THIS MARRIED LIFE

CHAPTER 12: Preparations

Thanks heaps for the reviews.

Author's Notes: Finally had time to write! Sorry for the very late update but here it is.

:Hueco Mundo: - The space between Soul Society and the Living World. Can be known as "Hollow" world.

:Ajuukaru: - smaller but smarter than the Gillians, they are thought to be far superior. Gillians are the first type of Menos that Ichigo fought early on in the anime/manga; the really, really huge hollow.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of Bleach, anime or manga.

Hitsugaya let out a desolate sigh. The room was now basked in natural light; a gloomy reminder that it was time to get up and begin the day's work. Though most days he didn't mind at all, today was one of the rare days when Hitsugaya Toshiro, captain of the tenth, did not feel like doing work. Perhaps it was due to the sinking feeling in his stomach that never failed to be there when something really bad was about to happen. Perhaps he was just being paranoid.

He glanced at the sleeping form snuggling against him.

Or perhaps it was the bundle of heat lying next to him with her head comfortably settled on his chest as though he was the world's most comfortable pillow.

A low grumble emanated from his stomach and he frowned. Momo giggled and opened her eyes.

"Good morning, Shiro-chan," she chirped sleepily.

Hitsugaya ran a hand through her hair. "You had trouble sleeping last night." Momo tilted her head up to look at him. "How did you know?" she asked curiously. She had thought Hitsugaya to be deep in sleep at that time. Hitsugaya shrugged; a hint of a small smile graced his lips. "I heard you counting sheep." Momo's mouth formed a silent "oh" before she settled back down on Hitsugaya's chest.

He gently nudged her. "We have to get up now, Momo." She groaned and burrowed herself deeper into the blankets.

Sei was not happy. After weeks of attempting to break Hitsugaya and Hinamori up, it seemed as though everything she did was futile.

She unfolded her arms and pushed herself off the wall before walking angrily down the corridor.

"Hirayama-san?" Sei stopped and let out a soft exasperated sigh before turning around. When she did, she made sure her expressions and tone of voice was all politeness: after all, appearances had to be kept. Ever since she entered the tenth division, she had earned the reputation of being kind, helpful and friendly. Though her intentions had never been genuine, the important point was that people believed it was.

She smiled. "Yes?"

Once again, the shinigami was fooled by her appearance. "There's a Hitomi-san looking for you at the eastern walkway."

"Hitomi-chan?" Sei repeated. She turned to the messenger and thanked him politely before walking towards the east.

Momo strolled down the wooden pathway that led her towards the tenth division headquarters. A familiar girl was leaning slightly against the balcony rails; she seemed to be waiting for someone. Momo took a step closer to her; her eyes looked on with curious examination while her mind raced to remember why this girl seemed so familiar.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the girl looked up and noticed her looking at her. The girl addressed her politely but in such a flustered manner that caused Momo to feel quite amused and slightly apologetic. She walked the remaining distance to her and smiled brightly; as though the bright smile would radiate some of her friendly nature and assure the poor girl in front of her that she wasn't that scary. Honestly, Momo didn't know why the girl was so uncomfortable about being in her presence.

"I'm really sorry about that time, I really didn't know you were there otherwise I would have stopped Sei from talking," Hitomi blurted out. Momo was taken aback. That time? What is she talking about? She looked at the girl strangely. Then she remembered. That's right; she's the girl who was discussing that rumour with her friend. Wait, did she say Sei? Momo's brows furrowed at the mention of that name. "You are Hirayama Sei's friend?"

Hitomi swallowed and nodded slowly. Momo stiffened without realising it; in fact, she was too involved in an internal war with herself about not treating Hitomi coldly just because she is Sei's friend to notice Hitomi's intense discomfort at being around the vice-captain.

Hitomi, on the other hand, interpreted the vice-captain's concentrated look somewhat differently. Thinking that Momo was thinking about ways to punish Sei; Hitomi rushed at once to her friend's rescue. "Sei's not a bad person, really, she's just really, really ambitious. She just has a really, really big crush on Hitsugaya-taichou ever since she laid eyes on him."

Momo snapped out of her thoughts and turned her head slightly to face Hitomi, who again misinterpreted the action. Hitomi quickly put her hands up and moved it in an apologetic wave while saying, "Not that I'm saying that it's right for her to pursue this crush, especially since he's married now. She did give up, I swear, but then taichou said he was going to help--" She quickly slapped a hand over her mouth but it was too late.

"Your captain?" Momo asked. She paused in thought. "Who is your captain, ano…" She looked at Hitomi, who took a moment to get what she was trying to think of.

