Ichigo then lead the way to the mall, Hitsugaya close behind. About 30 minutes later, they were at the mall, and saw Rangiku, Yumichika, and Orihime all together, giggling. Rangiku saw the two first, and laughed when she saw that Ichigo was holding onto Hitsugaya's sleeve like he was a younger brother.

"Enjoying the mall, Taichou? This is where people come when they don't have work to do."

" I thought I left a pile of paperwork on your desk back in the office."

" Oh, that? I go it all done!"

"Good. Then when I return, all of my paperwork should be done. ALL of it."

" I'm making sure of it!"

Hitsugaya had a bad feeling about her tone. He didn't trust what she just said. Not one bit.

"Hey, Yumichika, Rangiku, what are you guys still doing here?" Asked Ichigo, trying to change the subject.

" Can't we relax like Taichou is?"

"He's not relaxing, if that's what you think. I had to bribe him. But hey, enough about us, why are you guys here?"

" We're just um…hanging out. Hehe." Orihime reassured Ichigo. Suddenly, Hitsugaya saw a cut on Orihime's arm that looked like it didn't heal properly. Ichigo noticed the wound, too.

" Oi, Orihime, where'd you get that cut?"

"Umm…I accidentally cut myself while making dinner last night!"

Hitsugaya knew she was lying. He glared at it, not talking, letting his face tell everyone that looked at it that he was suspecting foul play. Something must have wounded her and she might not have known what it was or mistook it for a cutting knife. There was a strong reiatsu around it, as if the person who inflicted it cast a spell upon it to keep it from healing.

" Inoue…a cutting knife did not do this…a cutting knife doesn't have a reiatsu. What actually happened?" Hitsugaya asked, not concerned for Inoue, but concerned for the possible new enemy they might have to face.

"Umm…we can't discuss it in public. I'll tell you all later. See ya! I gotta get some groceries! Yumichika, Rangiku, come on!"

" Wait, Ori…hime." Ichigo almost ran after her, but Hitsugaya grabbed his wrist and pulled him back. Ichigo looked at the taichou, who shook his head.

" Inoue will tell us later. Right now, don't you have friends you're supposed to meet? "

" No…I was only using them as an example. Chad hardly ever comes here, and Mizuro and Keigo are probably too busy looking at girls to even notice us."

" So what do you plan on doing here, Kurosaki?"

" Probably get you something better to wear than what you have now, Toushiro."

Then Hitsugaya let go of the teen's wrist, and folded his arms over his chest, his signature stance in the human world. The two then walked to the nearest clothing store.

------------------------------------

"What size are you in shirts?"

" How am I supposed to know? Urahara-san always gets me clothing before-hand!"

"And you've never checked?"

"No, why would I have to? I never go shopping."

"Let me check then. "

"GAH?! What are you doing? TEME!"

"I'm trying to check to see what size you are, idiot."

" It feels like you're trying to take off my shirt, teme."

"Well excuse me, but I don't want to mess up your hair there, Toushiro. I don't want to make you angry again."

"Humph."

After a long hour of searching for clothing that didn't make Hitsugaya stand out too much, the two had finally picked out a black shirt, like the one Ichigo was currently wearing, only with a logo at the bottom, and dark blue jeans. Hitsugaya paid for the clothing, since Soul Society currency was the same as Japan currency. The two then went to the washroom, and Hitsugaya changed in one of the stalls, and placed his old clothes in the shopping bag. The two then just walked around the mall, Ichigo trying to keep the everlasting silence at bay.

" So what do you feel like doing, Toushiro?"

"…"

" I know why you aren't answering me. You want the watermelon, huh? Don't worry. I'll buy it when we get to the nearest grocery store."

Over at one of the stores, Matsumoto began talking about how Ichigo had been grasping Hitsugaya's sleeve. Orihime couldn't help but wonder what was going on between the two guys. Something she wasn't aware of, of course. Yumichika just smiled and tried to picture those two holding hands. It was followed by him smashing his head against the nearest table, screaming,

" GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD!"

" Get what out of your head?"

"The picture! Your Taichou and Ichigo holding hands! MY HEAD!"

"Okay…that's a ten on the mental scarrage chart…"

"Please don't do that, Yumichika-san. You're embarrassing us. And yourself."

It was then that Orihime's Female Intuition kicked in(if she has any…), and she began to wonder if there really was something more than just a simple friendship between the taichou and the teen.

"What if they actually like each other?"

"What'd you say?"

"NANI?!" Screamed Yumichika again, only to be whacked in the head with a 10.5 lb fruit salad, package and all, courtesy of Rangiku.

" I mean look at it, I heard from Rukia and Renji a few nights ago that Toushiro-kun went alone to go save Ichigo-kun alone."

"WHAT? I didn't think he would do that!"

"…Ooww…"

At the nearest grocery store, Ichigo bought a large pack of watermelon slices and soon enough, the two were in the food court and Hitsugaya was eating the slices in a record time of ten seconds. Ichigo took one and received a glare from the prodigy.

" Chill out, Toushiro. I bought them. All I want is one."

"Hmmm…"

The silver haired taichou nodded, and went back to eating. Ichigo grinned and saw the large mess the taichou was making. He then grabbed a few napkins from the dispenser beside him and held them out to the boy. Hitsugaya nodded in thanks, took the napkins and began wiping his face and the table.

After they had both finished the watermelon(or in better words, Hitsugaya finished the watermelon, and Ichigo ate his one slice), Ichigo let Hitsugaya lead the way around the mall and asked him where he wanted to go.

"Thanks for the watermelon, and it doesn't matter to me. "

"How about we try to find the others? "

"No, that wouldn't be a good idea."

"Why, Toushiro?"

"I can't trust Matsumoto. At least, not now. If she sees us still walking around together, she might spread rumours."

"And I care…why? If I cared about what people thought of me, I'd have dyed my hair black long ago."

"No, she has a way to get her opinion around. And she doesn't take no as an answer when it comes to that."

"But we're just two guys that are friends hanging out at the mall. No harm in that, right?"

"Yeah, I know, but she has a strange way of seeing things."

Ichigo shuddered, and then decided against arguing with the taichou, knowing that the boy had way more experience on dealing with Rangiku than he. A lot more experience. And he still couldn't handle her. Hitsugaya then deemed conversation trivial, and began to walk off. Ichigo reached out to grab his shoulder, but instead, caught the taichou's hand on the way back to his side, and notcied that some people were staring at them. Including Orihime, Yumichika and Matsumoto. Both of the guys reddened, and Ichigo saw Hitsugaya turn around, blushing furiously.

"Kuro. Saki. Ich. igo. "Hitsugaya was so surprised that he could only speak in halves. This wasn't good. Ichigo smiled nervously, and seriously considered saying that he hadn't grabbed the taichou hand and blaming it on some poor sap that was walking by, minding his own business.

" Sorry…Toushiro…honest mistake…"

Matsumoto gained a large smile, and began devising a plan to get those two together, not just to like each other. But she didn't know was that those two had already discovered their feelings for the other.

" Will you please let go of me?"

"…Oh, yeah, sorry Toushiro…again."