"Abarai Renji!" Keiko yelled in a deep and strict voice as she entered Orihime's living room.

He was sitting on the floor with his back facing the door talking to Ikkaku and Yumichika. Upon hearing his name said in such a threatening way (and with the exact same inflection that Byakuya used) he gasped and spun his neck around so fast that he fell onto his back. Looking up again, his eyes widened. "Captain Nuyaka!?"

"Hahaha! How's it going Renji?" she asked jovially, walking over to him and patting him on the head.

"Oi! Captain Nuyaka!" Ikkaku called happily with a larger than life grin on his face. She returned it with one equally as large. Keiko was a frequent at eleventh squad, especially when the upper squads stayed up drinking. She was also the only other captain that Kenpachi respected, therefore she had the respect of the entire squad.

"What are you doing here, captain?" Renji asked, incredulous.

"Research!"

"And by that, you mean fighting?" Yumichika asked with a smirk.

"But of course!"

"How beautiful"

Ikkaku and Renji rolled their eyes. Typical Yumichika.

She turned and looked at Hitsugaya who was leaning up against the wall watching them with little interest. "And I'm assuming you have no idea of the whereabouts of your darling Lieutenant?"

"Of course not" he said with a scowl.

"Eh, I think she went shopping with Orihi-" Ikkaku started, but was interrupted.

"WE'RE BACK TAICHO!" Matsumoto yelled, bursting into the room breast first followed by Orihime. They must have had at least four bags in each hand.

"Captain Nuyaka? What are you doing here?" Orihime asked, setting her purchases onto the floor.

"Research"

"She's here to fight" Hitsugaya said
"That's just what I said; Research. Speaking of which, what is that, Orihime?" she pointed to a white box sitting on the kitchen counter.

"Oh! That's a microwave! You cook food in it!"

Keiko's eyes narrowed as she gave it a diagnostic look, as if questioning it not make sense.

"how does it work?" she walked over to it, opening the door and pressing buttons.

"Oh, well, you press the buttons to set the time-"

"No, I've already figured that much out. I mean on the inside; the mechanics"

"uh – well- I don't really know!" Orihime laughed, putting her hand on the back of the neck nervously.

"hmmm… interesting… can I take it apart?" she looked back at Orihime with an out of character look on her face. She wore a small pleading smile and her eyes were large, sparkling like a child in a candy shop. Hitsugaya smirked. He knew that face better than any one, and he knew it never meant anything good. She was a master at electronics, and was constantly bugging squad 12 for gadgets.

"Err – I don't think that's such a good idea – I mean – err –"

"- I would put everything back together!"

"Keiko, leave Orihime's kitchen appliances alone. You're not at 12th. If you really want to tear something apart, you can go to an electronics store." Hitsugaya interrupted.

She glared at him

"hmph" was her only response

"eh, I might as well be going anyway. I have other people that need to be made aware of my presence. Come on Toushirou."

"Where are you going? This isn't the way to ichigo's." Hitsugaya asked.

"I know. I don't feel like going yet."

"It's getting late, if we don't get there soon – "

"we'll be fine"

he scowled at her lack of priority.

"so where exactly are we going?"

she linked her arm in his and squeezed.

"I could honestly care less" She softly grinned.

"What's with you all of a sudden?"

"I'm not sure. There's just something about this place. Everything's happier…"

"hmph"

"Let's get something to eat! Do you know any places around here?"

"hm, not really. I think there's a Ramen bar somewhere though…"

"Oh my god" she deeply inhaled the stream that quickly rose from her bowl. "This is ten times better than anything in Seretei"

"I wouldn't go that far, but it is really good"

"Say, Toushirou?"

"Hmm?"

" I know you don't want to talk about it right now, but, I have to ask. What do you think we're up against?"

He looked down at his bowl with a stressed face.

"I don't know, but I think Aizen is going to toy with us for a while. I'm not looking forward to this"

"yeah, probably…" she regretted bringing it up. Her whole goal was to cheer Toushirou up, not depress him. She would have to change the mood of the conversation.

….

….

"You know, by the looks of it, it might snow soon"

At those words his eyes widened with a childish glow and he half smiled.
"hmm" she dramatically put her finger to her bottom lip and looked up "when was the last time it snowed in Seretei?"

"December 13 2005"

"Hahaha! How did I know I could rely on you to know that off hand?"

he smirked. He would never admit it, but these were the highlights of his stressful life. These moments where he and Keiko could just sit back and talk. No other captains or shinigami. Just him and the one person he cared for most. He sighed.

"I hope you're right. I really would like it to snow"
"well, you don't have to worry about that, because I'm always right" she grinned sarcastically.

"Hn"

…

he suddenly felt a pang of jealousy. He didn't know why the thought had so suddenly popped into his mind, but it did.

"So, you met Urahara?" He asked, trying to act as nonchalant as possible while casually staring at his food. He knew about her fascination with the mystery man, and even though she never discussed her own romantic feelings with him, he was sure that if she were to be attracted to a man, it would be someone like Kisuke. The thought killed him.

Why was he feeling like this? Since when did he care about these things – well – since when did he acknowledge that he cared about these things? Keiko Nuyaka was, without exception, a beautiful woman. Every man in Seretei knew that. She wasn't cute (she did have her moments though, when they weren't in public) or hot. She was beautiful. But unlike Matsumoto, there was not one man in Seretei who would dare approach her romantically. She was just too intimidating and powerful. Despite this, Hitsugaya saw the way they looked at her and even on occasion how they talked about her. It infuriated him. The only thing that gave him peace of mind was that she never (at least to his knowledge) reciprocated their feelings. With her analytical skills, there was no way she hadn't noticed all of this, but she just chose to ignore it all and act oblivious. Just another thing he loved her for.

She gave a large smile "yes"

His chest tightened. This was the worst. Maybe he was letting his imagination go wild, but he didn't care. He still had to act calm.

"and did you get a chance to discuss your philosophy of warfare and play Go with him like you've always dreamed?"

she sighed and pushed a strand of hair out of her face "No. But I have plenty of time still"

"That's odd"

"what?" she asked, placing her chin in her palm and staring off to the side

"I would have thought you'd attack him with questions that moment you saw him"

"I was excited and all, but honestly –" she paused and looked over at him " – I was in too much of a hurry to see you…" she smirked and pointed a chopstick at him.

He thought his heart would surely jump out of his chest. He couldn't believe what she just said…