A/N: This is a sequel to my previous entry I Will Always Protect You However and yes, this is another of my entries for the HitsuHina...:)

30th December

Day 5: Snow Day

Title: Kiss and Make-up

Summary: It's a snow day and Momo wants to help Toshiro relieve some stress by playing snowball fight along with Ichika Abarai and Nemu Kurotsuchi but Toshiro does something stupid and now he has to apologise...

Shinji Hirako shot his head up at the noise of his room's door being banged like crazy. Thanks to the defeat of Yhwatch and the new leadership of Captain Commander Rukia Abarai, the world has become peaceful enough for him to be able to enjoy a lazy nap on this serene but boring snowy-afternoon. And seriously, he is not in the mood of seeing some idiot screwing-up his beauty sleep. Whoever is at the door, has just earned themselves a long, chiding lecture.

He lazily pulled open the door and was (surprisingly) greeted by Rangiku Matsumoto, the Vice-Captain of the 10th Division. For some reason, she had an extremely bright smile plastered on her already cheerful expression. Experience has taught him that such glowing faces and eerie smiles are never a sign of something good. Still, he can't forget his etiquettes as a captain.

So he greeted her politely, "Good Afternoon, Vice-Captain of-"

"Captain Hirako! I apologize for disturbing your nap but can you please inform me about the whereabouts of your Vice-Captain?" She asked, cutting straight to the point.

For an instance, he was shocked by her knowledge about taking a nap but then he snapped out of it and asked, "And what business do you have with my cute Vice-Captain?"

Rangiku was very excited to put her plan into action. A few days ago she had seen an interaction between her Captain and the Vice-Captain of the 4th Division. They were simply out on a shopping trip when the intensity of the conversation between her Captain and Ms. Hinamori changed. Since it escalated to a different level, she decided to leave the two of them alone. But as she watched from the sidelines, she noticed the meaningful glances that the two of them gave each-other. She had experienced the same with Gin and she knows that strict action must be taken before its too late. And who better to play the matchmaker than she herself?

She smiled again when she found Momo sitting casually in the barracks of the 3rd Division, idling away her time in the company of Izuru Kira and Shuhei Hisagi.

"Vice-Captain Hinamori!" She called out cheerfully.

Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya had been having a really hard time handling his division's files because of the presence of two small nuisances in his room, namely Ichika Abarai (That's right! The daughter of the new Captain Commander) and Nemu (The latest version created by that weirdo Mayuri). As explained by Rangiku, Captain Commander Rukia is busy running some errands in the Human World and won't be able to take Ichika with her. Thus, Rukia personally asked Rangiku to take care of her young daughter of 12. And as for Nemu, Mayuri simply decided to send the 9-year old little thing to one of the most hard-working captains of the Gotei 13 so that she'll be able to learn a few things.

To his utter dismay, both of the girls have been irritating him to no end. Ichika who has been behaving like a naughty, little spoiled-brat, has been scurrying about from place to place, examining every single object inside his room. On the other hand, although Nemu has been obediently sitting next to him on a tatami mat, she has been continuously questioning him about things as silly as his sleeping patterns. Seriously, he is only 17 and he doesn't want to go through the experience of babysitting two young girls.

He slammed his palms on his oak desk in order to silence the two girls and begin with his scolding when he heard a clicking noise. Immediately, he turned his head to face the door to his room, whose knob had been twisted open by none other than his childhood friend Momo Hinamori. He sighed on seeing her smiling face and returned his attention to the two girls already present inside his room. Wait! Momo? What is she doing here?!

"What are you doing here?" He asked directly.

She looked dejected by his straightforward behaviour but quickly covered it up by another one of her smiles. She realised that he must be getting disturbed with his paperwork due to the girls. "I thought you might need some help."

"Momo née-chan!" Ichika exclaimed happily and ran towards the older girl to give her a hug, which was returned by Momo with equal joy. Nemu, having noticed the exchange got up from Toshiro's side and performed a repeat of Ichika's hug.

