Disclaimer: Yeah you know what goes here.
Oh yeah there's still no spoilers yet.
Papercuts and the Sunflower
Chapter Two: Memories and Revelations
The only source of light in the dimly lit room was the small lamp that stood on her desk. Matsumoto had much longer than she had anticipated on the leftover work she was given. She shook her head as she looked at the time on the little clock that lay beneath the lamp. As she was finishing the last document she breathed an irritated sigh, blowing away a strand of hair that fell across her right eye as she cupped her chin. 'This is such a bother,' she thought as she felt her eyes getting numb from focusing on the small print for so long. 'I honestly don't know how Toushirou-kun is able to do this day in and day out.'
Crossing the last of her t's and dotting the remaining i's she threw the last of the paperwork into her outbox. She placed her elbows on the desk and held both sides of her head, massaging her throbbing temples. 'That was annoying,' she thought, closing her eyes. 'Maybe I should ask how Toushirou-kun how he does it.' The blonde heard a slight rustling in front of her and slowly opened her eyes. Her captain had shifted in his sleep and onto his stomach, his hand almost touching the floor as it held onto the scarf that she had wrapped around him. Matsumoto chuckled as she sat back against her chair. 'My goodness…he's still sleeping?' He moved again only this time flipping over to his back once more. 'He really must be completely drained.' Matsumoto began to nibble on her pen as she recalled her words just a little over three hours ago. She wasn't at all sure if she chose the best time to bring up such an emotionally involved situation just as her captain was falling into a deep sleep. After all, Hitsugaya was unable to respond to her words and actions. Then again, however, he was able to see her beautiful smile before he plunged into dreamland. That was something Matsumoto was unaware he wanted to experience at least once in his lifetime.
Glancing at the clock again she pitched up suddenly, throwing her pen on the desk. "It's getting rather late." She arranged her desk the best way she could and flicked off her lamp. She grabbed her soul cutter that was lying against the desk and attached it to her side. Looking softly at the sleeping captain in the couch she quietly walked over and stood over him, gazing admirably upon him.
"Well since you won't wake up I'll just have to carry you little taichou," Matsumoto said softly to the sleeping Hitsugaya. After grabbing his soul cutter and placing it on her other free side she reached down and guided her arms under this legs and his back and carefully lifted him up. 'Hmm. He's surprisingly lighter than I expected,' she quickly thought to herself. Heading through the door she closed it with her foot and headed along the hallway.
Matsumoto cradled Hitsugaya's head against her chest as she slowly strolled along the path. The night was silent and few people were walking around. Usually only a few unseated officers would be out during this time patrolling and inspecting the grounds. Matsumoto just wanted their walk to be uninterrupted. She didn't want to run into any captains or vice-captains tonight, especially a select few. This was because she didn't have the strength to attempt to explain why she was carrying her captain in her arms.
"Damn," she whispered as she looked ahead of her sighing. "Luck really has its limits I guess." Leaning over a rail just a few fit away from her and the sleeping Hitsugaya was Renji, vice-captain of the 6th Division. He wasn't in his regular shinigami attire, however, but he wore his favorite white and fuchsia robe with his awkwardly positioned headband. 'Guess no there's no avoiding it.' Matsumoto sighed once more as she neared the red-haired vice-captain.
Renji blinked as he heard footsteps passing by and straightened up his stance to identify who they belonged to. "Eh?" He raised an eyebrow, realizing who it was. "R-Rangiku-san?" He looked at Hitsugaya who still lay asleep in Matsumoto's arms. "It's strange to see you out this time of night."
"There was some work that needed to be finished," she replied throwing her lazy eyes in his direction. "That's all."
"Oh," he answered looking to his side. Renji once more looked at Hitsugaya sleeping and then at Matsumoto while keeping his eyebrow arched. "Uh…Rangiku-san?"
"Hmm?" she replied as she took her eyes off of her sleeping captain who had just moved, snuggling against her chest even more.
"Ano…why are you carrying around the kid taichou?"
She closed her eyes as she knew that such a question was certain to be asked. "Isn't it obvious?" She opened her eyes and looked into the night sky. "He's asleep."
"Yeah I can see that…" Renji started as he tilted his head slightly. "…but couldn't you have just woken him up?"
Matsumoto paused as she thought carefully of her answer. "No that would be cruel of me Abarai-san." She thought of all the times she fell asleep in his presence and never woke her, even if there was a meeting he managed to cover for her absence. "Besides, he's had a rough and long day. He needs every wink of sleep."
Renji noted how her eyes didn't look into his own. However, that was natural of her and was not a good way to determine if she was lying or not. All he knew was that she was holding him close…a little too close for a regular captain and vice-captain relationship. "I suppose you're right." He shrugged as she placed his arms inside his robe and smirked. "Even a kid genius in the end has the stamina of a regular kid."
