Matsumoto hummed quietly while she walked to the 10th Division. She scanned the area for any one she knew, but there wasn't anyone.

She kept glancing all around her, trying to find the white-haired boy she hadn't seen in fifteen years. She had missed him a lot during their long time away from each other. She twiddled her fingers behind her back, as butterflies danced in her stomach while she walked.

She was insanely nervous.

Calm down Rangiku, she told herself, it's just a reunion! She smiled happily and started to skip a little, "I get to see captain!" she giggled.

She continued on her way to the 10th division.

After a few more minutes passed she saw it; the old office building.

Slowly, she walked toward the door, hand shaking she tapped lightly on the wall surrounding the door.

"Come in!" she heard a familiar voice say, followed by the scratching of a pen.

She quietly smiled to herself, same old captain, doing paperwork.

"Oi! I said come in!" came the voice, a little harsher this time.

Holding her breath, she opened the door.

"C-Captain?" she said, peeking through the door, but the sight she saw surprised her. Her captain had changed.

He wasn't the short, kid captain she had remembered. Now, he was a man, and wasn't so short anymore.

Hitsugaya's eyes widened a little, as he slowly set down his pen. His eyes slowly made their way up from the paper and locked onto Matsumoto's eyes.

She gave a weak smile, "Been a while, hasn't it?" more of a statement than a question.

With his eyes still wide, he slowly rose from his seat, "M-Matsumoto?" he couldn't believe it was her, after all these years…

She nodded, tears forming in her blue eyes, "It's me, Rangiku Matsumoto."

He softened his eyes a little and walked over to her. Matsumoto giggled, "Wow, you've sure gotten tall." the top of her head just reached under his chin. She looked up into the teal eyes that she still found stunningly beautiful. "But I must say I liked you better when you were shorter."

He gave a soft smile, "Ah. So you liked suffocating me?"

She laughed, "Aww, you gonna miss it?" she bounced up and down, causing her breasts bounce as well.

"Not at all." he smirked looking at her, not her chest. Even though he hadn't seen her in fifteen years, he was still immune to her "charms". She gave a slight pout, "But I will! Captain you were just so cute!" she squealed. Unable to fight it any longer, she grabbed him around the neck, forcing his nose into her cleavage. Caught off guard by the sudden hug he began to flail his arms, "Cam'f breafe!" his muffled voice chocked out.

After she let him go, she began to laugh loudly. Blushing, Hitsugaya told her this was no way to treat a captain. Matsumoto countered with a dirty suggestion while Hitsugaya franticly denied it.

They way they acted; you would have never known that they hadn't seen each other in fifteen years.

/"Matsumoto-san, we will be needing your help, you see, we need you to spy on Goro for a little bit. Learn what his plans are, and see if he is going to attack the Soul Society."

She stood respectively waiting for him to continue, but when he didn't she felt the need to speak, "Captain-Commander, how will I get into his squad?"

He looked down at her through his old sagging eyes, "You and him have a past, am I correct?" although he didn't look angry, his words sounded harsh and hateful, "He got some information out of you once, now it is your turn. You owe this to us."

Matsumoto bit her tongue, she wanted to say something but it would have been considederd disrespectful.

"I'll do it." she said after a long pause, "On one condition," the Captain-Commander sighed but she ignored him, "if I do this, you assign me back onto Squad Ten!"

He shook his head, "You've been replaced." he said bluntly. "But, if you do a good job, I'll consider putting you in the squad."

She bowed her head trying to hide her emotions.

Replaced?

"Captain Hitsugaya, where is Matsumoto-san going to sle-?" Ehime rushed into the office, but stopped when she saw Matsumoto.

Her vision of Matsumoto was much different than the woman that stood before her. For example her chest…

"You must be Amaya-chan." Matsumoto greeted her with smile, "Nice to meet you, I'm Matsumoto." Ehime smiled back, "Ah, yes hello! I've heard much about you." Hitsugaya gave Ehime a sharp look, "Ehime!" he cried.

Matsumoto lifted an eyebrow, "Oh? What did he say?" she leaned in closer to Ehime. "C'mon!"

"Well…"

Suddenly the temperature in the room dropped, "E-hi-me…" he warned.

She squeaked out an apology.

