A/N: Yeah, Hitsugaya-chan is going to act pretty shy in this chapter. But then again, wouldn't YOU be nervous about coming out of the closet? He'll gain confidence though!
Also, the initial fluff will move fairly quickly. There IS actually a plot, after all. (Not to say that there won't be fluff - there's going to be a TON)
The next day, when Toushiro sat down on the couch in his office and pulled out his lunch during his break, he brought two brownies with him. One was for Matsumoto - she had in fact slipped a few ingredients into the batter behind his back, according to Hinamori, who'd tasted it and almost immediately run to the trash can to spit it out. He'd given his second a violent tongue-lashing, then poured most of the disgusting mix out and baked the rest specifically for her.
The other batch, however, Hinamori had helped him bake, and he had to say, they turned out very well. He'd eaten three last night, much to Momo's delight, and they'd made plans to bake again in the future.
"Matsumoto, brownie?" he asked, and she looked up from where she'd been working on her paperwork in surprise. Then she smiled.
"Sure!" she accepted the wrapped little square with a little bow of thanks. "You're so sweet, Taicho."
"Oh, shut up." he snapped, but his lips were twitching. "I don't need my reputation ruined by you."
She laughed, biting into the brownie and humming happily.
"Mmm. You sure you don't want to try it, Taicho? It's got mustard and asparagus!" she asked. Toushiro rolled his eyes and made a face at his lieutenant.
"Ew, gross." he replied, wrinkling his nose in repulsion. "Does it have legs too? Because I'm almost positive that thing is so inedible it's actually a mutated Hollow."
Matsumoto laughed again and took an exaggerated bite out of it, making sure to overemphasize her delight. Toushiro gagged.
"You're disgusting. Either that or all of your taste buds have died." he said, looking pointedly back at his bento box and lifting his chopsticks. He set his brownie aside for later, focusing on eating his lunch for the time being.
Matsumoto just grinned at him and finished her mutant brownie with a satisfied smirk. For a brief while, the two of them ate in silence, but by the time Toushiro finished his lunch, brownie included, Rangiku had slipped over to his desk and taken the pile of the reports he usually did for her and returned to her work. Hitsugaya blinked, watching the paperwork leave his desk, stunned. Two days in a row? What was this, witchcraft? Had he fallen into an alternate universe?
"Matsumoto...what's inspired you to suddenly start acting like a responsible adult?" he asked, baffled. She turned to look back at him, her face suddenly saddening.
"Well..." she said hesitantly. "...I've sort of been thinking about how you...well, you remember how I found out."
Hitsugaya's cheeks went a pretty shade of pink, but he kept his composure otherwise and nodded briefly. Matsumoto started toying with her long, blonde hair.
"Anyway, I was thinking about that." she started again. "And...I'd known for a while that you were unsure of your gender identity. So I was wondering why you hadn't, well...figured it out yet and I realized that my slacking was taking up all of your free time. You...you barely had any time to yourself to puzzle your feelings out, and I was only adding to that, so..."
Toushiro positively stared.
"You...you're doing this to give me time?" he asked. Matsumoto nodded, crossing her arms over her ample chest.
"...I didn't realize how hard I was making you work by slacking, Taicho." she apologized gently. "But...I don't know. The past few times I found you passed out over your desk...I knew it was definitely my fault. This was the final straw."
Toushiro glanced at the single report lying in his inbox with a strange look in his eyes.
"...thank you, I suppose." he said, his tone crisp, the jade of his icy gaze softening to a lively emerald, picking up that last folder and opening it with his slender fingers. He began reading through one of his Thirteenth's Seats' Living World update carefully, noting everything in the vast databank of his prodigy brain.
Matsumoto watched him for a few moments, then finished her paperwork, and an hour after lunch both captain and lieutenant were again blissfully done with work. Toushiro leaned back against the stiff wooden back of his chair, smiling faintly. For a long minute there was silence, and then the young man (woman) grinned.
"Living World?"
Matsumoto positively cheered.
"Oh, that's perfect!" she bubbled happily. "We should take Momo-chan with us - and maybe we can meet up with Orihime-chan and Rukia-chan too!"
