Chapter Nineteen
'What's with Yumichika?' Rangiku wondered. 'It's not like him to make such slips about his beauty… He usually obsesses about himself to no end…' Her eyebrow furrowed in thought.
Then it dawned upon her. They had to get out, now. "Taichou, let's leave. Now"
"Why, Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya said. "We're not done yet."
"We can finish it off at the office. Besides, it's better if you don't know." Rangiku said as she pulled his arm. "Come on, hurry up!"
"Fine," Hitsugaya complied as he and Rangiku hurriedly gathered up the paperwork. Past experience had taught him that when Rangiku said you were better off not knowing something, you really were. "I'll carry them, you stack. My shunpo's faster."
"Shiro-chan, where are you going?" Yachiru saw them packing up and asked; using the nickname that Hinamori gave him. Hitsugaya shot Rangiku a panicked look, pleading for help with his eyes.
"What do I say?" He hissed, not wanting to offend Yachiru and set her off.
"Just make up some excuse!" Rangiku whispered hastily back and doubled the rate at which she was stacking papers into Hitsugaya's arms.
"Err… I err… I just realized that I still have a lot of work back at the office…" Hitsugaya said as he retreated. "Bye!" He turned to leave.
"Wait, Shiro-chan!" Yachiru ignored Ikkaku. He was semi-unconscious anyway, after Yachiru had bashed him in the face accidentally while trying to persuade him to eat her cookie.
"I'll let you try my cookie first Shiro-chan, since you're in a hurry. Baldy can wait." she advanced towards Hitsugaya with a cookie in her hand, ready to stuff it into his mouth at the first possible moment.
The cookie was purplish-black in color with a weird shape and the sides were mushy with something that looked suspiciously like mushrooms sticking out. Hitsugaya stared at it in revulsion. 'It's not even fit to be called a cookie!! It should belong in Kurotsuchi's lab. What the hell is that?!!' he thought. 'On second thought, I don't really want to know.'
"Eat it!" Yachiru was coming closer every second with that 'cookie' in her hand. Hitsugaya could not run as he was holding a humongous stack of paperwork and he could only stare in horror at his upcoming 'snack'. He looked around in panic for someone to save him, but there were none.
'I can't see much anyway, the papers are blocking my sight.' Hitsugaya admitted as he saw his life flash through his eyes. His childhood in Rukongai with Granny and Hinamori, being in the Shinagami Academy, getting Hyourinmaru…
"Open up!" Yachiru said.
"Somebody help me!!!" Hitsugaya screeched in panic. No one.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Hitsugaya screamed in terror, giving Yachiru the perfect opportunity to stuff the 'cookie' into his mouth.
The 'cookie' came closer and closer towards his open mouth. Hitsugaya could not stop screaming and closed his eyes in despair at his fate.
However, just as the 'cookie' was barely an inch from his lips, Rangiku appeared from out of nowhere and grabbed it from Yachiru's hand. She ran swiftly towards Ikkaku.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!' Ikkaku screamed as he closed his eyes instinctively when he saw that Rangiku was on a direct collision course with him. It gave Rangiku the perfect opportunity to stuff the 'cookie' into his mouth.
"I win!" whispered Rangiku in triumph as Yachiru's 'cookie' landed into Ikkaku's mouth. Rangiku posed for dramatic effect, standing with her back facing Ikkaku.
Then curiosity got the better of her and she turned around.
Everyone paused as they watched Ikkaku.
"Gulp," Ikkaki swallowed the 'cookie'.
'Ehh, looks like it's actually okay.' Rangiku thought as she turned to observe Ikkaku. 'For once.' She spoke too soon.
Ikkaku was gasping in relief about the fact that he wasn't dead when he felt a sudden sharp pain in his abdomen.
"Urk!" Ikkaku's eyes bulged while he clutched at his throat and he dropped like a stone onto the ground. Ikkaku made tortured sounds as he rolled about on the ground. Yachiru came over and watched Ikkaku with interest.
"Hahaha!!!" Yachiru laughed and pointed. "Baldy's pretending to be dead. He's starting to foam at the mouth!" She clapped her hands in applause. "Great acting Baldy!"
"Taichou! Let's sneak away now!" Rangiku whispered to Hitsugaya. She had crept towards him while Yachiru's attention was on Ikkaku. "Quick! When she's still occupied with Ikkaku!"
