Disclaimer: Bleach is not mine.
Chapter 1: Bed-wetter Momo
"Good night, Hinamori," grandmother said gently at the foot of the bedroom door.
"Oyasumi, obaa-san," Hinamori murmured sleepily from her futon, snuggling to her blanket as much as possible. It had been an exhausting day of playing with the other children in the town, and now she was more than ready for a good night's rest. Hinamori heard the elderly woman close the door and shuffle off into her own room. Immediately, Hinamori shifted in bed and looked through the darkness for the room's other occupant.
"Shiro-chan? I know you're awake," Hinamori whispered in a playful sort of tone.
A couple of feet away, a scraggly, white-haired boy turned to face his longtime friend.
"How did you know I wasn't sleeping?" Hitsugaya asked crankily as he ran a hand through his hair, making it messier than it was a moment before.
Hinamori let out a giggle as she walked to sit down next to him. "I know for a fact that you snore when you sleep. I heard you the last time I slept over."
Was that true?
Hitsugaya sprang up from his bed on the floor and went into defensive mode. "I don't snore!" he protested.
"How would you know if you don't? After all, people don't know what they do in their sleep unless other people tell them," Hinamori replied cheerfully, knowing that she would win this little argument.
Hitsugaya thought hard for a minute to find a way to get back at Hinamori, but to his dismay, he couldn't find anything insulting to say. With a "hmph", Hitsugaya laid back on his futon and covered his blanket over his head.
Hinamori frowned. "Mou…" Her dearest friend could be so cold sometimes, she thought as she watched the young boy's chest gently rise and fall as he inhaled and exhaled.
"Shiro-chan…" Hinamori said playfully, reaching out for the white hair that she loved to play with so much. But before Hitsugaya could reply, they heard grandmother's door open. Not having enough time to scamper back to her own futon, Hinamori lay down next to Hitsugaya and pretended to be sleeping. Hinamori heard grandmother softly tut as she checked on the two children.
"Now how did she get all the way there?"
Listening to her surroundings, Hinamori realized that grandmother picked up Hinamori's futon and brought it over to where she was laying down. She soon felt her bed underneath her and a blanket on top. As soon as Hinamori sensed that grandmother left, she cuddled closer to her young friend.
"I'm cold, Shiro-chan," she said sleepily.
"And you're too close for comfort," Hitsugaya answered back a few moments later.
Hinamori was too tired to start an argument. "Oyasumi, Shiro-chan."
If Hitsugaya returned the greeting, Hinamori did not hear because as soon as she uttered those words, she drifted off to sleep.
Late the following morning, Hitsugaya woke up to find Hinamori still fast asleep. However, a few moments later, Hitsugaya realized that while they were sleeping, they had moved closer to each other. Getting to the point, Hinamori's face was perhaps centimeters away from his own. Too close for comfort yet again. Hitsugaya looked up at the ceiling to resist himself from looking at her sleep. But that didn't change the fact that Hinamori was still right there next to him. Even in her sleep, Hinamori couldn't stay away from him, huh?
Some time later, Hitsugaya sensed Hinamori stir.
"Are you okay?'
Hinamori was now awake and looking at Hitsugaya with a curious expression on her face.
"You're too close, baka," Hitsugaya said crossly.
Hinamori looked a little hurt by Hitsugaya's comment, but shifted back onto her own futon.
But something didn't feel right.
She stood up to see if there was anything wrong with her futon. Upon seeing that nothing looked strange, she pulled back her blankets.
"Aiee! Obaa-san!" Hinamori screamed, throwing her blankets onto the floor as she fled from the room.
Displeased with the interruption, Hitsugaya sat up quite frustratedly. "I get no peace when I'm with you, do I, Momo?" he shouted in the bedroom door's direction.
Curious as to what had made Hinamori scream, he leaned over to pick up the blanket Hinamori had cast on the floor. A few moments later, a mischievous grin spread across his face.
"Oi! Bed-wetter Momo! You have some laundry to do!"