"Captain! You're scaring the poor girl!" Matsumoto hit the boy with a piece of paper that was lying nearby, "Hmph!" he said then turned his back toward her, "What I said was that you were reliable when the situation depended on it."

She smiled, "Really?"

He nodded, "I don't waste words over lies Matsumoto." a slight blush spread over his face.

Matsumoto wrapped him in one of her bear hugs.

Matsumoto sighed, this was depressing.

She shifted uncomfortably on the hard futon, "Ugh!"

She was laying on the floor in the practice arena for Squad Ten; she couldn't sleep in her old apartment since Ehime now lived there. Therefore, they had decided that she would sleep in here.

And to top it all off, it was freezing in here!

She slowly got up from the futon and walked out of the arena. She headed for the office, maybe if she was lucky; she could fall asleep on the couch instead.

When she got there, she saw that a small candle was glowing. She stood silently, waiting to see if she could hear anyone or anything. All she heard was the scratching of a pen. She smiled silently to herself, captain…she turned around and disappeared into the darkness.

A few minutes later, she returned with a tray of tea. Gently knocking on the door, she whispered, "Captain?" he was sitting on the floor doing paperwork. She smiled, she'd never seen him do work on the floor before.

"Hm?"

She smiled and entered the dimly lit room, "I have tea!" she said holding out the tray, Hitsugaya only nodded.

"Ugh captain!"

He sighed but took a cup of tea, "Why aren't you sleeping?" he asked sipping the warm liquid.

"I should ask the same!" she countered.

"I have to do extra paperwork, since I won't be here tomorrow." he softened his eyes a little. It was Momo's funereal.

Realizing that something was the matter Matsumoto leaned in close to her captain, "What's wrong?"

"I don't think I ever gave you a reason to believe something was the matter." he said blankly.

"I've known you for a long time captain, I know when you're sad." her eyes burned deeply into the side of his head but he never turned to look at her.

Knowing that Matsumoto would keep pestering him unless he told her what was wrong; he decided it would be good for his health to tell her.

"Momo, she…" but the words would come out. He closed his eyes tightly and tried to form the words, but again, they would not come out.

"Damnit!" he yelled and slammed his fist into the ground. "Why?! Why, couldn't I have been there to protect her?! If I was there when Aizen stabbed her, I would have…I would have…I let her die!" his eyes were squeezed shut, trying to stop tears from flowing down his cheeks.

Matsumoto only placed a hand on his shoulder, "Captain…" she began, but he moved his shoulder and glared into her eyes. She gasped and let her hand stay in mid air shaking. He never had looked at her like that before, with such…hatred.

"You don't get it," he hissed, "she's dead because I wasn't there for her!" ice began to form around him and along the walls.

However, not even for a second was Matsumoto scared.

"Captain…" she trailed off. How could she help him? Saying it will be okay would just be a lie. In addition, Hitsugaya wouldn't believe her if she said that, it wasn't his fault. So how could she…?

"Captain," she began again, "look at how pretty the stars are tonight."

He didn't move to look at the stars; he just stayed there hugging his knees to his chest, his head resting gently on his knees.

"You know, I don't think Momo blames you- for her death I mean. She wasn't that type of person; she was kind and loving toward everyone. So what makes you think she blames you?" her eyes drifted toward her captain. He gave her a sideways glance with one eye opened, she smiled softly at him.

"I made a promise to protect her. And I broke it."

"That's why I don't make promises…they break to easily."

He snorted, "Figures…"

"Aw! What do you mean by that?" she pouted a little, and he smiled at her.

"You don't seem like the type to keep a promise."

"Oh but I do captain! Like this one time…" she stopped. "Y-You smiled."

"Yeah? Got a problem with it?"

"No, not at all." she smiled.

In fact, she loved his smile. She hated to see him so sad and angry like he was a couple of minutes ago, and now here he was smiling.

"Ya know captain, I think you're bipolar."

"Huh why?" he gave her a confused look.

She sat down next to him and gently laid her head on his shoulder, "No reason." she teased. He looked down at her with an eyebrow raised but didn't say anything. He nudged her gently with the shoulder her head was laying on; "Hm?" she asked staring out at the stars through the window.

He smiled softly, leaned his body into hers, and relaxed, "Thanks."