Secret Santa
Day Sixteen~

Sun shown down upon the wooden walkway of the tenth division. Small feet walked across the wooden floor. The person turned around the corner and saw a silver haired man sitting on the pathway out of Matsumoto Rangiku's room. The man was reading a book and the person walked over and knelt down to look at the title of the book. The gold title read Oliver Twist.

A frown spread across the boy's face and he tugged at the fukutaicho badge he wore around his neck. "We haven't finished reading the other book Ichimaru."

The man suddenly pulled the book down, reveling a fox like smile and narrowed eyes. "I'm reading this book for my own enjoyment."

"Could we read that book next?" A small finger pointed at the book.

The man continued with that strange look of his. "I don't get why you enjoy hearing me read out loud to ya. You like me or something?"

"Of course not. You're Matsumoto's friend and I like being read to, so you can't be that bad of a person." The boy wrapped his arms around his knees "What is that book about? Can we read that book next?"

The man suddenly frowned. "Little kids think in the strangest ways, don't they?"

"I'm not a little kid! I'm a fukutaicho you know."

"Oh, I know that Shiro-chan. You still say some interesting things." The man pulled the book up. "No. We aren't going to be reading this book next?"

"Eventyaually? Can you promise we'll read it eventually? Taicho likes listening to you read out loud too you know. And what is that book about?"

Gin pulled the book down. "I promise that I'll eventually read this book to you if you promise not to read it until I do. You need to be older for this one."

"Why?" The boy looked straight into the pale teal eyes that normally were hidden from him.

The man simply pulled the book back up. "Because the book has a special meaning you'll understand when you're older."

M

Toshiro found himself sitting up straight, his fever having broken. He brushed a stray lock of hair away from his face. "I remembered I had always never had the problems with Ichimaru like others did, but I forgot that he uses to sometimes read to me."

"Possibly because he didn't have many chances to read to you because of his duties as a captain. And then you had more duties once you were a captain yourself."

The small taicho walked over to his shelf and turned on the small reading lamp. He pulled the book off the shelf. He opened I up to the cover and read the message that was written on the inside of the cover.

I picked this book out for you because I think you can relate to Oliver's situation as you've gone through a similar situation yourself. I know that the book is used and worn around the edges, but it was important to me for you to have this particular copy of this book.

"He remembered." Toshiro blinked a couple of times as he swallowed, glancing up at Rangiku's room before glancing back down at the book. "Ichimaru never does something without a reason. If he is going to play games with people he is straight forward about it. So I don't have reason to doubt his word when he says he has a reason for me to have this book."

He then lay onto his stomach and turned the book to where he left off and began to read without stopping. It was almost morning when the door between his room and Rangiku's suddenly opened. "Taicho! Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"My fever broke. I'm relaxing and not stressing myself out by reading a book." The small taicho turned another page without looking up at her

"What book are... taicho!" Toshiro glanced up at that explanation to see her looking at him with a rather horrified look on her face. She walked over and knelt in front of him, placing her hands on his. "I thought I got rid of all the stuff he gave you! I don't need him stressing you out. You'll just end up hurt again."

The white haired child pulled the book underneath him so she couldn't take it away. "I didn't give you permission to take everything back. That was not your decision to make."

The woman let out a deep sigh. "So you're angry at me for telling him no more?"

Two bright teal eyes suddenly looked up at her, a frown spreading on the child's face. "You didn't have the right to say anything about that either. If you don't want me to get sick from becoming stressed out then just keep Hinamori away from me instead."

"What are you talking about?" Rangiku suddenly touched her shoulder. "I promise I won't take your book away. Just tell me what is going on."

Toshiro let out a deep sigh. "Hinamori's the one who told me Ichimaru was my Secret Santa."

"Well... wasn't it because you were upset finding out he's... well, you know."

"No. I tried getting her to talk to me about what went on during the Winter War again. She'd picked up my gift from that day and when she got angry she slammed it down on my desk. I got mad at her for that and I made the mistake of saying that..." Toshiro closed his eyes and buried his head into his arms.

He felt Rangiku touch the back of his head to calm him down. "What did you say?"

"It's just, I know everyone is going to say there is no way that Ichimaru cares about me one way or another. I honestly don't care one way or another, but I honestly believed someone cared enough for me to do this Secret Santa business. When I told her I believed that she told me that the person behind it didn't care. That's when she told me who it was."

"She..."

"And that isn't all that happened. I tried grabbing the present from her and the packaging ripped. She then told me that I adored him like she did Aizen and I was no different from her. Can I get back to reading my book? I'd like to be able to go and visit him for lunch today if I feel up to it. I think I'll also be taking a few days off."

