Hello!

Thank you, Shadow-binder and KarinKurosakiHitsugaya913 for the reviews! I'm glad you liked the last chapter! I hope this is a fast enough update!
Haha, this chapter literally came in a few hours…
It's a very…interesting…chapter, but it turned out exactly as I wanted it to. RATED T for TEEN for a Reason!

I do not own anything from Bleach, but currently the filler anime arc isn't that bad. You should check it out!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! ENJOY THE CHAPTER!

Sincerely,

Romania Black

Chapter Twenty-Five

Why didn't I smother you when I had the chance?

It was pure luck and remembrance that had led him there. Had Matsumoto had the party she was planning on having the night before last, it would have been impossible for Toshiro to have found the bottles as he had. Luckily, for him anyway, the party she had planned was met with a last minute cancellation when Hisagi had grown ill. Call it fate or sheer dumb luck, but the Captain of the Tenth Division wasn't about to let another Captain's illness get in the way of this.

Rangiku was outside his office door, her hand gently hesitating before knocking. "Captain…?"

"What?" Toshiro snapped loudly, his hand fumbling to keep a grip on the cabinet door.

"I—I was just wondering if you needed…anything," Her words were muffled by the door in between them, but the tenderness in her voice was still able to reach him. And it pissed him off. Now more than ever.

"No," He barked back coldly, almost a growl. "I'm fine. I'd…I'd like to be alone, if that's possible, Matsumoto." He rarely asked her to leave him alone when she asked to be company, but right now he didn't want her there with him. He didn't want anyone with him.

"Oh no, that's fine," She replied instantly, as if an autonomous response, "I understand…I…I'll just go ahead and run the paperwork through…call me if you need anything Captain." Her voice cut short and her footsteps grew farther and farther away. The Captain double checked her spiritual pressure fading before diving back into the liquor cabinet underneath his desk.

She's doing the paper work ahead of schedule? He lifted three bottles of sake from the cabinet, all seeming to be fairly full. He rose to his feet, how pathetic does someone have to get for there to get work done around here? Without answering himself, he uncorked the first bottle and stared at it, the shiny porcelain gleaming in the moonlight from the closed window next to his desk.

Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya almost never drank. In fact, he could count on one hand the number of times he'd taken a drink, it never was his function. But now, the weight of what—who he'd lost was gripping his heart so heavy, he wanted to take his mind off of it…her…and by any means necessary. He couldn't take this now…how could he have ever taken it?

Damn…

Toshiro lifted the bottle to his lips, and let the sake slide down his throat effortlessly.

The first bottle crashed to the desk top a half hour after it had been opened. The second within the hour; by the time the third bottle was finished, Toshiro could barely make out the blurry edges of the desk against the moonlight, the lamp's dull glow not offering him any assistance. She wasn't on his mind now though. No, his thoughts were mainly focused on how to make it to his bed, and then they for a moment fumbled to whether Matsumoto had actually completed the paperwork. His drunken mind didn't stay focused on her too long though. It didn't focus on her either…

"Toshiro! Shiro-Chan!" Momo's head spun around to greet him, her brunette hair flying in the wind, free of its usual bun. She gave him a huge grin, her white teeth sparkling. "Shiro-Chan! Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Stupid bed wetter," Toshiro grimaced, as Momo wrapped her arms around his neck, tugging him closer, "As if I'd be happy to see you!" He smugly tried to wrangle free of her grip, but to no avail.

"Ha, silly Shiro," Momo smiled serenely, her soft eyes framed by her billowing hair.

Toshiro slowly opened his eyes as her words hung in the air, a sharp giggle,

"Toshiro! You can't lie to me!"

The words echoed in his mind, which suddenly ached, and Toshiro realized he was still dizzy after opening his eyes. He fumbled in his sheets, draped over his lean pale chest thinly. He loved being cold and detested being too warm. Eh, He gripped the side of his head, Am I still drunk? Eh… He rested his head on his elbow, cradled in his pillows. The dark aqua sheets were pressed tightly to him, but there was suddenly a cold chilled breeze in the air. Toshiro checked the windows with his eyes from his position in bed. They…look…shutting…but Damn it, I can't really tell…I… He knew he was still intoxicated when he couldn't make out if the window was closed or not, but he definitely knew he must still be drunk when he saw her at the edge of his bed.