Matsumoto glared lazily at Renji. Though not intense it was definitely enough to wipe the smirk off of his face. He swallowed hard as she began walking away in her slow pace. "Good night, Abarai-san."
Matsumoto paid no mind to Renji's footsteps as he headed into his room that was nearby. She breathed a sigh of relief though as she realized that their destination was just around the corner of the path. She quickened her pace a bit as she didn't want any more stops from her colleagues, that including a certain 5th Division vice-captain.
Matsumoto turned the corner and was relieved that no one was walking along it. Arriving at Hitsugaya's room she slid the door open with her foot and then closed it using the same method. She scanned the dark room and freed one of her hands temporarily to switch on a light. Looking over the room once more she opened her eyes wider than usual. "So clean for a guy his age," she said to herself as she smiled. Walking over to the bed in the corner of the room she gently rested Hitsugaya down onto one of his pillows. Sitting on the edge of his bed, she adjusted her scarf around his neck evening it out and placed her hand on his slowly rising chest. "You're such a cutie when you're asleep," she whispered into his ear.
Straightening her posture she glanced over the room again. She had only been inside his room a few times before and was taking in everything. Almost every other time he had to stop at his room she would wait outside at his request, never knowing why he didn't invite her in.
Her eyes stopped on a cabinet that near his desk and the light she had turned on. 'I wonder what's in there,' she thought. She raised herself off of the mattress and strolled over to the object in question. Hesitating slightly she placed her hands on the handles. 'It's probably filled with the dozens of books he loves to read.' She opened both doors of the cabinet and gasped softly as she took a step back.
Her hand covered her mouth as she looked all over the inside of the cabinet. Before her were a number of pictures. Pictures of herself and her captain. She reached out for one of them and brought it closer to her face. The picture showed herself waving at the camera with a smile and placing a hand on Hitsugaya's shoulder as he folded his arms and looked off to the side, looking uninterested as usual. "I thought he threw this into his drawer," she said softly looking up and at a few more pictures. She grabbed another one. This one depicted her grabbing him from behind around the waist as she knelt, pressing her cheek against his. He seemed dazed in this picture as he wore a Christmas hat that matched Matsumoto's. She took up another picture frame and smiled. "This one was from the surprise birthday party I arranged." In the picture it showed Hitsugaya walking into the room with his eyes widened at all the people Matsumoto got to attend his party. Another picture that accompanied this one depicted him blowing out the candles of his cake as Matsumoto had her hands resting on his shoulders. The last in the series of birthday pictures she looked at showed Hitsugaya giving her the first slice of cake that he cut. "Now that surprised me…"
As she put away all the picture frames she had moved her eyes came to rest on the largest portrait there. It hung in the center of the cabinet and prompted her to place her hands over her heart. "Aww…" she managed to breathe feeling a bit foggy eyed. The large portrait in question was of her. She had her trademark pose which involved her placing her hands onto her waist and tilting her head slightly which allowed a few strands of her golden hair to fall across her face and highlighted the beauty mark beside her lips.
Taking one last look at the archive of memories she quietly closed the cabinet doors and pressed her back against it. She looked over at the sleeping taichou and smiled. 'And he so tries to make everyone believe that he throws such things away out of lack of interest.'
Matsumoto wondered over to his desk and fiddled around with some of the papers that were spread across it. 'He must've been in a rush this morning.' Amidst her fiddling a single sheet of paper fell to the ground at her feet. She kneeled to pick it up and glanced at what was on it. She looked over at Hitsugaya still in slumber as she threw a hand over her mouth and sat in the chair behind her. 'Oh I really shouldn't be reading this.' Matsumoto went over what appeared to be a letter before deciding it was already too late. 'Might as well.'
Well now how do I start this?
Dearest Rangiku-chan,
I don't know if you're ever going to be reading this but I'm still going to write. I was doing the weekly reports and couldn't think straight. So I'm writing this letter. Oh, I didn't say why yet did I? Well I think it'll all add up in the end.
Have you ever been thinking of someone so much that they're in your mind almost every waking moment? Well for the longest time that's what has been happening to me (I pay for it each time I'm called to the General Captain's office too).
"Ah so that's why we have to visit Captain Yamamoto almost every other day," Matsumoto whispered to herself.
If you haven't figured it out by now (I hope you're still awake and not sleeping on the couch) these thoughts I've been having are of you. They only get worse (by that I mean better) when I'm near you. I know this might sound silly, but I started feeling this way right after you became my vice-captain. It was during the time I had realized that Hinamori was basically a lost cause as she had taken a great liking to Captain Aizen (you already know about all the stuff with her when you constantly asked if she was my girlfriend).
Matsumoto giggled as she brushed her hair back out of her eyesight.
