A/N: I'm so sorry! I planned to update this story yesterday (my birthday!), along with my new story Spread Your Wings but my computer screwed up; It wouldn't let me open the document. :(

Cookies for lil'shinigami and CallMeNicole get a prize for guessing the three words! Must have been awfully difficult ne? And now it's time for my usual routine; you all know how it goes~

Thanks to Snowy Peach Tsubasa, 123PIKACHU, Assault Godzilla, Hayai-Akurei, bladescream and Darkness-Muffin! Some very interesting suggestions! Why don't my parents support my fanfic writing? Coz they think it distracts me from school (which I'll admit it does sometimes).

Disclaimer: Bleach is cool, but I don't own it.

Credit: Ahaha! To my very cool camp experience. Hmm, I learnt a few knots along the way, tying all the bits and pieces together (even though our raft still fell apart, oops) and to my random friend who used to enjoy tying my shoelaces together so she could watch me fall flat on my face. I love you too!

The HitsuHina Alphabet

K is for Knot

It was really just one of those days. It was rather late; only an hour or so before she usually went to bed. And it was now, just before Hinamori was going to have a shower, that a knock on the door could be heard.

"Who is it?" she called

A single word came back in response.

"Me."

'Hitsugaya-kun?'

Hinamori quickly rose from her chair, but in the process knocked two large piles of paperwork onto the ground, the pages fluttering around everywhere. Ignoring the mess she had created, Hinamori rushed to the door, but she never reached her destination. She accidentally stepped on one of the sheets and slipped, landing on her backside with a loud THUMP! The event was quickly followed by a door being slammed open and a short Taichou rushing to Hinamori's side.

"Hey, are you alright Hinamori?"

Hinamori just nodded as Hitsugaya helped her up. Now that both of them were standing on their own feet, Hitsugaya got the chance to examine the Fuku-Taichou's office. Raising an eyebrow at the unexpected messiness, Hinamori read his mind, answering his question before he even asked it.

"When I stood up to open the door for you, my arm knocked a pile of paperwork over."

Hitsugaya smirked.

"You were that excited to see me?"

The girl blushed and looked away.

"N- No!"

Hitsugaya ended the discussion with a light chuckle. He then bent down, picked up two sheets of paper and read them. Hitsugaya frowned.

"These shouldn't be anywhere near each other. You really have made quite a mess here bed-wetter," he teased.

"I- I do not wet my bed!" The blush on Hinamori's face was growing more and more noticeable.

Again, Hitsugaya changed the subject.

"What were you planning to do before I showed up?"

And the girl's face was officially tomato red.

"Shower."

Now it was Hitsugaya's turn to blush. He had picked a bad time to come. For a while, neither of them moved. Hinamori thought it would be mean to just leave Hitsugaya alone, while Hitsugaya waited for Hinamori to leave. When both of them didn't say anything, Hitsugaya chose to break the silence.

"Why don't you go and have your shower now? I'll organise your paperwork for you again."

The Fuku-Taichou smiled gratefully at her childhood friend. She nodded and departed the room. Hitsugaya sank to the ground and grabbed a handful of the paper around him. He could feel a headache coming on.

'Why did I offer to help?'

Hinamori grabbed a peach coloured towel and walked briskly to the bathroom. Locking the door, she reached down to untie the obi sash around her waist. It was only a few seconds later when she realised she couldn't. She tugged it in every direction, but to no avail. Hinamori gave up on the knot, wearing a look of disbelief on her face.

'It wouldn't stay this morning, so I tied it tightly. But now I can't untie it!'

She pulled the knot fiercely in one final attempt but failed miserably. Closing her eyes in defeat, the Fuku-Taichou realised there was only one way she was going to get her obi sash untied.

'Hitsugaya-kun!'

In front of Hitsugaya, there were two neat piles of paper, but all around him, there were still many sheets he hadn't organised. He sighed in annoyance. What on earth was he thinking when he suggested helping her? Hitsugaya stood up and walked to a corner that had three sheets in it, but froze in his steps when he heard the sound of running footsteps on floorboards.

Hinamori opened the door shyly and walked towards the Taichou. Icy green eyes only spoke of confusion when Hinamori stopped in front of him and looked down in embarrassment.

"What do you want?"

"A- Anou…" she began.

Hinamori didn't know how to word it. If she said that she couldn't untie her own obi sash, Hitsugaya would think she was some kind of idiot. But if she kept standing there, Hitsugaya would think she was some kind of non-talking idiot. Hitsugaya noticed the dry towel in her hand, realising that Hinamori still hadn't had her shower yet. Hinamori finally decided to continue.

"I- I-"

Hitsugaya waited patiently.

