoto spent her night in an eight hour long fight with the previous Vice Captain. Yes, the previous Vice Captain, because Matsumoto decimated him and confiscated the badge. He was the personal student of their deceased Captain, but Matsumoto had motivation.
So she appeared in the division office, cleaned up and presentable, at 8:30 AM, promptly taking the liberty of rearranging her desk. Captain Hitsugaya Toshiro entered the office promptly at 9:30 AM, stifling a yawn. Then he noticed her and a smirk slowly crept across his face.
"Matsumoto."
No honorifics for the very first time. Matsumoto approved. Over the rest of the 10th Division, she was Vice Captain. But she was his lieutenant and she would protect her captain over all else. She had decided that the very first time she met him. This boy was going places and she would be there to make sure he got to them. They had a better connection. After all, she had built up an interest in the boy.
"Good morning, Taicho."
"You know . . . I was going to promote you anyway," he pointed out.
Matsumoto smiled. She knew payback for his sleepless night and worry was in her very near future, but it was nice to be needed. Her smile faded when he dropped a foot high stack of paperwork on her new desk.
"What's this?!"
"This is the official promotion paperwork. Complete it."
"But, Taicho!"
"Matsumoto."
"I'm tired!"
"Mat-su-mo-to!"
"I want to drink sake to celebrate!"
"MATSUMOTO!"
The End.