A/N: w00t another update! XD ...number 11 is based on real events. lol.

o-Seize the Moment-o

-hesitate and you might've already lost-

9. Truth

"Stop it! We are not doing it here!" he hissed, fighting off eager hands. His robes were already half open when he managed to grab her wrists and force them off his person. The strawberry-blonde attempted to pout but failed as she broke into a grin. Leaning down, she captured his lips in a passionate kiss; ignoring his wishes happily. As he absently kissed her back, he tried to decide what to do. He could let go of her hands, and push her away, but then he'd probably lose his clothes to the hungry woman. No, he'd have to either give in or take her somewhere else where it was safe and where he didn't have to worry about someone walking in on them. It was too early to let the world know the icy Captain had finally given in to his lieutenant's charms.

"Matsumoto! STOP!" he gasped when she finally broke their kiss; bending free from his relaxed grip to tug at his clothes impatiently. She didn't listen or stop attacking him with kisses and touches, and he felt he needed to act fast. He surprised her by knocking her down on the floor; pinning her down with his hands on her wrists on either side of her head while he straddled her hips. She grinned up at him, the heat emitting from her eyes as exciting as ever. He couldn't help it; he leaned down and kissed her deeply as their moans mixed like pleasant music in the silent office.

He was going to stop soon, honestly, he was. But it couldn't hurt to kiss her a bit more, could it? His thoughts shattered as he felt her hips grind against his crotch; causing him to gasp and almost choke on a low groan. She was trapped underneath him, yet he didn't feel dominant at all. Growling, he left her lips to nibble at her earlobe; licking and sucking at the sensitive skin of her neck. He took pleasure in knowing there would be marks left on her pale skin; a proof that she was his. He absently wondered if the marks from last night were still visible on her stomach and lower, but just as he made his way to check; someone gasped loudly.

The loud gasp was followed by several things hitting the floor, and the two lovers snapped their heads up to stare with wide eyes at the intruder. Standing in the doorway was their poor 4th seat, with heavy stacks of paper and folders spread around her feet. Matsumoto felt a pang of pity for the girl as she ran away with tears in her eyes. She didn't help her Captain understand as he stared dumbfounded at the empty doorway, but chose to keep the girl's crush on him secret. It saved the poor thing from embarrassment, right? Hitsugaya Toshiro only wanted her, according to his previous words a few days ago, so the girl would be rejected. To test his truthfulness, Matsumoto reached down and lightly brushed the bulge in his loose pants. He hissed and tensed, looking down at her with narrowed eyes; lust barely concealed with anger. Perhaps he had been telling her the truth then.

o-oOo-o

10. Cycle of Horror

Matsumoto had been acting strange for the past two days. Perhaps it was to be expected, since he had only known her for about three weeks and should by no means know her behaviour pattern yet. Even so, her new Captain felt that something wasn't….right. He had seen her frown before, but it had always been with either a pout or a mocking edge to it. Now, however, she was sitting by her desk, frowning and glaring a hole in her stack of paperwork. This was, by no means, something new. He'd seen her do it the first few days of his Captainship. But, he noted, she had never looked to truthfully bothered. It was like she wanted to whine, and complain, but instead of doing it she kept quiet and ever so slowly she made her way through dull reports and requests. This was something completely alien. And it didn't feel right. He knew he should accept this new attitude of hers, and add it to what he knew of her, but he couldn't. It felt like he needed to do something, but he had no idea what.

"Captain?" she called, titling her head and shooting him a puzzled look. He'd been staring, and a light blush spread across his cheeks when he realized this. The feeling of getting caught doing something he shouldn't returned and memories of their first meeting flooded back into his mind. He'd been expecting her, but what he'd seen as she'd entered their office hadn't been anything near the meek-looking woman he'd had in mind. Her chest had immediately caught his attention, and he'd blushed when she'd sent him a knowing grin. He felt the same now as he did then, but this time he didn't remove his eyes from her but kept staring straight into her icy-blue eyes. She shifted under his gaze, trying to hide a wince as her breasts bobbed lightly. He resisted the urge to lower his eyes, and absently noted that there was, in fact, something wrong with his lieutenant.

"What's the matter, Matsumoto?" he asked, leaning forward. "Are you unwell?"

For the first time, she blushed. The image would be burned into his mind forever, without doubt. It wasn't a blush of shyness, but of embarrassment. He had dismissed the possibility of her having anything even resembling modesty when she'd crushed his, her newly assigned Captain and complete stranger by then, face into the valley of her….things…in a literally breathtaking hug.

"Err, nothing Captain! What makes you say that?" she asked, laughing nervously. She winced again, the movements obviously a bit painful. Could it be a hangover? But she'd never acted like this over one of those before, and the way she kept massaging her lower stomach perked his curiosity.

"You should go to the 4th division, Matsumoto. If you're feeling ill, then do something about it," he said, frowning. The woman breathed in deep before letting it out and collapsing on her desk. Her face held a miserable expression as she stared at her Captain with a look of helplessness.

"You really don't know, do you?" she asked off-handily. Her question, sounding more like a statement, made him stiffen and feel slightly offended. He knew lots of things, he wasn't called a genius for nothing!

"I don't know what?"

"The pain of being a woman! The torture of fertileness! The endless cycle of horror! The aching week of the month! The heightened sensitivity of every damned sense you could name! The bloody hormone-feast that's scheduled to host at least twelve times a year! That thing that shouldn't haunt dead souls! THAT THING!" she finally burst out; her temper snapping at the strain she'd put on it. Her Captain sat staring at her, eyes wide in realization and cheeks alit in the most glowing colour of red she'd seen.