"Ican'tuntiemyobisashbecauseItieditreallytightlythismorningwhenitwouldn'tstayandnowIcan'thavemyshowerbecauseitwon'tcomeundone," somehow the girl managed to say the whole sentence in one breath.

Hitsugaya took a step backward from the sudden outburst. He repeated the same question he asked before.

"So… what do you want?"

The Fuku-Taichou took a deep breath before putting what she wanted plainly.

"Can you help me untie my obi sash?"

"Wh- What?!"

"My obi sash," Hinamori explained patiently. "I can't untie the knot myself."

"Just, untie it yourself!"

"I can't!"

"What do you mean 'you can't'?!"

"I can't untie it myself, watch!"

Hinamori started pulling the knot futilely. Hitsugaya looked at her in dismay, but gave in to the puppy dog eyes Hinamori was giving him. He reached out one of his hands for the obi sash shakily, tugging on it gently at first, but then more and more ferociously when he realised it wasn't going to come undone that easily. Hinamori cringed.

"Ow! Hitsugaya-kun, you're hurting me!"

The snowy haired Taichou started to pull the knot more gently again.

Tug.

Tug.

Tug.

It still wouldn't come undone. Hinamori sighed.

"It's okay Hitsugaya-kun, I'll just cut it in ha--"

"No, I'm going to untie it!"

Stubborn. There was no other word for it. Hinamori's face then slowly began to turn red yet again. Because he was concentrating so hard on the knot, Hitsugaya didn't notice how close their bodies were to each other, how close their faceswere to each other. Hitsugaya's eyes were downcast on the knot. Looking at his beautiful eyes, Hinamori shook her head quickly to clear her mind of certain thoughts.

"Something wrong?"

Hinamori jumped back at the sudden question.

"Ah- Nothing!"

Ignoring her answer completely, Hitsugaya continued to work on the knot. Hinamori then looked down in surprise. The knot was actually half undone, though still tight around her waist. Hitsugaya pulled one of the loose ends and Hinamori suddenly felt a squeeze at her waist.

"Hitsugaya-kun!" she gasped.

"Oops, I pulled the wrong end."

The boy hastily tried to loosen the obi around the girl's waist, blushing when he noticed how slim and beautiful Hinamori was. The knot became looser again. Hinamori smiled her gratitude. The boy then tugged fiercely on the knot and the unexpected happened.

Hinamori lunged forward.

She landed in Hitsugaya arms.

Despite how light she was, the force knocked both of them over.

Hinamori was on top of Hitsugaya.

And somehow their lips met.

The colour stained on both their cheeks could not be called red; it was a some unknown colour beyond that. No words could possibly describe how embarrassed the two of them were. Hinamori hastily tried to get up, but then collapsed onto Hitsugaya again; he was still holding onto the obi sash.

"Anou, Hitsugaya-kun…"

The boy didn't release his hold on the sash one bit. Hinamori tried to get up again, using all the energy she had in her body to stand, but somehow, just one of Hitsugaya's hands had the energy to hold her down. The Fuku-Taichou tried to get up one last time.

And the unexpected happened again.

The obi sash came undone, leaving the girl in her white kosode. A pile of black clothes fell around the two of them. Hinamori's eyes turned to the size of dinner plates. If it had been someone else with bad intentions, Hinamori would have slapped the person. But it was Hitsugaya, and she did ask him to help untie the knot. Slapping someone wasn't exactly the best way to say thank you.

For the third time, something unexpected occurred.

The door of the Fuku-Taichou's office opened, revealing a shocked Kira. He looked at the two figures in the room and the colour drained from his face. Hinamori was on top of Hitsugaya in her kodose, her black robes all around them and Hitsugaya holding her white obi sash. Both of them got up quickly and started babbling incoherently in an attempt to explain. Kira didn't seem to understand, turning around and running away. Possibly screaming.

"Ahh…" the girl began, fiddling with the sleeves of her kosode.

"As long as we don't tell anyone anything, no one will know." Hitsugaya answered.

'And I'll take care of Kira too…'

The two of them looked at each other and gave each other a quick nod. Hinamori rushed off to have her shower and Hitsugaya rushed back to the Tenth Division.

It was the first knot that came untied in their blossoming tale of love.

Literally.

A/N: Yay, I have finished K! :) Oh wows, that actually rhymed. Guess the inner poet is still with me since the haiku days! This chapter was a more cheerful one because it was requested; well, at least I hopeit was cheerful!

Reviews make very nice late birthday presents, and it's time for ideas for 'L'. I just want to clear up one thing: I do not want to do L is for Love; it's too typical. Sure, I have no idea what I will eventually write about... but Love is not only too broad, but too... expected? Haha, I don't know the word~ :S

Thanks for reading~

&. strawberrii, who is now officially one year and a day older.