Hitsugaya nodded and he and Rangiku split the load of the paperwork between them. Then they shunpo-ed off after a backwards glance at Ikkaku, whom Yachiru was currently poking with a stick.
" I'll never forget your sacrifice, Ikkaku." Hitsugaya promised. He then turned to Rangiku. "Was it necessary to stuff it into his mouth?"
"Well, where else do you want me to put it, into your mouth? Throwing it's not a good idea, so is holding it. I would never put it into my own mouth, not over my dead body!" Rangiku defended herself.
" Besides," she looked slyly at Hitsugaya. "I recall someone screaming for help earlier."
"Fine, fine." Hitsugaya confessed. "Thank you very much for saving me. But what about Ikkaku?"
"I supposed we could call the Fourth Division for him…" Rangiku said. "If he's not dead by then." She added on an afterthought.
Hitsugaya paused in mid-step as he looked uncertainly at Rangiku. "He'll be fine, won't he?"
"Don't worry," Rangiku hastily said to comfort her taichou. "Ikkaku has an immune system of steel! That's why I tossed that cookie into his mouth. I'm sure that he'll be fine." She smiled. Hitsugaya was reassured and he smiled back.
'Or not,' Rangiku thought darkly to herself. 'But… I don't think there's anyone who died from eating Yachiru's cookies before, is there? Hmm… Besides, he was the only other one there. I didn't exactly have a choice…'
"He survived Yachiru's cookies before." Rangiku announced. "I was there once when Yachiru appeared with her cookies and Yumichika immediately stuffed all the cookies into Ikkaku's mouth." Rangiku explained to Hitsugaya. "Sure, he did foam at the mouth and faint, not to mention he spent an entire month at the Fourth Division but he did come out alive and kicking. So there's no need to worry…"
"Well, well, well," a voice stopped them in their flight form Yachiru. "Narrow escape yer had there, didn't ya Hitsugaya-taichou?"
"Ichimaru." Hitsugaya acknowledged. Beside him, Rangiku greeted, "Good afternoon, Ichimaru-taichou."
Gin grinned. "I saw the whole thing. Yer ought ta reward yer fukutaichou fer her rescue." Rangiku's ears perked up at the sound of 'reward'.
"Taichou, can I have some sake?" Rangiku asked. "Plus a few days off would be nice as well…"
"I'll consider it." Hitsugaya said. Turning to Gin, he said in a hostile tone, "I'll reward my fukutaichou in what manner I see fit, Ichimaru. There is no need for you to interfere and tell me what to do."
He never did like Gin, from the very first moment they had met.
"Now, now. There's no need to throw a childish tantrum just cuz yer look like one." Gin mocked. "It's simply spoiling yer own day, isn't it?"
A cold wind suddenly picked up around them and the sky grew noticeably a little darker. Rangiku looked worriedly at Hitsugaya and then the sky, before shooting Gin a warning glance. Gin just shrugged and smiled, showing no signs of backing off.
Hitsugaya rolled his eyes and stared coldly at Gin. There was not use arguing with this man, you would only waste your breath and get angry. Taking a deep breath to calm down, he changed subjects. "All of the taichou and fukutaichou are busy running Soul Society, why are you to free to wander about?"
"Well," Gin laughed. "That's easy. They call ya a child prodigy, a genius, but ya can't guess?"
Hitsugaya ignored that pointed barb and he saw that Gin was not going to answer him. Instead, Hitsugaya answered by saying, "We'll take our leave now then. Come on, Matsumoto."
Hitsugaya left without a backwards glance. Rangiku hesitated, looking at Gin. She knew that he had made Hitsugaya leave first on purpose so that he could say something to her in private.
'But should I listen to what he has to say?' Rangiku thought. 'I… I don't know what to think! He keeps on playing with me like a yoyo…'
Rangiku sighed. 'He's always been like that... And yet, I can't blame him…'
She made up her mind. "I should follow taichou back and help with the remaining work as an apology for you teasing him earlier, Gin …"
Sorry for taking so long to update! ." I want to say thanks to those who helped cheer me up by saying that it's not confusing having the story jumping about into different time periods. Thank you so much!!! :D
Wow, I realised that there's very little Rangiku so far... Even though it's a flashback, should she have a conversation with Gin? ;D