Momo is well-aware of Toshiro's dislike for younger kids and decided to help him with the situation, "Say you two," she bent down to look at the two younger girls, "It's a beautiful snow day. Would you girls mind having a round of a Snowball Fight with me?"

Like an object designed to perform the action asked of it, Nemu agreed instantly. Ichika however, nodded once and glanced at Toshiro, "Toshiro nii-san will join us too?"

"Yes!"

"No!"

Both of them responded at the same time. They looked at each-other and it was Toshiro who chose to break the silence, "I have a lot of paperwork to do. So…no, I won't join you guys in your silly game."

"Silly Game?!", yelled Momo. Had it been some other day, she would've surely let him get away with such rude words. But today, he must not forget that she is sacrificing her free time to assist him with the task of handling two young girls. If there's anyone who'll back down today, then its going to be him.

"Well I think someone used to enjoy that silly game as a child!" She reminded him of his own childhood.

"Now don't try to go so far! Can't you see? I'm busy!" He shot back.

Those words felt like a stab in her chest. Ofcourse she knows he is busy. Ofcourse she knows that his aggression gets the better of him. And ofcourse she knows that having two kids around is making it even worse but…all throughout her life, she has never once heard him talk with such anger to her. This is the first time that he has unleashed his wrath on her. She wanted to let him be because she understands how busy he is but even as she tried to fake another smile, two fresh tears glided down her porcelain cheeks, making her turn away from him.

"Sorry girls..I guess we'll have to play some other day…" She spoke shakily and left the room.

All the while, the icy-white-haired young man stood dumbfound. He hadn't expected that she would get this upset over such a small matter. But still, he shouldn't have yelled at her when he did. He should've kept himself from speaking instead. Atleast..that would've avoided any arguments…

"Kiss her" suggested the young, red-haired miniature version of Renji and Rukia Abarai.

His face began tinging red at that and he asked, "What are talking about?"

"It's called a lovers' spat." Ichika answered.

"Lovers' Spat?" Nemu questioned confusedly.

"Yes! My parents argue a lot over petty issues like these. They call it a 'lovers' spat'. They say that the best way to make-up after a fight is to kiss and forget." As Ichika explained, little Nemu kept nodding her head in understanding.

Toshiro on the other hand paled. "You're getting it wrong, kid. We're not even lovers-"

"Does it matter? Besides she won't forgive you. Not without a kiss atleast. I've seen my mum and she is such a drama queen." Ichika said with pure confidence reflected both in her words and her eyes.

"She's not going to get mad." Toshiro spoke, trying to convince himself.

"Oh really?" Ichika folded her arms and quirked one of her brows to create a dramatic pose.

"Shit!" muttered the Captain of the 10th Division before taking off in search of his dear friend, the two girls following right behind.

.

.

.

On reaching the barracks of the 4th Division he didn't stop but kept on running until he reached the chamber of the vice-captain. There, he felt lucky that the door of the room was left ajar instead of being locked. He entered quietly, trying his level best to keep his feet from making any sound. On the contrary, the girls stayed next to the door because they didn't want to get involved in any arguments.

Even though she didn't turn around to face him, Momo knew that he was there. And so, as he inched closer towards her, she spoke-up, "Leave…"

He can swear this on his loads of paperwork that her voice sounded shaky and meek. Also, if he hadn't been in such proximity, he wouldn't have even heard her request. And who is to blame for this behaviour? Him ofcourse! If only he wouldn't have yelled over a silly matter like that and tried to talk to her humbly. But no, he just had to go all out and shout at her for no damn reason.

"Momo-"

"Shiro-kun, I..I understand that you are busy..and you don't have time to frolic around…So..I..I…" She trailed-off as a few more tears descended down her cheeks. Sobbing, she hastily wiped them off her face, "Look..just leave."

