Whoops, pushing the deadline on this one! Uni work's been piling up lately; I haven't been writing much for other fandoms as well. As usual, sorry for the really late update! Gotta start working on the next one soon or I won't be able to able to get much done and get dropped. Which would be a shame, especially since the end is in sight!

You know the drill: Honest, constructive criticism appreciated and welcomed, flames will be donated to the cafeteria to save them some gas.

Quizzes

#10. 10

"Urrrrgh…" Matsumoto leant back in her seat and heaved a big sigh, glaring at the computer screen before her. "How does anyone ever figure out how to use this thing?"

On her far left, similar groans echoed her thoughts as Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika struggled with their own programs. Matsumoto glanced quickly around the room, but despite the occasional grumble, the rest of the class seemed to be intent on whatever they were doing on that idiotic electrical box. Even Ichigo and Rukia, seated too far away to be accessible, had their heads down, mumbling occasionally to themselves as their fingers flew over their keyboards.

Matsumoto turned back to her PC, muttering to herself, "They should have provided us with more information. What's a PowerPoint slide show anyway?..."

"It is merely a few slides of pictures or words, arranged and programmed so that they'll appear in a certain order with the use of several animations and effects to make the transition between slides smooth and interesting."

Matsumoto didn't even bother to glance at her captain, letting the complicated jargon go over her head. "I'm assuming you've worked it out, taichou?"

Hitsugaya quirked an eyebrow. "Five minutes ago." He tapped in several commands into the computer. "Rather easy, really, once you get the hang of it."

If it was from anyone else, Matsumoto would have labeled it smug. But her taichou's voice was matter-of-fact as he opened window after window, watching as they flashed across the screen. Out of curiosity, she asked, "What are you doing now, taichou?"

"Oh this?" He gestured at the opened browser. "Apparently this is something called Internet Explorer. I thought I'd look through the utilities of this technology since I've finished my 'work'." His eyes fell upon her incomplete project. "Do you need any help?"

"I think I'll manage." Matsumoto smiled at him briefly. "You go prod around on that In-In-…"

"Internet Explorer. Alright, if you really don't want assistance…" Hitsugaya swiveled back to his monitor. "Hmm….what's this? 'How High is Your IQ?'" His brow creased. "Well, this seems mildly interesting…"

Matsumoto smothered a smile and turned her attention back to her computer.

Thirty minutes later, Hitsugaya Toushiro was three feet deep in Internet online quizzes, completely hooked as quiz after quiz popped up without any indication of ending soon.

His eyes never leaving the computer screen, he hastily typed in answers to questions, his mouse sliding back and forth over the mouse pad as he read his results with an intensity seen only when he was focused on the tenth division's paperwork. Beside him, Matsumoto peeked at her captain in incredulous surprise.

"Ano, taichou….that is the tenth quiz you've done in the past fifteen minutes…"

Ignoring his fukutaichou, Hitsugaya's eyes fell upon a pinkish link in the corner of the page he was on. "…'Crush-o-meter: Are you in Love?' "

Almost instantly, the mental picture of one Hinamori Momo popped into his head. Looking around furtively, he noted that Matsumoto had turned back to her own computer and that no one had noticed his current activity yet.

He clicked the link.

As always, a page of questions appeared, in dark red, cursive font. Most of the questions were simple enough: When did you meet her, Describe her personality, What's her favorite fruit, if a car was heading right towards her, would you push her out of the way and save her…

Yea, pretty straightforward stuff, until the trickier queries set in.

Like: Have you ever taken her on a date?

Hitsugaya had to ponder over most of his answers at this point, trying to choose the most accurate option, slightly miffed that the answers weren't quite up to par as the one he would've liked to give.

He finished the second page of questions, and was about to complete the third when the last question caught his eye:

Have you ever kissed her?

Only two options were provided in lieu of answer: Yes and No.

Neither was quite the answer the tenth division captain-turned-undercover-student was expecting.

As a flush began riding up his neck to spread over his face, he stared at the screen as one hand unconsciously went up to his tie to loosen it, aware of the sudden additional heat of the room. Kiss?

He had never kissed Hinamori before. Never.

Well, unless you counted the time at the office…but that was an accident! It so happened that he was going out just as she was coming in and their faces happened to get squashed against each other, resulting in…

Or that time when Hinamori was drunk….but she was drunk, dammit!!! It didn't count when one party wasn't quite in their normal state of mind, right?

And there was that one time when she had just woken up from her coma and he had been…not so in-control of his feelings and had just…just….it was just that overjoyed feeling of relief that had propelled him to do so!

There was the mistletoe incident too…he still blamed Matsumoto for that one. Who told her to hang mistletoe everywhere in the office? Plus, it was a seasonal thing; it was Christmas after all. Nothing really serious there…right?

Oh, crap, he'd almost forgotten that one time he had been dragged into playing Truth or Dare with those drunken idiots…

Matsumoto, noticing the sudden lack of typing sounds, looked over at her taichou, to find him perspiring slightly, his face pinked as he stared at the computer with glazed over eyes, his hands paused over the keyboard. Inclining her head slightly, she ran through the question and laughed.

"Still remembering the time Hinamori kissed you when you helped her carry her work to her division office?"

…Right, he'd almost forgotten that one. But they hadn't meant anything; she was just going to kiss him on the cheek when he had turn his head at the wrong time and caught her lips with his own by accident. Really.

"It was so romantic really, especially with all that files scattered around you two when you held her close and all. And in public too!…."

"SHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Okay, so maybe he had dropped the folders in surprise. Wouldn't anyone else? And his arms had risen and gone around her automatically. He hadn't planned it that way; it just happened.

And it wasn't in public anyway; just in the doorway of the fifth division's office. Just because Matsumoto happened to walk by doesn't make it public.

Matsumoto and a few people. Enough to spread an infuriating rumor that the tenth-division's taichou was going out with the fifth-division's fukutaichou that refused to die out despite the measures taken to extinguish them.

Still…

Waving Matsumoto back to her work, Hitsugaya clicked on 'yes'. Besides, it can't affect his answers much anyway, right?

As he clicked the 'Send' button, he waited for the result page to load, drumming his fingers impatiently on the side of the computer table. A sudden burst of red assaulted his eyes, as he blinked, trying to make out the words that had appeared amidst the hearts and shimmering flower icons.

'Congratulations!! You rate a perfect 10 out of 10 in the Crush-o-Meter!!! Head over heels in love, you are the perfect embodiment of a loyal partner. Whoever he or she is, they're lucky to have you as their other half! Bring out the wedding bells and pop out that champagne!'

At the 'thud' sound, Matsumoto lifted her head and glanced at her taichou, who had fallen back in his seat, his eyes unfocused as doves, chocolates and cupids flew around in his screen. "What's the matter taichou?"

Hitsugaya glanced at her with a completely transfigured face as revelation dawned upon him. "I…I'm in love with Hinamori."

Matsumoto sighed and resisted the urge to snort out loud. Sometimes for a genius, her taichou could be rather slow on the uptake. "What took you so long, taichou?"