Title: Paperwork
Rating: G
Characters/Pairings: HitsugayaxHinamori
Word Count: 568
Warnings: Spoilers that slick over the whole SS fiasco
Summary: Hitsugaya ponders over the meaning of paperwork.
A/N: Have you ever noticed that Hitsugaya is always doing paperwork. The poor kid is swimming in it every time we see him. So I figure, well, he might as well get something out of it. .:snicker:.
----------
Hitsugaya had always been one to finish his paperwork. He would meticulously labor over the never-ending pile of documents, patiently and thoroughly completing each one before advancing to the next. He never complained, never shirked his duty as captain of the tenth when it came to his responsibilities, and paperwork was no exception. He saw it as a necessary component, and more often, an unconventional means of stress relief and quality reflection time. He would find a rhythm, letting his hand fly across the paper of its own accord, subconsciously absorbing the material and making the appropriate actions with barely a thought. It was during these times he would lose himself in his own mind, his sundry thoughts flickering like fireflies, barely alighting on the papers in front of him.
When Soul Society was thrown into chaos, paperwork became his escape, the one constant in his life that would never change. Even when it felt as though his world was crashing down around him, it was crashing down around the paperwork stacked neatly on his desk, waiting to be reviewed and marked, like it always was and always would be. It was a relief to have that distraction, in which he could focus solely on each letter, word, and page. That way, he wouldn't have to feel the emotions that threatened to envelope him.
When Hinamori finally woke up, his ubiquitous paperwork became the obstacle blocking his path. Those piles of eternally essential documents became mocking in place of soothing, preventing him from spending precious time with Hinamori. They kept him in his office when his mind was elsewhere, caught in the part of his heart that belonged to the little girl with wide eyes and lost innocence. His perfunctory paperwork had lost all of its charm, becoming one of the most dreaded aspects of his day and taunting him with an endless chain of nefarious pages.
When Hinamori accepted, even asked, for him at her side, that paperwork became even more unbearable. He could never concentrate, letters swirling together on the page until he had to throw down his quill and find the object of his thoughts. Hinamori would dissolve his restlessness, chide him for shrugging his duty, and then shoo him off to complete the excruciating paperwork. He would swim through it all day, knowing he would not see her again until the moment he finished. When, after much sighing and eye twitching, he finally conquered the villainous sheets of document doom, he would bolt out the door, physically and mentally escaping the inexorable stacks until they appeared again the next day to do battle.
When Hinamori gave him the love he so agonizingly waited for, the paperwork suddenly, against all expectations, became an excellent excuse. Hinamori would casually visit the tenth division headquarters and he would lock the door, close the blinds, and do "paperwork". The division members quickly learned never to bother the taichou when he was doing his ever-important paperwork. Even Matsumoto seemed to learn some tact, finding excuses to stay out of the office when her taichou had "paperwork, stacks and stacks of paperwork". At least, most of the time she found excuses, and the rest of the time involved a very red-faced taichou and bashful Hinamori.
Hitsugaya figured that paperwork would always be a part of his life.
But that didn't mean that it always had to have the same connotation.
----------
END