At first he thought it was merely a hallucination, a trick of his mind, the drunkenness lingering on his lips, still stuck in his brain. But illusion or not, there she was, at the foot of his bed.

Momo, standing at his feet in a white silk robe; the same he'd seen her die in while in the World of the Living. She was no longer covered in blood though, and her hair looked sleek down her sides. Toshiro gripped the sheets beside him, not in terror, but in confusion.

"Mo...Mo…" Toshiro whispered.

She grinned, Damn him, the illusion grinned back at him! Her eyes were dancing in the moonlight.

"Toshiro," She murmured, as ghostly as anything. It was her smile, her hair, her eyes…

"Are you…really Momo?" Toshiro drunkenly asked, placing a hand near his mouth, as to see how numb he was. He couldn't feel his face…usually not a good sign.

"Am I?" She whispered softer now, and to Toshiro's great surprise, climbed onto the bed.

Gasping, Toshiro immediately drew his legs towards him, his eyes wide in shock, gripping the covers nearer to him. She slowly glided down the bed though, her fingers weaving the folds in the sheets, ivory skin on cotton, and her chocolate eyes gleaming at Toshiro. A captain in his normal functioning mind would have simply crawled out of bed and away from the hallucination/ghost. However, Toshiro was still inebriated, and at this point was starting to wane from his dignified and reclusive self to…something different.

She had placed herself above him now, on her knees she had them straddling his legs, which were bunched in almost a ball near his waist. Her arms silkily crept up Toshiro's and he felt his skin shiver beneath their unexpected warmth.

"Momo…I…" She placed a finger to his lips, silencing him.

"Don't. Say. Another word." She mused so quietly into his ear it was like an invitation that he couldn't refuse.

He gripped her arms and slowly stretched out his legs under her, so she wasn't straddling a tangle of legs now. He felt his lips magnetized towards her neck and began to caress her skin with his mouth, inhaling her scent, a faint lilac. His hands in her hair, he tugged and tugged her mouth to connect with his, breathing quickening; he stole a quick glance at her face. She was looking at him with utmost passion, her navy eyes flashing in the moonlight.

Navy? Toshiro rolled on top of her, moving her beneath him, his hands running up her side, the cool silk begging him to unwrap. She was kissing his chin, her lips moving down as he curled his fingers in her black hair.

Black…hair…

Toshiro broke away from the moment, his body rising up, stretching above her, as he looked down upon the woman that lay waiting beneath him, ready to be taken by him. Her body was that of an adult, ripened, mature. Perfectly bathed in moonlight. But her face…blame the drunkenness, but Toshiro couldn't make out her face in the darkness.

"Momo," Toshiro stumbled in the bed, leaning towards the lamp on his nightstand, "Hold on, I can't see your face…"

The lamp flickered on, and Toshiro turned toward the woman lying beside him.

An adult Karin Kurosaki grinned back murderously.

"Ahhh!"

Toshiro was upright stricken in bed, the sweat clinging every hair to his cheeks and forehead. He was panting out of control, his heart pumping and thumping wildly in his chest. Then…there was silence.

He looked around quickly, first at the lamp beside him that was turned off, then at his own body. He was wrapped in his dark aqua sheets, the moonlight soaking his body on the bed. He looked around; not a soul or single presence was near him. The clock on the desk near him read three a.m. Toshiro let out a dry sob, wrapping his head in his hands.

A dream…

Toshiro gripped the side of his head with his palms, his face cold and dripping wet. Was all of that…a dream…? The image was still fresh in his mind. He shook his head violently, his entire body shuddering. No…

He threw off the covers and stumbled to the table where the remaining sake lay. He checked the three bottles lying in front of him. Two of them were completely empty; the third still had a third of its bottle left. Toshiro gripped the third container and walked to the bathroom. Staggering to steady himself against the marble countertop, he poured the remainder of the bottle into the sink, the liquid slowly seeping down the drain.

His body slowly crumpled out of the bathroom and back into bed, falling against the thin sheets, mind going black as the hair he'd wrapped his fingers through in his mind.

I hope that you liked this little "scene" with Toshiro…next chapter, Toshiro visits a newly appointed Shinigami, and that 'certain' Shinigami starts the academy!

Any cameos you want to see? Let me know!

Thank you so much for your support!

Romania Black