Toushiro started a bit, then glanced away, looking nervous. Matsumoto caught his expression and smiled.
"Trust me, Taicho." she told him, and the young shinigami sighed deeply. Then he stood up and nodded.
"Always."
The noise of Karakura Town hit him hard, but Matsumoto and Hinamori seemed to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the small city. Toushiro looked around at the tall buildings in no slight confusion, wondering as always why the humans felt the need to make everything so big and bulky. His nose wrinkled up, his derision showing through, but then Urahara was walking out of his shop towards them, seeming puzzled.
"My, my, my, what business could two Lieutenants and a Captain have in Karakura Town now? I thought all the big baddies were gone?" he asked slyly, hiding his face behind his fan and hat. Yoruichi slunk around his ankles in cat form, her golden eyes glinting. She cocked her head to the side, regarding the young captain appraisingly. Toushiro eyed her back, his stare cool, then flicked that icy emerald glare onto her longtime friend.
"I'm slacking off, Urahara." he deadpanned, though to be perfectly honest, he wasn't lying. The ex-captain shopkeeper gasped in mock surprise.
"No, that isn't possible!" he pretended to swoon, smirking behind his fan. "What has the world come to?"
"Oh, stop that." Toushiro snapped, annoyed, crossing his arms over his chest with a hint of pink tinting his gold-toned cheeks. His tan hadn't faded much despite the winter sun - something which he knew made Matsumoto and Hinamori very jealous. "I need some time to relax - Matsumoto's caught me passed out over my desk one too many times."
Urahara raised an eyebrow, but thankfully didn't test the young dragon's infamous temper.
"I suppose you'll be wanting your gigai?"
Hitsugaya inclined his head incrementally.
"One for each of us three." he acknowledged, but Yoruichi spoke up unexpectedly, interrupting their conversation with a softening glance at the ice-spirit before her.
"Kisuke, you'll need to make some modifications to Hitsugaya-chan's gigai." she said in her masculine voice, her tone unexpectedly understanding. Toushiro stared at her, flickers of mixed disbelief and anxiety passing across his face, and Urahara dropped his fan to his side in surprise. Yoruichi blinked calmly at the both of them.
"Your scent has changed, Hitsugaya-chan." she told him. "Estrogen has a much sweeter smell than testosterone."
Toushiro's face went very pink, and he averted his eyes, his cheeks burning furiously. Urahara and Yoruichi watched passively, and then Yoruichi padded over to the young captain and rubbed up against his legs, purring. He started a bit, and looked down at her, worry in his eyes.
"How?" the cat asked, curiosity evident in her eyes. Toushiro swallowed.
"Accident." he said, his voice short. "Kurotsuchi-fukutaicho was working on something and spilled it all over me."
The cat pulled away a bit, a calculating glint in her eyes.
"You wield the legendary dragon, Hyourinmaru, don't you?"
Toushiro's gaze narrowed to thin jade slits.
"Yeah, and?" he challenged, baffled. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Yoruichi's tail flicked idly.
"Traditionally, wielders of dragon-Zanpakutou are female. In fact, according to the Shihoin Clan's records, all the recorded, previous owners of Hyourinmaru have been female except you." she said calmly. "...I don't think you're as opposed to this change as you appear to be."
Toushiro stiffened, and Urahara and Yoruichi laughed a bit at his stricken expression. Matsumoto and Hinamori stepped in front of him, eyes blazing, and the pair quieted, still looking amused.
"Oh, don't you get all defensive on me; I'm not going to bite." Yoruichi grinned. "My little brother is transgender now, but he was gender-questioning for almost thirty-five years. I know the signs, and you've shown quite a few of them."
Toushiro's jaw dropped.
"In the Shihoin House? The nobles hate that!" he gaped, and the cat laughed again.
"Oh yeah. It was a hell of a time trying to change his name and get the medicine he needed to suppress puberty, and we don't think my parents or the elders would have gone along with it, but I forced them, and well...Yuushirou still looks a bit like a girl. And now he's the Head of the Shihoin House, so they can't go against him...it's fantastic." Yoruichi's tail flicked cheerfully. "Now, come on, Hitsugaya-chan. Let's get your gigai fixed, shall we?"
