Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

Also, the hints of ShunsuiNanao are in this chapter, not the previous one! My bad.

Part VI

Words: 1746

The two densest people in Karakura High School finally became a couple. But it wasn't buzzed among the students nor was it splashed across the gossip column in the Karakura Communications, because Hitsugaya and Hinamori planned to keep it to themselves for the time being.

Except…that period of time wasn't exactly very long.

You see, the day Hitsugaya and Hinamori went to school as a couple was also the day Fujita Kazuo decided to ask Hinamori out.

It was after 6th period and Hinamori just got out from her Japanese Literature class, ready to make her way to her Social Studies class once she retrieved her books from her locker. Just then, Fujita came up to her and coolly leaned against the locker. She jumped a little when she closed her locker and saw Fujita propped there, staring at her with a ditsy expression on his face.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Oh, hi Fujita-sempai. Is there something you need?"

"Yeah. You see, I was just thinking, you're in the dance club right? And I'm in the boxing club. We're kind of similar then. You know, both of us being performers and all."

"I guess…" Hinamori said, not agreeing with him at all. Besides, he wasn't exactly in the boxing club, considering how he skips club activities half the time.

"Yeah! I'm glad you agree! So," he began, boldly flicking the red ribbon in the front of her uniform. "Don't you think we should get together then?"

"She's not interested."

Hitsugaya's deep voice called out, attracting a few more stares and whispers. He strode over to them, glaring daggers at the dark-haired senior who held a puzzled look. Catching Hinamori's wrist, Hitsugaya shot him one last look and even though it was hard to detect, he definitely whispered 'She's mine' darkly to him, but not without a hint of satisfaction.

He inconspicuously slipped his hand into hers as he led her away, leaving Fujita speechless and a mass of murmurs and stupefied/ludicrous stares in their wake.

-x-X-x-

"I heard!"

Matsumoto came bounding to them and engulfed Hinamori in a bone-crushing hug.

"R-Rangiku-san…!"

"Let go of her Matsumoto, you're going to kill her," Hitsugaya told her with annoyance.

"Why didn't you tell me?! And how is it possible that I'm the last one to know?" Matsumoto asked angrily, albeit playfully.

"We didn't tell anyone," Hinamori answered shyly.

"Yeah, we just found out too. Shorty here," Ichigo said, jerking a thumb at Hitsugaya who shot him a glare. "Let the cat out of the bag. In a possessive way no less."

"Shut up."

Hitsugaya wasn't exactly fond of the fact that the whole school already found out that soon and that it was his fault.

"And here we thought you two were never going to get it on," Renji spoke up.

Before Hitsugaya could tell him to shut it too, Hinamori cut in, "You knew?!"

"Honey, we all knew," Rukia told her.

Hinamori stared at them incredulously. Hitsugaya, on the other hand, had expected it. The brown-eyed girl turned to Matsumoto, giving her an accusatory look.

"I didn't need to tell them for them to know. It was freaking obvious," she casually answered.

"Oh…" Hinamori said faintly.

"This is better than the rumor that I just found out just now. Which is why I'm late by the way," Matsumoto said.

They gave her a quizzical look before she told them, "Kyouraku-sensei and Ise-san and having a secret relationship."

"Ah hah! I knew it!" Rukia shouted while Ichigo sweat-dropped.

"Is that why she's always in his office?" Ikkaku asked.

"And isn't she just an intern?" Hinamori asked next.

"Maybe and yes," Matsumoto answered. "Bet you guys didn't know our social studies teacher and his intern were frisky."

Hitsugaya merely rolled his eyes while the rest started to gossip about Kyouraku-sensei and Ise Nanao. Well at least they weren't bugging him about him and Hinamori anymore.

-x-X-x-

Hitsugaya's and Hinamori's relationship hadn't progressed very far since they had been friends for so long and becoming a couple so suddenly wasn't that easy to adjust to. Moreover, the fact that almost everyone in Karakura High knew about their relationship made it more difficult for them to adapt to being a couple; and there were certain people who just gave them a hard time.

Well, at least to Hinamori that was the case. It was known that Hitsugaya was very popular in school, especially among the girls. As Matsumoto had put it, they were his 'fangirls'. Needless to say, once the found out their beloved Hitsugaya was dating his childhood and best friend, Hinamori Momo, they didn't take well to it. The worse thing is, some of them were in the dance club.

They made it a point to show their displeasure (and jealousy) towards Hinamori. The brown-eyed dancer wasn't oblivious to their harsher-than- necessary comments and mockery of her dancing but she was unaware of the reason behind it, which was pretty obvious though. That just served to annoy the hell out of those girls.

