Secret Santa
Day Twelve~

Ukitake found himself heading towards the forth division to pick up Toshiro's Secret Santa gift. After dropping off the gift he would be heading to the fifth division in order to speak with Hinamori Momo about her behavior. He slipped into Gin's room, his smile coming half heartily. The younger silver haired man glanced up, then glanced away. "There was a time you would actually smile at me."

The man suddenly frowned, before moving the chair next to Gin's bed and sitting down. "I'm not going to lie to you that I have problems trusting you. It would be a bit easier perhaps if I knew what your intentions with Hitsugaya Taicho happened to be and whether or not there are ill intentions involved."

Gin remained silent for a few minutes, before speaking up. "How did Shiro-chan like yesterdays gift."

Ukitake let out a deep sigh. "He prefers gifts where someone hasn't spent a lot of money on him."

"That isn't surprising. He's not very accepting of the fact people are willing to spoil him a bit." The younger man choose not to look Ukitake in the face.

"Except..." The taicho of the thirteenth division felt his frown increase. "I honestly don't know if you're doing this because you want to actually spoil him a bit or if this is just a game for you that is going away after you've had your fun. You shouldn't string him along just because its getting you out of this depression your in. I'd rather he not be involved."

"It's honestly a bit late for that." Gin remained sitting in the bed and showed no signs of wanting to make conversation.

Ukitake stood up with the small package in his hand and headed to the door. "Another CD..."

When he got to the doorway, he found a voice calling out to him and causing him to look up and freeze right in the middle of the doorway. The fukutaicho of the fifth division was standing there, staring at him. "Aren't you coming from Ichimaru Gin's room?"

"Hello Hinamori! I was hoping to speak with you about Hitsugaya Taicho." The man could feel the corner of his mouth twitch slightly.

Momo frowned at him. "He wouldn't happen to be Shiro-chan's Secret Santa? He can't be! That man is a monster."

Ukitake chanced a look over his shoulder and noticed that Gin as ignoring the whole situation. Letting out a sigh, he grabbed Momo's shoulder and pulled her away from the room. "Can we go somewhere where we aren't disturbing Unohana Taicho's patients?" The small female opened her mouth to protest. "If we don't, we'll have her after us."

The small female gave in and they walked to the outskirts of the complex, a pout on her face. She folded her arms and glared at him. "I don't want him near Shiro-chan."

"That really isn't your choice but Hitsugaya Taicho's Hinamori. He can fend for himself you know and he's old enough to make his own mind up about things." The man tucked the package under his arm. "Speaking of which..."

"Don't change the subject!" Momo found her cheeks puffing up. "Ichimaru is a monster and he's only doing this for his own self gratification and he's going to hurt Shiro-chan when all is said and done. Can't you see that? I mean, why is anyone trusting him about this?"

"Unohana seems to trust him, she's the one who asked me to help with this." Ukitake swallowed, knowing full well he had his own reservations on the matter.

"But you don't trust him either." The small female's temper continued to rise. "I have a mind to tell him who his Secret Santa is!"

"Now don't you go doing that! While we have reason not to trust Ichimaru, we also don't know if his intentions are for sure bad. Plus, how will Hitsugaya Taicho feel if you told him?"

"How would he feel if he isn't told. Shiro-chan's going to be very upset when he finds out who it is!"

"Hitsugaya Taicho can take care of himself. He isn't a little child and needs to deal with these kinds of things on his own without anyone interfering." Ukitake found himself frowning at the girl, wondering why she was being so stubborn about the issue.

"I have a woman's society meeting I have to get to." Momo didn't notice the thirteenth division taicho flinch when she said this. "I came to grab Isane so we can head on over."

The man watched as the small female spun on her heals, heading off towards the woman's society in a major huff. A hand reached up to scratch his white head of hair in frustration. He then let out a deep sigh before heading off to the tenth division. The frown quickly faded when he saw that Toshiro was in a good mood and he handed off the package.

However, as the small taicho was opening said package, the frown came back while he thought about something. "While it is true that Hitsugaya Taicho has lifted spirits right now, he's not going to be happy about the outcome. Still, I wouldn't want to be the one to dampen his enjoyment. He actually thinks someone cares about him enough to go to such lengths as they have. Myself, I am not so sure."

"It is another CD. I also know what kind of music it is this time. The band does hard metal rock." Toshiro stated as he opened the CD to put it into his CD player. However, he suddenly paused and glanced up at Ukitake, giving that man a wide eyed look, almost as if he had been caught doing a childish act.

"You don't have to just listen to classical music. While this music isn't something I'm interested in, I know the fukutaicho of the ninth division is very interested in it." Ukitake stated, a smile suddenly appearing on his face again.

"Would Kurosaki be listening to this kind of music?"

"The substitute shinigami?" The man blinked a couple of times. "I would think so. This is popular among his age group down on earth." He watched as Toshiro shrugged his shoulders and began to put the headphones on. "Just be sure not to listen to the music to loud. Any music played to loudly isn't good for your ears."

"Thanks for letting me know that."

M

Momo's cheeks were puffed out as she walked with Isane to the woman's society meeting. The tall female found herself glancing nervously at Momo, not sure what was upsetting the much smaller female this time around. They arrived at the meeting and found the others were already there. Her sister ran up to her with a bright greeting, not noticing the fact Momo was upset.

Nanao however glanced away from writing on the chalk board while Matsumoto sprawled out on one of the tables looking rather miserable herself. "Whatever is the matter Hinamori Fukutaicho?"

"I found out that Ichimaru Gin is Shiro-chan's Secret Santa." The words came blurting out of Momo's mouth with no thought.

The fukutaicho of the eighth division found her face suddenly paling. "Ichimaru? He's the one whose been..."

Soifon glanced between everyone. "What is this whole Secret Santa business?"

Kiyone blinked a couple of times. "I just knew that my taicho has been delivering them."

"I knew..." Isane spoke up. "I don't have a problem with it because Unohana Taicho approved the whole thing in the first place. I am sure that she wouldn't have approved it if there was a good reason not to."

"I knew it was him as soon as I saw that book he gave taicho. It's from his own personal collection. He's not giving me any answers. On top of this, taicho has taken to visiting him and having lunch with him." Matsumoto remained sprawled out on the table. "I've told taicho I don't want him getting involves with G... that man, but he says it isn't any of my business."

"I don't see how this isn't our business. Couldn't you just tell Ichimaru to stop all of this?" Nanao frowned at Rangiku. She then pushed her glasses up. "I certainly am not pleased with having been dragged into this."

"I've told him to stop when I found out about the book, but..." Rangiku sat up. "... taicho is enjoying himself for once. He's actually smiling, something he doesn't do very often. He also... I have to admit, is enjoying his visits with G... that man. I've only seen him like this with Kurosaki Ichigo. He's thriving on it. I know he is eventually going to have to find out, but it has also been doing him some good. I won't take that away from him. I'd rather let him do it."

"But... I don't agree with not telling him." Momo found herself clutching her robes.

Soifon began to tap her fingers. "What if he is doing this to get back at you or to try and win you back by spoiling your taicho?"

"I already yelled at him about that. He says he has no reason to get back at me and that he doesn't expect to win me back." Rangiku pinched the bridge of her nose. "It is better that I have this stress then my taicho. He doesn't know how that fox really is."