Toushiro sighed, but allowed the Shihoin princess to lead him inside, Urahara, Matsumoto and Hinamori following close behind.
The three shinigami were led to the front room and seated around a small circular table with cups of green tea while Urahara and Yoruichi trotted off to gather the gigai. For a brief moment the trio sat in silence, but then Yoruichi came bounding back in in her human form, dressed in jeans and a pretty orange blouse, carrying Matsumoto's gigai.
"Here you go, Matsumoto-san." Yoruichi said, handing her the gigai she'd used what felt like a lifetime ago. "You can borrow clothes from my closet if you don't like the dress, but it seems like something you'd wear."
Matsumoto looked at the billowy, long-sleeve violet dress with interest.
"No, you're right. This is fine." she said, smiling and murmuring the incantation she needed to slip inside the false body. Yoruichi grinned, then turned to look at Momo and Toushiro.
"You two can borrow from Ururu and Jinta, doesn't matter which." she said, winking specifically at Toushiro, who averted his gaze to the ground, a faint smile on his lips. "Come on, let's go get the outfits picked out."
Momo took her brother's hand and yanked him up from the ground, and dragged him off after the Shihoin princess's retreating figure. He followed with a half-hearted protest, accompanied by Matsumoto's giggles and Momo's knowing smile. But he was smiling faintly, and with unusual decisiveness he followed his sister into Ururu's room.
The three came out of Urahara's shop in their gigais just as Rukia and Orihime trotted up, Ichigo and Chad in tow. Orihime's eyes lit up upon seeing Rangiku and Momo, but Toushiro, panicking inwardly, had hidden himself inside the shop before the others could see him.
"Oh no..." Matsumoto said softly to herself, turning back to look at the closed door. Orihime and the others bounded forward to meet the two Lieutenants.
"Rangiku-san, what's wrong?" Orihime asked worriedly. "I don't sense anything..."
"Neither do I - that's the problem." Matsumoto answered sadly. She exchanged a long look with Momo, who also looked saddened, then smiled at the four before her.
"Just a moment." she said, apologizing. "The third member of our group is...well, having confidence issues for lack of a better word. Hence the hidden reiatsu."
Ichigo raised an eyebrow.
"Confidence issues? Why?" he asked, baffled. Matsumoto sighed.
"Well...this person is going through a transition at the moment, and we're not entirely sure if anyone will respond to this positively...thus said person is somewhat people-shy at the moment..." she explained uneasily. Ichigo's face suddenly changed.
"Oh." he said eloquently, and Orihime cocked her head to the side.
"Um...Rangiku-san, what kind of transition are you talking about?" the sweet seventeen-year-old asked. Matsumoto fidgeted a bit, glancing back at Urahara's shop.
"A...a gender transition. They're questioning their gender identity right now so they're experimenting-"
Ichigo and Rukia burst into loud laughter, and Chad smiled. Orihime giggled behind a hand.
"Matsumoto-fukutaicho, Ichigo is bisexual, and Chad is gay." Rukia said, grinning. "And there's a lesbian girl in his class that can't keep her hands off Orihime-chan's chest. The human world can handle a gender-questioning person if it can handle two guys making out."
Matsumoto and Momo stared, and Ichigo grinned.
"Yeah, I know. My dad freaked when I told him, but he's an idiot anyway, and he got over it pretty quick." the orange-haired teenager said, smirking. "Chad and I actually were dating up until a few months ago."
Momo gasped.
"Oh...oh, I'm sorry..." she said, her voice small, but both Chad and Ichigo smiled.
"It's fine." Chad said in his deep, calm voice. "We are still friends. Our relationship simply changed. It did not shatter."
Momo smiled.
"Oh, thank goodness." she said, her expression bright. Then she also looked over her shoulder at the door.
"If you heard that, then come on out!" she called cheerfully. "Don't make me start calling you nicknames!"
Inside the door, a smooth, cool voice answered in a sharp shout.
