Chapter 37- Hitsugaya's birthday, Part one.

Hi! I can't believe I've written thirty seven chapters already…Many thanks to everyone who has read, favourite, added to story alert, or reviewed this story! Sadly, I do not own bleach nor do I own the amazing bleach characters, but I do own my OCs, you know who they are.

The second Kikyo woke up; she sprang up, sitting up in bed. It's his birthday today! She thought to herself excitedly, throwing the covers out of the way and jumping up, nearly falling backwards from standing up too quickly. She glanced at the clock, 6:20 AM. She knew she shouldn't have gone to bed too early last night, seeing as the earlier you go to sleep, the earlier you wake up. Over the last week, their relationship had become less of a big deal, which was a big relief to them both. Kikyo always blushed in embarrassment when she spotted her and Hitsugaya's faces on the front cover of Seireitei Communication and all of the whispers surrounding shinigami exchanged. Well, at least it was dying down a little bit. She sighed before slipping off her sleeping robes and slowly getting into her shihakusho, following attacking her hair with the hairbrush until she was satisfied and tying it up into the usual ponytail. She frowned at herself in the mirror. It was getting so boring looking the same every day, she missed wearing different outfits and hairstyles back in the Real World. She stared at herself in the mirror for a second before shrugging and thinking, Ah, It's a special occasion, Why not?

Ooh, are you going to go for a new look? Raigeki's voice echoed in her head, Kikyo nodding.

I can't wait to see! Raigeki said, a hint of excitement in her tone.

Kira looked up from his paperwork and stared when Kikyo entered the office. She was…pretty. Instead of the usual Ponytail, her hair was down and flowing, he had never actually noticed how long it was, it was way past her waist! She had decorated it with two small blue bow-hairclips at each side. She was wearing a matching blue and white patterned scarf around her neck, it was cold, after all. She looked at Kira and smiled, "good morning, Kira!" She said brightly before gracefully and swiftly walking to her desk. Kira bowed and swallowed before returning to his paperwork. Kikyo worked through her paperwork rocket speed, and in less than three hours, a neatly finished pile sat in front of her. "Kira, may I ask you to deliver that paperwork for me? I have somewhere to be." She requested before wrapping the scarf which she'd hung up around her neck and exiting.

Going to see your true love now? Raigeki asked, smiling in Kikyo's inner world,

Yeah! Kikyo replied, not getting embarrassed about Raigeki calling them lovers anymore, it was, after all, the truth.

It's so cute that you've gotten used to it! I do still see a light blush around Hitsugaya, though.

Hehe, well, I'm a shy person.

Too right! If he does anything that you're uncomfortable with, Kikyo…Then I assure you he will regret it.

Raigeki!

Hitsugaya looked up from his paperwork when he heard a knock on the office door, "Come in." He called. Matsumoto giggled when Kikyo entered the room. Hitsugaya stared at her new scarf and hairstyle. "Morning, Toshiro." She greeted him with a smile. "Oh. Good morning." He replied, slightly, only slightly, returning the smile. Kikyo eyes wandered down to the paperwork he was working on. "You can't do paperwork on your birthday!" she exclaimed with a frown. "It's not that big an event. And anyway, Matsumoto isn't going to help." He sighed in reply, glaring at Matsumoto who was grinning sheepishly while filing her nails on the sofa. "I won't allow you to work on your birthday. Go on, move aside. I'll do it for you." Kikyo said with a smile.

Toshiro shook his head, "No, thank you. I'm fine. I'm not going to make you do my paperwork for me." Hitsugaya said, receiving a small blush from Kikyo. There was a slight pause before Matsumoto popped up between them, hugging Kikyo. "Aww! So cute the way you're concerned about her relaxing!" she squealed. "Matsumoto! Stop it, you're suffocating her!" Hitsugaya scolded her, standing up as Kikyo's face turned slightly blue. Matsumoto pouted and let her go, Kikyo gasping for breath, the colour returning to her face. Once Kikyo had recovered she took a deep breath, "I'm fine doing your paperwork, I really don't mind! I'm fast at it!" she assured him. Matsumoto nodded, "Yeah! She sometimes helps me do it, and We always finish in less than two hours" Matsumoto told him. After another few minutes of them nagging him, he sighed and gave up. "Fine. But at least let me help. It's my paperwork after all." He told them. "Deal!" Kikyo said before swiftly leaning close and kissing him on the cheek. "Happy birthday!" She said with a smile. He returned the smile before sitting down at the desk, Kikyo sitting down on the sofa with a small fraction of the paper.