Kawamura Suki and Ochida Minami were the dancers who strived to make Hinamori's life miserable. They weren't very good at it though, as they could never seem to surpass Hinamori in dancing and their insults were always shot down by Rukia's witty mind. Even their teacher-in-charge slash coach, Shihouin Yoruichi didn't like the two girls very much. However, sometimes they would succeed, like that day for example.

Hinamori was currently in her home room carrying out cleaning duty while Hitsugaya was at his desk finishing his math homework at the eleventh hour.

"You sure you don't need help?" he offered, also in an attempt to get away from his unfinished homework.

"Yes, I'm sure. It's just cleaning, I can manage. Besides, shouldn't you be finishing that before Ukitake-sensei hunts you down for it?" Hinamori asked, managing to shut him up albeit for only a few seconds.

"Hey, I thought your turn for cleaning duty wasn't until next week?" Hitsugaya asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, it isn't," Hinamori replied, mentally observing how he had a sharp mind. "But Orihime-san (who was the one in charge of cleaning this week) has been sick for a few days now and Rukia has something on with Ichigo-kun so I thought I'd help clean it."

"But we have a Chemistry test first thing in the morning tomorrow," he stated, knowing that Chemistry wasn't one of the subjects she was strong in.

"I have time. Besides," she continued. "I heard we're having a spot check tomorrow."

Hitsugaya remained silent as he watched her clean the classroom and she reminded him that her selflessness was part of the reason why he loved her so much. She didn't build shelters for animals or found a cure for leukemia or anything major like that, but she amazed him nonetheless.

As he watched her, he noticed her movements were stiff and when she performed a certain action, it was forced and she would flinch.

"What happened to your shoulder?" Hitsugaya asked acutely.

Any attempts to deny that she was alright were vanquished when her look of surprise gave her away. He knew she would try to claim that she was fine anyway so he gave her a look that told her he would know if she was lying or not.

Hinamori sighed dejectedly, "I fell down during practice."

"And…?" he urged.

Looks like there wasn't any hiding she can do. "Kawamura Suki and Ochida Minami tripped me," she said simply, the tone in her voice conveying the idea of slight contempt.

"Deliberately?" he asked. Hitsugaya had an idea why they did that. Kawamura and Ochida were supposedly in his fan club and they were the ones who crowned him the 'Ice Prince'. He shuddered.

"Yeah. It's about you, isn't it?" she asked, even though her tone made it sound like a statement. A statement filled with amusement.

"How is that funny?" he asked disbelievingly when he detected the amusement in her voice.

"Because Rukia called them 'wanton mistresses of the night'," she replied, laughter escaping. "Besides, they don't pose much of a threat to me."

The steadiness of her sentence struck him as unexpected but he figured he could get used to it.

"Oh?"

"Well, because they aren't Hitsugaya-kun's type right?" she said, still focused on sweeping a spot on the ground.

He smirked and decided to tease her, "Well…"

Even if it was a tease, his playful hesitance caused her to whip around and stare at him in astonishment. The sudden movement sent pain shooting through her shoulder and she winced noticeably. Hitsugaya's smirked faded and it was replaced by a concerned expression.

"Hey…"

"I'm okay," she assured quickly, putting her palm on the shoulder to rub it.

"Sit down," he instructed and she obediently did, without leaving her hand on her shoulder in an effort to ease the dulling ache.

Hitsugaya gently put her hand away and placed his on her shoulder blades.

"Hitsugaya…?"

"I know what I'm doing," he answered vaguely.

Hitsugaya began to knead her shoulders, moving his hands slowly over her shoulder blades and nape. His deft fingers worked wonders on her shoulders and gradually eased the ache in them. She shuddered when his hands first molded her skin.

The massage was like magic on her shoulders and she let out a contented sigh. Hitsugaya smiled in satisfaction, pleased that he was able to relax her. Just when she was slipping into a trance of relaxation and pleasure, he bent down and dropped a kiss on her shoulder. She snapped her eyes open but didn't protest.

Hinamori could feel his lips through her uniform and she was certain he could feel the heat travelling up to her neck and cheeks. He did, and he felt himself blush too. Hitsugaya tried to ignore the fact that his lips were dangerously close to her bra strap and he was certainly glad that most of the students had already left the school.

-x-X-x-

However, chaste kisses and simple touches were as far as their relationship went. They've experienced prolonged kissing but they either didn't last very long or were followed by extreme shyness and awkwardness. They are, after all, still familiarizing themselves to being boyfriend/girlfriend. Besides, Rukia said it was perfectly fine, since she took some time adjusting to being Ichigo's girlfriend herself.

However, those chaste kisses and simple touches only lasted for that long. In their senior year in high school, let's just say, things got a lot more serious.

To be continued…