"Don't you dare, Bedwetter Momo!"
Hinamori went stiff.
"Mou, Shiro-chan! Rude!" she fired back, and the dawning realization on Rukia's face culminated in a collective gasp from all four of the Living-World group as a petite young woman with an edgy white pixie-bob stepped out from behind the door, blushing faintly, a grinning Yoruichi and chuckling Urahara visible in the store behind her. The sound of four jaws hitting the ground in quick succession echoed in the courtyard.
Toushiro stalked forward, dressed in a pair of black, high-top converse and a pretty lilac skater-dress patterned with black fleur-de-lis. A black headband held half of his white hair away from his face, accentuating the feminine curve of his facial features.
"Oh god..." Ichigo muttered, watching the young crossdresser stormed forward and proceeded to berate a grinning Momo for the nickname incident. Rukia sidled up to him, gave him a knowing look, then smiled widely.
"Hitsugaya-taicho!" she said, greeting the crossdressing captain with a deep bow. Toushiro jumped, just then realizing that he had an audience. He swallowed hard.
"Kuchiki..." he said, the sweet gold of his tan draining away. She bowed again.
"Hitsugaya-taicho, would you prefer me to address you as sir or ma'am?" she asked with a smile, and all the tension suddenly went out of the young captain's shoulders. The emerald of his eyes went soft and he sighed.
"I still use male pronouns for now." he said, shifting a bit. "...I'm just experimenting, like Matsumoto said."
Ichigo sighed, drawing all the attention to him.
"Pity you're not certain yet." he said, grinning at Hitsugaya with a wide grin. "You're damn beautiful in a dress."
Scarlet washed over Toushiro's cheeks and his mouth fell open in a pretty pink 'o' of astonishment. Orihime and Chad laughed a bit, and as Matsumoto and Hinamori grinned behind him, Hitsugaya wrapped his arms around his feminized body and allowed a smile to twitch at his lips.
"...thank you, Kurosaki." he said, and Ichigo shrugged.
"What?" he asked. "You were hot as a guy too. Gender doesn't really bother me."
Toushiro blushed again, scowling uncertainly at the ground, and Matsumoto stepped forward, draping an arm over her captain's shoulders.
"Taicho, Hinamori, and I were going to go shopping and get him a few things to smuggle back to Seireitei so he can 'experiment' during his time at home without having to come all the way out here." she said, smiling. "Do you want to come along?"
Rukia smiled and flashed a peace sign.
"I'm in!" she said ecstatically. "Shopping's not usually my thing, but this sounds like a lot of fun!"
Orihime nodded.
"Me too!" she said, smiling brightly. Ichigo sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets.
"I suppose you'll need someone to carry everything." he said. Chad looked at him for a long moment, then turned a soulful, dark brown gaze onto Hitsugaya. Something knowing seemed to flare up in his eyes. Then he bowed a bit
"If you'll excuse me...I must buy groceries." he said. Matsumoto pouted, and Ichigo frowned.
"You sure, Chad?" the substitute shinigami asked. The broad-shouldered teenager nodded.
"Of course. And Ichigo..." Chad leaned over and whispered something in Ichigo's ear - something that made the teenager freeze in place and turn a brilliant shade of crimson. The shinigami and Orihime watched with interest as Ichigo spluttered and pushed the taller boy away.
"Chad!" he hissed, but the half-Mexican teenager only smiled enigmatically and walked off, leaving Ichigo with the group of girls and the crossdressing captain. He sighed.
"Alright. I'm the bag boy." he said, resigned, and Matsumoto squealed and wrapped her arms around the teenager, who flailed.
"Yay! Thanks, Ichigo-kun!" the busty woman squeaked. Toushiro stepped forward, a pang of annoyance flaring in his chest.
"Oi, Matsumoto! You're suffocating him!"
The bouncy lieutenant let the seventeen-year-old boy go and seized her captain's slender hand.
"Come on, Taicho, let's get you some pretty things!"
Toushiro sighed, but allowed a smile to break apart his icy scowl and the group of six darted off towards the nearest mall, led by Matsumoto.
Review and critique, please and thank you!