This story is a sequel to "Misunderstandings," so if you haven't read that, you probably won't understand Hitsugaya and Karin's relationship, or who Haruka is, so you might want to read that one first. But then again, I think you can pick up most of the background pretty easily. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next installment!

And yes, the title is a Shakespeare reference to A Midsummer Night's Dream, so if you've read it, you may be able to guess somewhat where this is going, but I promise, it won't be simply a repetition of the play, it's much more interesting than that :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. I only own my own characters and ideas.

Prologue

Hitsugaya Toushiro had four very important women in his life. The first was his fukutaicho, Matsumoto. The second was his fiancé, Kurosaki Karin. The third was his sister, Haruka. And the fourth was his best friend, Hinamori. Now, most men would trade their right kidney to be in Hitsugaya's shoes, but unfortunately, Hitsugaya was not one who had an easy time dealing with the opposite sex. And with so many strong-minded women pulling him in all directions, he rather envied those men who spent their days looking for people to give their kidneys to. Especially, when the women in question began to butt heads.

It all started with a rose. Well, actually, it started long before that, but the rose was the trigger that set the events in motion. More specifically, the rose aroused one Hinamori Momo to act on feelings and desires that had been in place for quite some time, but that she had been too shy and unconfident to do anything about. But with time running out, Hinamori decided that it was time for action.

oooooooooooooooooooo

"Taicho!" Matsumoto sang, bounding cheerily into the office.

"What now Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya asked in a tired voice.

"I've got something for you!" she replied, and with a flourish, placed a brilliant red rose on his desk. Hitsugaya studied the rose for a moment like it was a rather uninteresting piece of paperwork.

"What's this?" he asked, mildly curious. Matsumoto sighed.

"It's a rose taicho," she explained.

"I know that," he said, trying desperately to keep his cool. "What's it doing on my desk?"

"Haruka-chan told me to give it to you," Matsumoto explained. "She got a whole bunch from…"

"I don't need to know which idiot my sister is dating at the moment," Hitsugaya cut her off angrily. "Trust me, it's safer for him if I don't know." Matsumoto chuckled. Hitsugaya Haruka certainly did get around. She had dated nearly every available man in Seireitei (except for the members of 10th squad of course, who valued their lives too much to even look at their taicho's sister), but she had yet to settle on any one of her many admirers.

"And anyway," he continued, "what on earth am I supposed to do with a rose?"

"Why don't you give it to Karin-chan?" Matsumoto suggested. Hitsugaya smirked.

"Karin would think I had a mental meltdown if I gave her a rose. She's not the kind of girl who likes getting flowers."

"All girls like getting flowers taicho," Matsumoto said with a pout. "Why should Karin-chan be any different?" Hitsugaya shook his head.

"Trust me," he assured her. "Karin is my fiancé. I know her pretty well. She would not appreciate receiving a rose from me. She would think I'd gone soft or something."

"It doesn't hurt to be soft every now and then," Matsumoto said.

"Don't you have something productive you should be doing?" Hitsugaya asked, trying to steer the conversation away from his personal life. "Like paperwork?"

"Now that you mention it," Matsumoto mused, "I have somewhere I need to be! Bye taicho!" she cried, scurrying out the door before he had a chance to tell her that where she really needed to be was at her desk tackling the mountain of paperwork that threatened to take over the office. Honestly, Hitsugaya was convinced it had babies when he wasn't looking.

Sighing deeply, he ignored the rose and returned to the form he was filling out.

A little while later, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Hitsugaya said and Hinamori slid the door open.

"Hinamori," Hitsugaya said with a sigh. "Why do you still bother knocking? You know you don't have to." Hinamori blushed slightly,

"Well, I never know if you're in here with someone…" her voice trailed off, and Hitsugaya blushed too as he realized what she was actually saying. By "someone" she meant Karin, and by "with" she meant lip locked. Karin wasn't exactly shy or subtle when it came to romance. When she wanted it, she took it. Violently and forcefully. Hitsugaya usually didn't mind (and by that I mean he was more than willing to comply), but both Hinamori and Matsumoto had walked in on them several times, much to Matsumoto and Karin's amusement and Hinamori and Hitsugaya's embarrassment.

"So, did you want something, Hinamori?" Hitsugaya asked, trying to cover for the awkward moment. Hinamori shook her head.

"Not really. Kar…I mean, taicho forbade me from being in the office this afternoon. She said I work too hard and that I should go visit friends or something."