"Sakiko Hitomi, ninth squad," she said systematically with a smile and lowered eyes before biting her lips and mentally slapping herself upside the head. She wasn't supposed to tell her what division she was in, in fact, she wasn't suppose to tell her anything and especially not about the captain's involvement. She bit her lips harder; Sei is so going to kill her.

"Ninth squad," Momo repeated, "Ninth squad. So your captain is Captain Takahashi." She turned and started walking away; suddenly deeper in thought. What Captain has the time to play with people's lives? She shook her head disapprovingly.

"Toushiro, what reason did Takahashi-taichou give for the transfer of Sei?" Hitsugaya looked up from his papers. "Hmmm? Sei? She was the one who wanted to transfer, her captain had nothing against it so he initiated it. Why?" She shook her head gently and laid back down on the sofa.

A few seconds later, she popped her head out of the edge of sofa again. "Toushiro?" He looked up from his papers again to give her his attention. "Yes"

"Do you know why she wanted to transfer?"

Hitsugaya took a sip of tea. "No, why don't you ask her." Momo frowned, "I don't need to: I already know why she wanted to transfer." She eyed Hitsugaya before lying back down onto the sofa.

A moment of silence passed between them before Momo popped her head out the edge of the sofa again.

"Toushiro." The corners of his lips curled up ever so slightly as he leaned into his chair. "Yes, Momo?" He folded his arms and looked at her. After a moment's contemplation, Momo shook her head gently. "Nothing."

"I should get back to the office now; I can just see the paperwork piling up."

Momo stood outside the ninth division headquarters and contemplated whether or not she should confront the captain or not. She hadn't originally planned to go see the captain at all but the idea occurred to her as she passed the building on her way back.

After thinking about it for a few minutes, she decided that perhaps it was not such a good idea to confront the captain about it. For one, she could have made the wrong assumptions. Hitomi, after all, hadn't finished her sentence. On top of that, if she was wrong and confronted him about it, she didn't think she'll ever be able to climb out of the hole she dug for herself. Secondly, Takahashi was a captain; it was not the vice-captain's place to question a captain's decisions.

She mentally applauded herself for thinking the situation through and not carrying through with her impulsive decisions that are otherwise deemed 'rash' by Hitsugaya. Shiro-chan would be so proud. She smiled and turned to walk away.

Her smile faded quickly when she realised that Takahashi-taichou was standing only a few feet away from her. He had obviously been looking at her; an amused expression was displayed across his features. Momo felt her body stiffen when he started walking towards her. She lowered her gaze in hope that he'll just walk straight past her. She should have known she wasn't that lucky: the captain stopped a foot short from her. She looked up reluctantly.

"Is something wrong, Hitsugaya-fukutaichou?" He asked, one eyebrow raised.

"No, sir."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir."

"Is there any reason in particular for you to be standing outside my division headquarters?"

"No, sir, I was just passing by."

"Does standing here for five minutes count as 'passing by'?"

Okay, what is with all these questions! "No, sir. I stopped to think about something, sir." The captain laughed. Momo looked at him weirdly. "Sir?"

"You haven't changed at all, Momo-san," he commented casually as he looked up at the sky as though he was reminiscing something.

"Excuse me, sir?" Momo was confused. Did she know him?

"We use to be very good friends, you and I. Unfortunately, due to some 'circumstances', we weren't allowed to continue our friendship."

Momo was taken aback. They were friends? Her curiosity took the better of her. "We were?"

He smiled a wistful smile and nodded. "Yes, it was a few months after The Betrayal. You were sent to supervise a group of students while they carried out their hollow training."

Her eyes widened. "You were one of the students?"

He chuckled at her surprised reaction and nodded. "Yes, I was."

Momo was impressed. "Wow, and now you are a captain!"

"Well, after that we became really good friends." Momo smiled then paused in thought.

"Why didn't you come visit me in the hospital then?" She asked curiously. Suddenly, as though realizing that she may have over stepped her lines as a vice-captain, she quickly moved her hands in an apologetic wave. "I didn't mean to be intrusive, sir."

Takahashi laughed heartily at her reaction. "It's okay, like I said, we're old friends. Believe me, I wanted to visit you, but then, as I said before, there are circumstances. I doubt that I would have been very welcome." He looked at her knowingly as he asked the next question, "You want to know what the circumstances are, don't you?"

A deep red crept up her cheeks and she lowered her eyes, nonetheless giving one firm nod. He laughed again and she looked up to watch him, backing up one step as he moved forward and brought his face dangerously close to hers; his voice was a whisper. "I liked you." He smiled a small smile and stepped away from her. "This, as you can imagine, did not go down too well with your husband." His gaze averted from her face to something behind her. "Didn't it, Hitsugaya-taichou?"