I instantly developed a crush on you when you first walked into the office and introduced yourself (Yes kid genius Hitsugaya actually jumped head first into a field of emotions without first looking to see where I was going to land). Oh, I hope I didn't give a bad impression of myself during our first meeting (You remember how I waved you off to your desk and got you to work immediately). But it's just that…I didn't want to see you smiling because then I would've been forced to smile in front of you (I don't know why I didn't want to, I guess it's because I didn't want you to think I was just some other little kid who moved up the ranks through favors). So I'm sorry if I haven't been the best captain I could towards you.
"Oh but you have been," Matsumoto replied as she looked over to the author of the letter.
But really I can't blame anyone for these feelings I'm having but myself. I know that you probably get this from everyone but you are truly the most beautiful woman I've ever seen within all of Soul Society (Yes I know it's corny). But by now I'm guessing you're wondering why I haven't told you about these feelings yet have you?
"Correct my little taichou."
Well I was…afraid of how you would respond. I tend to over think situations but all the thoughts I had were what kept me holding back from you. First I thought of our age difference. It seemed like those situations were a student is in love with his teacher (Yeah that's an overused example). I thought you would've seen me as a cute little kid who was just admiring your beauty and that it would fade away with time. Then there's the size difference. I was embarrassed that you'd be disappointed in my lack of height or that you'd be embarrassed being seen walking around with me (Assuming we were together anyway). But I guess the biggest fear was the thought of rejection.
"You sound so cute when you're worried." Matsumoto folded the letter slightly as she focused her eyes on what seemed to be the last part.
But that's why I'm writing this I guess. I just wanted to tell someone, even if it is just this sheet of paper. These past few years although in reality is such little time seemed to last forever. Rangiku-chan (Why don't I ever say that to you) that is that…I love you. There, I finally said it. I, Hitsugaya Toushirou Captain of the 10th Division, am in love with his vice-captain (and friend) Matsumoto Rangiku-chan, the first and only perfect woman he has ever laid his eyes upon.
"Awwww." Matsumoto stretched as she held her heart from above her chest. She hurriedly looked over the last bit.
Well I've let out as much as I can tonight (I hope I did). I don't even know if you're even going to see this (After all it doesn't seem all that romantic). But if this isn't somehow lost among all the other papers I have cluttered on this desk and it ends up in your hands then I must really be more brave than I thought myself to be (That or you came in and stole it). Anyways, I'm getting really sleepy right now (I hope you're prepared to do a lot of paper work tomorrow). So I'm going to bed. I hope you always sleep well too…Rangiku-chan.
Hitsu…no. Your Toushirou-kun.
Matsumoto didn't notice that her eyes were more cloudy than she expected them to be. She stuttered her only two words she could think of at the moment. "O-Oh my." Pressing the letter against her chest she continued her stammer. "Oh my, oh my."
Getting up from her chair she folded the letter and placed it in a pocket on the inside of her robe. She walked over to the bed were Hitsugaya still slept peacefully. The thought of all those loving words coming from such an adorable sight overwhelmed her completely. Going against her 'better' judgment Matsumoto suddenly jumped into the bed, pouncing onto the snoring captain. The jolt was enough to jerk him awake. However, he smashed his head against what he thought was someone holding pillows in the air. He fell back onto his pillow below him and failed to notice the entity that had now slid beside him. Hitsugaya was too busy rubbing his eyes and shaking the strangely sweet scent of the 'pillows' away.
"What the hell is going on?" He stammered as he adjusted his eyes to the poorly lit room. He looked over to his left and saw that he was in his room. "Eh? How'd I get here?" Looking over to his desk he noticed his papers arranged neatly. He was puzzled but gave it no more thought as he flopped back down unto the mattress. Hitsugaya looked down and realized he was wearing a pink scarf around his neck that kept him warm. "I guess it was Matsumoto who carried me here…"
His body almost shuddered when he felt gentle arms embrace him around the waist. They pulled him closer until he was snuggled softly against the body of the owner. Again he felt those pillows against his back. Slowly, he turned to identify the person that had invaded his room. His eyes widened as he realized who it was, "Matsumoto!" She smiled at his shocked reaction to her presence.
"What are you doing here? Why are you in my bed?" He stammered, not able to, nor wanting to escape her embrace. He calmed himself down as a thought entered his mind. "Oh no. It's this dream again."
"What dream?" Matsumoto whispered in a sultry tone. She kissed him on the cheek and pressed his head against her breasts as she laid her head on his. Finally Hitsugaya realized what those 'pillows' he crashed into earlier actually were as he grew beet red. "This is all real Shirou-kun." With that she leaned over him as he pulled back his head to see her and placed a soft kiss onto his lips.
A/N: There ya go I actually decided to make this a three-parter. This was done a while ago but I was just waiting until I was fully ready (don't ask why). I hope you all like this chapter and its ending (you gotta love cliffhangers). Expect the last chapter soon, punctuating the Hitsugaya and Matsumoto goodness. At least for this fanfic. :P
