disclaimer: i don't own bleach!

Treasure

He's Alright, Hinamori

Matsumoto walked around the Gotei 13 grounds for the second time that night. The candle in her lamp was beginning to give away as the wax shrank and melted. She sighed when she found herself wandering back to the tenth division headquarters. Hitsugaya had been absent for most of the day, and she was the one who filled in for him during his captain's meeting. The stress was building up, and she needed to find her captain.

Her thoughts wandered back to the funeral. The burial had ended hours ago, and Hitsugaya just seemed to disappear. Matsumoto had watched his retreating form sadly as he practically ran from the site. She didn't know whether to be surprised when he didn't say a word throughout the ceremony. He was deathly quiet and she could see the shock that had imprinted itself into his eyes. She knew it had hurt him deeply when Hinamori had suddenly passed away. It hurt her too, but compared to her pain, Hitsugaya was suffering a lot more.

The vice captain scowled slightly. He didn't cry at all. Not a single drop had fell from his eyes. Hitsugaya was stubborn, and she wished that for once, he would just relax and stop putting on a hard face to the world. She was determined to slap him out of his depression when she found him. She would yell at him, saying that it was okay to cry, and that Hinamori wouldn't want to see him bottle up all of his emotions. Her captain was young, but now was not the time to act childishly.

Matsumoto frowned and turned towards Hitsugaya's chamber. The brat probably locked himself up inside his room.

When she was first assigned to be Hitsugaya Toushiro's vice captain, she wasn't at all amused. No adult in their right mind would ever let go of their pride to serve such an undersized kid. But as the years rolled by, she slowly learned to have a new respect for the boy genius. He was still a loud mouthed, cocky boy, but despite that, he was mature and responsible.

Suddenly she heard a loud crash as if something had collapsed. Matsumoto cringed when she heard the sound of wood being snapped in half. A loud sob rang out through the halls, and the whole building seemed to tremble with grief. It was as if her whole body was being weighed down by the sadness as the scream echoed in her ears.

'That was… taichou's voice…'

The vice captain softly went closer to the room, and she slid the door open, her eyes widening at the sight. Hitsugaya was… crying.

He didn't even notice that she was there. And if he did, he was too miserable to really care. Moonlight slid into the room through the slit in the door, and it glowed softly on his small frame. Hitsugaya cried silently in the corner of the room, his body was curled into a tight ball. Everything around him was broken in pieces.

Matsumoto closed her eyes. Calmly, she slid the door shut. She had never seen her captain look more broken, but she couldn't help it as relief crept into her mind. Her captain was strong; he wouldn't let this utterly tie him down.

Turning her back to the room, she walked back to the office. The vice-captain looked up into the sky. She could see the stars twinkling persistently against the black of night. Matsumoto smiled gently. 'He's alright, Hinamori.'

haiiiiii, the fifth chapter of treasure is up! i'm sorry it took so long... been busy with projects and stressing out over my grades... > "

anyway, chapter six will be posted in a moment... i've written it already, so please go on and read it!

btw, thank you to carzla and WaterLilly for reviewing chapter four!

heheangel kisses