Now he was surprised. She knows that he shouldn't have behaved with her in the way that he did and yet, she is still trying to excuse his actions by saying that he is busy? This is such..such a Momo-like thing to do— scourge around for the good in everyone's bad and then forgive them for their mistakes. But no, he wouldn't let her be this generous to him, especially when he had been acting like a top-notch jerk. He will make a proper apology to be worthy enough of her forgiveness.

"Momo-"

"Please Shiro-kun." She pressed.

"Momo listen-"

"Just let me be, okay!" She sobbed, ignoring him again.

He craned his head to the side in defeat and his eyes fell upon the two girls standing by the door. Ichika silently mouthed a 'kiss her' to him whilst Nemu made some fist pumps, urging him to go on. He looked hesitant at first but he did just that. Afterall, there's no harm in trying, right? He placed a hand on the sulking girl's shoulder and made her face him. Her eyes widened yet before she could even gasp properly, he crashed his lips onto her's.

It was a simply, chaste kiss and he pulled back after a few moments, wondering if it really worked. Wide, chocolate brown irises met dark, teal ones and they both looked away, hiding their respective reddened faces.

"I'm sorry okay?" He muttered, unable to face her because of the embarrassment of the kiss.

She was also at a loss of words. There was just no proper way to respond to his sudden act. Momo was quite happy that her stubborn, childhood friend actually came all this way just to apologise to her. She could no longer find it in herself to stay mad at him but she just had no idea about how she must state her acceptance of his apology. Therefore, she did the first random thing that came into her mind and quickly pecked him on the lips.

Now this is something that the captain of the 10th division hadn't expected in return. He faced her again, expecting to witness that endearing smile of her's. Instead his dazed, teal orbs clashed with her equally clouded brown ones. Slowly his gaze lowered to her pouting, pink lips and he recalled how soft they had felt against his own. Anxious of his intense stare, she bit on her lower lip and that did it for him. He snaked an arm around her petite waist and used his other one to tilt her face at a better angle, finally capturing her lips into a much more heated kiss. Why? Because well..he wanted to and..she, instead of stopping him, encircled her arms around his neck.

"..and so, they kissed for a third time." Little Nemu explained to the group of Captains with the gestures of her small hands. Behind her, young Ichika Abarai nodded her head in agreement.

"Heh! Really now?" Soi Fon asked the kid in mock surprise.

"No way…you're kidding, right?" exclaimed Yumichika.

Madarame Ikkaku downed another mug of his alcoholic beverage and spoke, "Ofcourse she's kidding! She's a kid afterall!"

"She is not just a kid." whispered Mayuri in an agitated tone.

"She is speaking the truth though. I am an eye-witness." added Shinji Hirako, drinking from his own mug.

"Seriously?!" Shuhei asked, all the while exchanging a knowing-look with Rangiku.

"Yep! He was in my divisions and so..I just..Well lets just say that I didn't want to miss the show" Shinji winked at his companions in a suggestive manner.

"Now look you two", Zaraki Kenpachi addressed Madarame and Yumichika, the favourite guys in his division and continued, "that kiddo managed to snag away a girl even before you two. You must not-"

Byakuya Kuchiki interrupted, "Momo-san is not Toshiro-kun's girlfriend, so stop calling her 'his girl'."

"I never said that she is 'his girl'! And besides, I don't remember anyone asking for your opinions!" Zaraki fired back.

All the while, Rangiku kept giggling to herself. Words can't even express how happy she is at the success of her plan. She had been the one who asked Momo-chan to help her Captain because she thought that it may heat-up the things a bit. But it is thanks to those kids, who unknowingly did an even better job by adding the 'Kiss and Make-up' thing. Her Captain's love-life has become a hot topic for discussion at today's dinner table. Too bad both her Captain and Momo-san have decided to skip today's meal out of having to face the embarrassment about their deeds. They have locked themselves up in their respective rooms and won't be facing each-other for a while after suddenly engaging in a passionate kiss.

Ah! She must admit, this has been the best snow-day of Rangiku's life…

A/N: Okay, seriously this didn't turn-out as I had expected it to. Please bear with it…:D

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~Manika