Momo turned around to see Hitsugaya standing a few mere metres away from them. "Hitsugaya-kun." He kept his gaze on Takahashi. Momo looked from one captain to another and swallowed; he wasn't joking about the tension. As soon as Takahashi broke off eye contact with Hitsugaya, Hitsugaya walked the remaining distance and stepped protectively in front of Momo, pushing her back gently as he did so. A smug expression appeared on Takahashi's face as he met Hitsugaya's icy eyes once more. "Hitsugaya-taichou." He greeted in a casual tone.

"Takahashi." He greeted back in an equally casual manner. He gave Takahashi a stern look of warning to stay away before leading Momo.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"Be careful of the ninth division captain, Momo," Hitsugaya warned when they got back to his office.

Momo looked quizzically at him. "Takahashi-taichou?"

"Yeah." His eyes narrowed in thought. There was something suspicious about the way Takahashi fought. Ever since the tournament, the image of his soul-slayer release constantly lingered on his mind. He had an uneasy feeling that Takahashi was more than he appeared to be.

Hitomi shuddered at the glint of anger in her friend's eyes. "She's so nosy! Besides, what was she doing at the tenth division HQ again anyway?" Sei sighed in frustration. "How can I possibly achieve my goals if she's constantly around-" Stopping mid-sentence, she tilted her head slightly as a solution occurred to her. If her problem resided in Hinamori being around too much, then naturally the solution would be to separate the two. Since emotionally was too much to ask for at this point, she guessed a physical separation would have to make do. But how was she going to achieve that?

I guess I'll have to pay a visit to my former Captain. She pushed herself off the wall and headed for the ninth division headquarters.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Watching Sei leave, Takahashi calmly took a sip of his tea. Insolent girl; did she believe that she was of that great an importance to have the audacity to demand help from him. He was beginning to think that involving her in his schemes was not the right move.

Although she did bring up a good point: the separation of the two was a good idea. His purpose, though, was entirely different from hers. If he was able to successfully separate the couple, it would make it easier for him to eliminate Momo, and thus take care of his biggest threat once and for all.

He put his hands on the desk and pushed himself out of the chair. It was time to contact Hueco Mundo.

"Oi, Matsumoto, finish these papers," Hitsugaya commanded as he held out a small pile of paper from his desk. Matsumoto climbed off the couch and took the papers from her captain. Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow. What, no complaint? He decided to go with this rare blessing; taking a sip of tea instead of his usual pert comments.

Matsumoto sighed. How could Ichigo loose his last volume of Naruto? She couldn't as well go to the living world just to scavenge for the last volume; besides, the manga was vintage now so even if she did go back she strongly doubted that she would find it. Damn Kurosaki-taichou. With her lips slightly curled down in a frown, Rangiku took the papers and turned to walk out the door.

Just as she turned, a flutter of black caught her eye and she turned to face it. Her eyes widened in mute surprise as she lifted a finger for the death butterfly to land on. "All captains are called to an emergency meeting commencing immediately." She turned to face her captain, "Emergency meeting?" she repeated.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Yamamoto-Soutaichou's voice echoed throughout the spacious hall. "There has been an alarming report from the special ops group. The shinigami in charge of the spirits in the Karakura district has been killed. The hollow that killed it has been identified as an ajuukaru. It's current location is unknown, however, the area must be searched and the ajuukaru eliminated. Since ajuukaru do not require someone of captain class to defeat them, three vice-captains will be sent in their stead. We are here to choose which three vice-captains should be sent. Does anyone wish to volunteer their vice-captain?"

"Wouldn't it be more efficient to also send someone who knows the area well?" Takahashi asked. The commander closed his eyes in thought before opening them. Giving a firm nod, he agreed with the idea. "Very well then, we shall send Kuchiki Rukia with the three vice-captains."

By the end of the meeting, it was decided, despite certain protests, that Matsumoto Rangiku of the tenth division, Hitsugaya Momo of the fifth division, Kotetsu Isane of the fourth division, and Kuchiki Rukia of the thirteenth division were to be sent to the living world for the task. Much of the decision made, to Ichigo's and Hitsugaya's annoyance, was a result of Takahashi's comments.

"Toushiro, where are you taking me?" Momo asked as she followed Hitsugaya through the shrubs and bushes. Hitsugaya seemed to take the news of her being sent to the living world hard. Even though he retained his usual demeanour of indifference, she knew he was worried about her going.

"Momo." His distant voice broke through her thoughts, and she realised that she had stopped moving, and that he had already gained a fair few steps ahead of her. Sighing, she pushed a tree branch out of her way and caught up to him in haste.