"Yeah... sure." A few minutes later however she came back. "Taicho... Ukitake Taicho is coming to see you. You should possibly get dressed."

"Uh-huh." Toshiro didn't notice as Rangiku bit her lip and she suddenly found herself tugging him into a sitting position. His eyes were glued to the book as she tugged off the dirty night clothing and then pulled on a fresh uniform. Ukitake came around the corner as she was doing this.

"Good afternoon Hitsugaya Taicho. I was hoping you would feel up to some sweets." The man stated.

"Good afternoon Ukitake." The small taicho only had a few pages left. "Thank you for the sweets."

"You seem to be enjoying your book. It has been awhile since you've been able to read a full book all the way through." The white haired taicho watched as Toshiro shut the book and then look right at the man while Rangiku pulled on the small haori.

"Is Ichimaru giving up on the whole Secret Santa thing because Rangiku told him to?"

"He..." The man closed his eyes and let out "He's back to not eating anything. He's under the assumption you wanted it to end though."

Toshiro frowned before moving to where he could put his sandals on. "I apologize for not being a good host Ukitake, but I think I should go see him."

"No... it is all right. I'm personally glad you're handling this better then I thought you would."

The small taicho pulled the book under his arm. "Thank you for worrying about me. Also, thank you for not making a big deal out of what he's doing in relation to me. Even if his intentions aren't good I think it is wrong not to give him a chance."

"That's one of the things that make you who you are. Just be sure not to push yourself too much and make yourself sick again."

"I won't." Toshiro then headed towards the forth division, hearing as he left Rangiku saying something to the thirteenth division taicho about how her small taicho wasn't exactly pleased wit h her. He went into Ichimaru's room and saw the man in the window looking out. Letting out a deep sigh, he held out the book. "Ichimaru..."

The man glanced up and looked at the book, taking it from Toshiro. "So you're wanting me to take this back too?"

"No... I didn't." Toshiro closed his eyes. "Look, I didn't ask Matsumoto to bring those things back. I didn't mean to say the things I did the other day either. I've been looking forward to the Secret Santa gifts from you and I didn't want it to end. The person I was upset with was Hinamori and I really don't want to talk about that."

"Can I ask why you're handing me the book then?"

"Because you promised a long time ago to read the book to me."

Gin suddenly startled and looked at the boy with his pale teal eyes. "You remember that? I spent very little time with you."

"I know that I promised not to read the book until then, but the note you left in the front of the book tells me you wanted me to read it before I figured out you were doing this. Maybe you were hoping I would remember something like I have."

The man opened the book up and looked at his own note. "I wasn't hoping that you would remember anything or not."

"Can I ask what it is you want from me and why you're doing this?" Toshiro glanced away.

"I don't want anything from you. I don't expect you to forgive me or even open up to me." Ichimaru suddenly stood up and head over to the bed in the room and sat down.

"I guess the better question would be whether or not you care about me. I won't be upset if you say no, but I think I would like to get an answer." The boy glanced up to see that Gin had stopped from pulling a box from underneath the bed. The man simply set the book on top of the bed.

"These are the things Rangiku brought by, not to mention the present from yesterday and the day before are in there." The silver haired man handed a package shaped like a CD and a small box. "The smaller package was supposed to be yesterdays but you may want to open it up."

"Ichimaru..." The boy narrowed his own eyes at the man.

"You want an answer to your question and to be honest you deserve one." Gin folded his legs onto the bed. "If I were to say yes at this point in time there are a few people who would misinterpret that as meaning I'm a pedophile so I would like to answer that question at a later date. I think it is something you're smart enough to figure out on your own."

"Uh huh." Toshiro sat down on the bed and glared at the man. "I heard from Ukitake that you weren't eating the last couple of days. You weren't upset that I told you I hate you and some of the other things happened?"

"No... I knew you didn't mean it." Ichimaru let out a laugh. "You could say I had a few other things on my mind. Don't worry about it. When you open the presents I'll start reading. Though I do need Ukitake to still deliver them."

"I'll just pretend after today that I don't know yet." The small taicho opened up the small box and found a set of relaxation balls. The other item was a CD. Gin then handed him a bigger package that was for that day. The small taicho opened it up and found himself looking at a big book. When he opened up the pages, he found sketches of him and Rangiku, some of which were of younger versions then he was familiar with.

"Did you draw these Ichimaru?" Toshiro glanced up, but Gin simply opened the book and began to read.