"So things are working out between you two?" Hitsugaya asked. Karin had become Hinamori's taicho several months ago and as far as Hitsugaya could tell, it was a great match. Karin provided the stress relief that Hinamori so desperately needed. Running the squad all by herself for so many years, especially with all the emotional trauma she had gone through, had been particularly difficult for Hinamori. Hitsugaya had helped her out as much as he could, but the strain was clearly getting to her. Everyone could see that she was not cut out to be a taicho, but there had been no one qualified enough to replace Aizen. Then Karin had achieved bankai, and within a year, she had become proficient enough that Yamamoto soutaicho decided that she was capable of taking the position.

Karin was thrilled to finally be in a squad where she could fight, so she spent a good deal of time training her subordinates while Hinamori dealt with most of the logistics and office work. It was a good system and worked very well, both women playing to their strengths, but Karin was also keen enough to know when the pressure was getting to Hinamori and give her a very well deserved break. Hitsugaya was glad that Karin understood Hinamori's position and was dealing with it so admirably.

"Oh, and I know Karin doesn't mind if you just call her Karin like you used to," Hitsugaya continued. "She doesn't really like all the taicho formality anyway."

"I know," Hinamori said with a sigh, grateful that she could avoid Hitsugaya's question. It wasn't that she didn't like Karin. They had come to know each other rather well in the eight years or so since Karin had come to Soul Society. They both spent a lot of time with Hitsugaya after all, so it had been a natural friendship. And she was very grateful to have a taicho over her, especially one who was as understanding as Karin. But Hinamori was jealous. She couldn't help it. Many people thought that she had been in love with Aizen, but that was a lie, a cover she used to hide her true feelings. Hinamori had been in love with Hitsugaya for as long as she could remember. He was her savior, her protector, her oldest and closest friend, and she loved absolutely everything about him. But she knew her love wasn't returned. So she had loved in silence, watching the budding romance with Karin from the shadows. She had smiled when he told her they were dating, and had offered her congratulations when she found out they were engaged, but really, every time she thought about the couple, her heart started to bleed.

She looked down and spotted the rose on his desk.

"How pretty!" she marveled, picking up the rose and admiring it lovingly. "What an incredible flower. It must have been expensive!"

"Do you want it?" Hitsugaya asked casually. Hinamori's eyes widened.

"But, didn't you get it for Kar…taicho?" she asked surprised. Hitsugaya smirked.

"Honestly, it's as if both you and Matsumoto have never met Karin before. Do you really think she would like something like that?" Hinamori smiled.

"I guess not," she replied, gazing at the rose. "Thank you Hitsugaya-kun!"

"It's Hitsugaya taicho," he said with a smirk causing Hinamori to giggle. They chatted for a few more minutes, then Hinamori left to go find Renji and Hitsugaya returned to his paperwork.

About an hour later, Matsumoto decided that it was time to make another appearance in the office. She slid the door open and put her hands on her hips.

"Taicho," she scolded. "You're still here?!" Hitsugaya sighed.

"Someone's got to take care of all this," he replied, waving a hand at the inordinately tall piles of paperwork.

"Oh!" Matsumoto exclaimed, noticing that the rose was absent from his desk. "I see you finally caved and gave Karin-chan the rose!"

"Of course not!" Hitsugaya spat. "I told you, she wouldn't like it."

"Don't tell me you threw it away!" Matsumoto said in horror. "It was so pretty!"

"I gave it to Hinamori," Hitsugaya said casually. "She liked it." Matsumoto didn't reply. Hitsugaya looked up at her to see her eyes wide with shock and something akin to fear.

"Taicho," she said urgently, all playfulness gone from her voice and expression. "You can't do that!"

"Why not?" Hitsugaya demanded. "What's wrong with…"

"Taicho," Matsumoto interrupted, "Hinamori is your fiancé's fukutaicho! It doesn't matter that Karin-chan doesn't want the flower, you can't just give another woman a token like that!"

"It's not a token…" Hitsugaya said angrily, but Matsumoto cut him off again.

"I know that!" she said. "And Hinamori knows that, and Karin-chan knows that, but you still can't give another woman a gift like that right under your fiancé's nose!" Her words started to sink in, and Hitsugaya found himself panicking slightly.

"I guess I should go do something about this," he said, and Matsumoto nodded. She shook her head and thought to herself,

"Men are so clueless sometimes."

So that's the beginning, let me know what you think, and hopefully I'll have the next chapter up in a day or so.