"You have the day off," he announced after a few moments, breaking the silence that followed her outburst. He really, really didn't want to get involved with the nature of females; especially his own lieutenant's. As she left their office with cheerful thanks, he breathed out a sigh of relief.

For that day on, Matsumoto suspected her Captain knew as well as she did when it was that time of the month again. Not that she minded, if she played her cards right she got a free day off after all….

o-oOo-o

11. Fast Food

Matsumoto was overjoyed; she'd found a most wonderful place after a long day shopping. But it was nothing compared to her Captain, who'd been dragged along for the simple reason that he needed one shirt and one pair of pants. He slumped down on the chair in the 'restaurant' and frankly didn't give a damn if his lieutenant ordered something distasteful for him or not. The name of this food place was The Kebab Bar, and it had caught his alcoholic subordinate's eyes immediately. The fact that she knew kebab was food, when he had not the slightest idea what it was, seemed to only further strengthen her absolute pressing need to go to this bar thingy.

Much to her discharge, she found out that it was only a place to buy food. Nevertheless, she was hungry. So she ordered a medium kebab for her and a big 'kebab plate' for her Captain since she had no idea what it was and she wanted to know. Ordering the brownish, bubbly drink called coke (which she had taken a liking to, since it tickled her nose if she drank too fast) and something called 'sprite' for her white-haired companion.

"Here you go!" she chirped, placing the tray with the food on the table. The nice clerk followed closely behind and put down a second one, which was hers. She thanked him before sitting down and giving Toshiro his wallet back.

"Oooh this is delicious!" she exclaimed after the first bite as he pocketed his black wallet. He raised a brow and grabbed the fork beside his huge plate of what looked like pieces meat covered with a pink sauce and lots of fries. Green leaves with the name cabbage and various other vegetables lay in a pile among the enormous sea of food, and he dimly wondered if he would be able to eat even a third of this monstrous dish. Taking a bite, he had to admit it was good. Very good, in fact. He watched with an amused smile as Matsumoto gave the name of fast food a new meaning; stuffing herself with the weird meat. She didn't have a plate like he did, but hers was in a piece of bread and there was no fries. He didn't want to know why she'd ordered something different for him, since he already knew it wasn't out of kindness.

"I'm stuffed!" she finally announced, everything but the paper that had kept her food together gone. She had most of her drink left, and sat sipping contently as she waited for him. To his surprise, he had already managed to get half of the content on his plate down. He gave up as he finished the second half, and quickly took a big gulp of his drink before fighting down a burp that would embarrass him to no end. Matsumoto didn't possess the same knowledge of manners, or perhaps she just didn't care, and gladly let the world know she had indeed enjoyed her meal.

"Urgh, Captain, I need to pee!" she whined as he sighed and leaned back in the chair. What delicate choice of words for a lady.

"They have toilets here," he noted, looking around and spotting the sign WC a bit further down.

"Ah good!"

"Drink up," he ordered when she made no move to stand up, "and get going."

"But Captaaaiiin, if I drink more I'm gonna wet my pants for sure!"

He stared at her, wondering how she could be lieutenant with that kind of intelligence and memory.

"I thought you were going to the toilet?"

"OH!," she exclaimed, realizing her stupidity before bursting out laughing. He watched her stand and walk over to the toilets, giggling slightly. His lips turned up in a smile and he shook his head while sighing. He was exhausted after the shopping; head almost spinning after all the clothes he'd seen Matsumoto try on. Okay, so today hadn't been that bad. But still, his feet were sore dammit. Seeing Matsumoto in flimsy dresses and beautiful gowns didn't make them better, despite the pleasant memories etched in his mind.

o-oOo-o

12. Regrets

She was willing to do anything for him. He wasn't aware of this, and she didn't care that it caused him to act ignorant without him realizing it. She was the only one to see him acting like such a fool anyway, because she was the only who knew. When he yelled at her for acting too rash in battles, or when he ordered her to think of herself instead of everyone else, he didn't know the reason to her secret smile or mocking sigh. And she was fine with that, because she didn't think he would like the truth. No, she didn't think he'd like it at all. Yet she felt the need to tell him, at least once, before she died.

Her stomach was pierced; blood seeping out of a deep, deep wound that would never be healed in time. She stood between two men, two people she loved beyond words. The sword that was planted so deep within her was meant for her Captain, the man behind her. She couldn't always watch his back, sometimes she needed to block the blows to his face too.

Her lips turned up in a smile as she stared into the eyes of the man who had given her life, and was now taking it away. They were usually closed, but now as he stared at what he'd done, they were wide open in horror. He knew she would die, he knew she'd give up her life for her Captain. He knew, that he'd broken the one promise he'd wanted to keep; to never, ever, turn his sword against Matsumoto Rangiku.

"MATSUMOTO!" His opponent, the short white-haired boy, voiced his own pain in the form of her name. The woman panted as Gin slowly removed his sword, staring into her blue eyes as she dropped to her knees; the only thing keeping her up the arms of her Captain.

"Just thought you should know," she mumbled, "that I love you, Toshiro."

As the life in her eyes disappeared, the shocked boy didn't know how to react. She had been right; he didn't like the truth. Now he didn't have much else but regrets; regrets of not taking the risk, not taking the chance, and admit to his heart that he loved her more than she could've ever imagine.

o-oOo-o

A/N: omfg I killed her. NOOO!!!!!! -sobs-