It was the training centre, and they weren't alone: Ichigo and Rukia were there, though they were, unsurprisingly, arguing.

"I don't need training! If you don't remember, I've being doing this way longer than you have," she reminded him firmly. Ichigo was unmoved.

"I'm not listening to a word you are saying," Ichigo declared loudly and stubbornly; he pointed at Rukia, "from now on, you are going to do everything I tell you to do, Kuchiki Rukia. All your complaints and objections will be dismissed! And right now, we are going to train."

"Like hell we are! I told you, I don't need training!" argued Rukia just as stubbornly, "And what kind of stupid logic is that? You will dismiss my objections? Feh!" Just when Momo thought it was not possible, an even larger vein popped out of Rukia's head when Ichigo started making loud noises to drown out her voice. They abruptly stopped their bickering when they realised that Toushiro and Momo was looking at them.

Ichigo straightened and folded his arms. "See, Momo didn't have to be dragged here to be trained. She's a model citizen." He muttered stubbornly.

"Huh? Trained?" Momo turned to look at Hitsugaya.

"Pft, she didn't even know," Rukia hissed back at Ichigo. His scowl deepened.

"Don't be too impulsive, Momo. Run if you have to. Don't-" Momo placed a finger on his lips to stop him.

"I know, Shiro-chan," she assured him, "You told me during training already." Shivering a little, she pulled the blanket up higher and snuggled closer to Hitsugaya. In truth, she was feeling quite nervous about this mission. She was sure that Hitsugaya was aware of it, but voicing it would cause him to be even more concerned. A small smile spread over her lips as she thought of his over-protectiveness over her.

She closed her eyes; the slow rhythmic beat of his heart calming her own wild one down.

And then it occurred to her. With her and Matsumoto out of the way, Sei would have an unblocked path to Hitsugaya. Hmpf, that devious little…girl.

"What's wrong?" Opps, that 'hmpf' must have been said out loud.

"Nothing," she assured lamely. Admitting something would just make her sound jealous and over-protective. She was not jealous, and she was not over-protective.

Feeling the expectant gaze directed at her, she sighed and reluctantly confessed. "With Rangiku-san gone, that would leave Sei as your next personal assistant." Okay, it was more of a statement, but who's evaluating?

Hitsugaya snorted. "Baka, you don't have to worry about that."

Momo's views were unchanged. "I can't help it: she's a worry."

A sudden feeling of dread overwhelmed her: a warning, as if it were, of impending danger. Her clutch on his robes tightened; her breathing became laboured. Then the visions came, perhaps of forgotten memories: she was running for what seemed like an eternity; something was after her; it caught her and broke her hand; she looked up but could not distinguish the face due to the fog, and then she was surrounded by cold, freezing water.

The images slowly disappeared and she was once again faced with the darkness of the night. She breathed deeply and heavily until her surroundings slowly became clear to her. It wasn't until her heat cooled down and she had stopped shaking that she realised that Hitsugaya was staring down at her; concern openly displayed on his face, and mainly in his eyes.

"I'm okay," she reassured him, "I think I was remembering something but…but it made no sense. It was just broken segments. I was running from my room and someone was chasing me. I couldn't see my attacker because of the fog; my wrist was broken. The last thing I remember was being thrown into freezing cold water." She rubbed her temples and looked at Hitsugaya.

So that was it. She was remembering what he and the others had desperately tried to figure out: the last few moments before she had been thrown into the water and lost her memory. He was determined to find out who her attacker was, for her safety, and for him to give the attacker a piece of his mind. "Are you sure you don't remember their face?" His voice, though gentle, did not lack eagerness.

Momo thought earnestly hard before nodding her head.

Lying back down beside her, he brought her closer to him. "How are you feeling now?" Momo yawned; a small smile graced her lips when she felt Hitsugaya's lips against her forehead. "Sleep," his voice was whisper soft but firm. Momo was more than happy to oblige.

"If I don't come back, Shiro-chan, don't go for Sei," she muttered sleepily before drifting off to sleep.

Hitsugaya grunted disapprovingly. "Baka, what do you mean "if I don't come back"?" He sighed at her sleeping form. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. It was as though she didn't have a dangerous mission to accomplish starting the next day. He pushed aside a stray hair.

"Goodnight, bed-wetter Momo." He tightened his grip on her as he mentally prepared himself for the next day.

End of Chapter 12

Again, sorry for the late review. Hadn't had much time. Plus my muse refuses to cooperate. Anway, for people still studying and doing exams: good luck!

Reviews would be great.