Like Matsumoto had said, in just over two hours, they were finished. "See? That was faster." Kikyo told him with a smile, he nodded. "I'll just deliver this!" Matsumoto said quickly, jumping up and picking up the paperwork, stumbling under its weight before standing up straight and exiting, I'd better leave them alone She thought to herself. Kikyo put on her determined face, now was time. "Sooooo…I was thinking, seeing as it's your birthday, maybe we could…go somewhere? Like out to dinner? I'll pay." Kikyo said tentatively, a blush spreading across her face. "That would be nice." Hitsugaya sighed, closing his eyes for a fraction of a second longer than a blink before opening them again. "It's been a while since I've been out of the office for something other than meetings and my duty as a captain." He told her. Kikyo nodded in agreement, "That's why I thought it would be nice. So that you could get out for a while. For your present, I'm paying." She told him with a smile. "Well, arguing seems useless, so I suppose I'll let you." he said before smiling, Kikyo laughing.

"Let's leave this evening." She said in between chuckles. Toshiro nodded before his face turned serious. "We should make the most of the break. We've been investigating Harribel's killer non-stop lately, and seeing as we've not found much clues, we're probably not going to get much break at all from now on." He explained, receiving a nod from Kikyo, "But…I'm positive that she was my previous Vice-Captain…Even her reiatsu…"

"Well, we should investigate further before we just presume she's Hana Saiteiru." Hitsugaya interrupted her, receiving a sad look from her. "You're right. I shouldn't jump to conclusions…But we shouldn't be thinking about things like that today! It's your birthday, you have to have at least one carefree day, don't you agree?" Kikyo said, snapping out of her gloom and smiling, saying the last part quickly. "We're shinigami, and even further, Taichous, there's no such thing as carefree…But…I'll try and do what you said." He said with a sigh. Kikyo smiled before leaning forward and pressing her lips against his and wrapping her arms around him. While her face stained red every time she did so, she enjoyed it at the same time, whenever she kissed him, she felt close to him, and that's how she liked to feel.

Aww, that's cute. Raigeki said from inside her head, Kikyo decided to ignore her. Toshiro immediately pulled away when the door flew open, revealing Kira Izuru. He went red and looked to the side, "Er…I'm not interrupting anything…Am I?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck. Kikyo shook her head quickly, "Oh, no! Hehe…So what is it?" she asked the shade of red on her face growing deeper. "Well, er, I was told to tell you that the Captain Commander wanted all of the Taichous to report to the captain's meeting hall, he has something important to say." Kira explained, the blush fading and his face more serious. "I see. We'll leave right away. You are dismissed." Hitsugaya said, his face more serious too, waving his hand, gesturing for him to leave. "Well, we'd better leave now." Kikyo sighed before pecking him on the cheek and jumping into shunpo. Sometimes she wished she'd never returned to being a shinigami, but…If she hadn't, she wouldn't have been able to protect him, the one she loved.

At least you didn't fail at protecting the people special to you. She heard Raigeki sigh from the inner world.

I told you to stop worrying about that and forgive yourself! It was a long time ago, and you've protected me so many times since then. Just forget about it, okay?

I'll try.

Once all of the Taichous were lined up, Yamamato cleared his throat before banging his staff on the floor as usual, the room growing silent. "As you know, instead of Harribel being defeated by ourselves, a mystery female ambushed her from behind. Monami-Taichou is determined that the mystery shinigami is Saiteiru fukutaichou, who has been missing since a short while after Monami's disappearance." He explained, taking a breather and glancing around the room at the Taichou's serious faces before continuing, "Kurotsuchi has collected the reiatsu left behind by her, and it is indeed similar to Saiteiru's, apart from one difference…rather than being pure shinigami reiatsu, a trace of Hollow reiatsu was mixed in with it." he continued, receiving many gasps from the Taichous, including Kikyo. Her eyes were wide and she was shivering, H-Hollow reiatsu? Her fukutaichou…Had Hollow reiatsu? How could that be? If the records said correctly, she disappeared a couple of years before Aizen's hollowfication experiments had taken place, and the events were all wrong! Was Yamamato implying…That her fukutaichou was now A Visored? Or…something else?

Wow, I had to really hold back to stop myself from typing dun dun duuuuuuuun after that line . Anyway, reviews are always appreciated! Hope you enjoyed that chapter! I'll update soon!

Omake: If this story was really realistic.

Kikyo's first meeting with Hitsugaya:

Hitsugaya: *Kills hollow*

Kikyo: ARGGGHHHHHH! OMFG! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT! *Faints*

Kikyo's second meeting with Hitsugaya:

Kikyo: OMFG! IT'S YOU! THE GUY WHO KILLED THEM ONSTER WITH ICE AND A SWORD! RUN AWAY! *runs away*

The end.

Hitsugaya: *Strolling through Seireitei when he suddenly hears shouting and screaming behind him, and a loud noise like a stampede, turns around* What the-!

Me: calm down, Hitsugaya, they're just fan girls!

Massive group of fan girls chasing him: OMG! It's Shiro-Chan! AUTOGRAPH!

Fan girl: SEXY!

Hitsugaya: *twitch*