Chapter 5 – Shinigami Training, Pt 3
After crying on the old man's shoulder for a good five minutes, I pulled away and wiped the leftover tears from my cheeks. I looked around me to see that we were no longer in my apartment.
"Where are we?" I asked, sniffling. "Great. Just what I need. I'm in a place that I don't recognize and I look like a royal mess."
"Look closely and you will see that we are in my office and living quarters, child," Oldies said. "I will be taking over your overall training from now on. Captain, you are hereby relieved of your training duties to this young lady. Lieutenant, go back and look over her friends and their families until further notice. Ichigo, I need you to fill out some paperwork. I am going to have to pull some strings to get you into the General position for the American Soul Society until this young lady here is ready. You are dismissed, gentlemen."
The look on Ichigo's face was absolutely priceless. I almost laughed but I got choked up on the tears I just got finished letting out. That's when I noticed the desk in one corner and a few beds in the opposite corner from the desk. I smiled at my crappy observation skills. I went to ask if Shiro could stay. Unfortunately, he beat me to it.
"If you don't mind, General, I would like to stay with Hatake. I would like to talk to her about something that she said before your untimely arrival. I promise that it won't take long. Afterwards, I will be on my way to my quarters."
"Of course, Captain. I have paperwork of my own to finish."
The much older Shinigami left us and shuffled over to his desk. I looked over at the midget with a cocked eyebrow as if to say, What do you want to talk about?
"What you said earlier got me thinking about something. It's a feeling that I have felt toward only one other woman in my life. She is currently the acting Captain of the Fifth Division. After she took the position, I never got to see her as often only because she doesn't have an acting lieutenant. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that you are the only other woman apart from her that could melt the ice around my heart. However, you have melted more than she ever could."
"Oh, Shiro," I whispered pulling the shorter man into a tight hug.
He hesitantly wrapped his arms around my waist and balled his fists into the back of my top. He began trembling and I heard a choked sob escape his lips. I sat down hard, pulling him with me. I'm not real sure how long we sat there like that but I was startled out my thoughts when General Yamamoto cleared his throat.
"What do I do, General?"
"Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya, I do believe that you are in love with my young steed here. Take her back to your quarters and get to know the girl. I knew this day would come. That is why I sent you to her, young man. Make sure he doesn't do anything that he might regret later."
He winked at that last comment. I smiled at him and Shiro helped me to stand after letting me go. The soft look in those emerald ice-green orbs clenched at my heart in more ways than one. He grabbed my right hand and laced our fingers together.
"Thank you, General," he muttered. "I guess that this means that we are dating now, right, Hatake?"
"Call me Alex, Shiro," I told him.
He smiled and led me to his quarters in the Tenth Division building.
Upon our arrival, I saw the strawberry blonde from the soccer game draped over a table asleep. I noticed the bottle by her left elbow and guessed that she had drunk a little too much sake and was sleeping a hangover off. I moved to lay a hand on her shoulder but Shiro held me back.
"Leave her be. She's always getting drunk. Or at least has been since Gin left. She must have been waiting for me to get back. My personal room is this way, Alex. When she comes too, she will have a massive headache on top of all the paper work that I need her to do. Come on."
I followed the genius ice wielder to a room with a door marked HITSUGAYA TOSHIRO, Captain. I smiled at my lover when he closed the door behind me. A small smile graced his small features.
"So what now?" I asked. "General Yamamoto told us to get to know each other on a much more personal level. I guess that this where we start talking about our more personal lives. However, being that you already know everything I can remember, this is where you come in and tell me about you. So start talking, Shorty."
He grew up in Junrinan, which was considered the First District of Rukongai, with his grandmother and the girl from the Fifth Division, Momo Hinamori. He also claimed a friendship with the West Gate Keeper, Jidanbo, who in turn taught him the "city rules." He never got along well with others, the two main exceptions being his Grandmother and Momo. He and Momo would always tease each other with the names Little Shiro (which is appropriate) and Bed Wetter Momo. He always claimed to have had dreams about a plain of ice which he believes is where he died in a previous life. Then Momo left for the Soul Reaper Academy. Five years after that was when he met Rangiku Matsumoto, the woman asleep on the table in the dining area. She was having an argument with a merchant over some change when she felt his spiritual pressure. That night he had another dream about the same plane of ice only this time he claims to have met the spirit that resides in his sword. Matsumoto scolded him for not keeping his power under control because he was unwittingly freezing his grandmother. So she pushed him into joining the ranks of students at the Academy. He graduated earlier than his peers and is known as a child genius. He quickly rose through the ranks until he reached the position that he was in as Captain of the Tenth Division, making him Matsumoto's superior officer.
"So, that's it in a nutshell? Your life was so much more exciting than mine ever was."
"Yes. And until I met you, I always thought that I would spend the rest of my life chasing after Momo Hinamori. Now that I have you…"
He nuzzled my cheek and found my ticklish spot just under my bottom rib. I giggled before turning my head enough until our lips met in a passionate kiss. His mouth worked mine until I let his tongue have admittance into my mouth. His tongue traced everything while his hands rubbed along my waist. I was the first to pull away.
"Maybe this is taking it a little too fast," I mumbled. "We really should take it a little…slower…"
His hands were starting to roam along my waist and running along the tops of my thighs, his mouth reclaiming mine in another passionate kiss. I gave in, moaning into his mouth and straddled his hips. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer, and buried my hands in his spiky white hair. I pulled away when I heard a knock on the door. I went to go answer it but Shiro speed stepped around me. It was Rangiku.
"Yes, Matsumoto? Get as much done tonight as you can. I'll finish it up tomorrow. I know that you have a headache but I will have a bigger one than you if you even try worming your way out of it. Now go on and leave me alone for the night."
He shut the door and leaned against the dark wood. I mouthed the word FINALLY and waved him to me.
"You know what, Alex? Let's get some sleep. I, personally, am exhausted. I don't know about you, but I need my sleep. There is a bathroom and fresh sleeping garments in that corner for you to use. I'll be right here waiting for you, my love."
I smiled as he pressed a soft kiss to the palm of my left hand. I kissed him on the forehead to see if I could get a reaction. He snorted and pushed me toward the indicated bathroom.
"Go get clean before I kick you out to the locals," he ordered.
I laughed at my accomplishment in getting a decent reaction out of him. I looked in the corner for some decent pajamas but all I could find was a short and sheer looking nightgown. I rolled my eyes, threw it back in the pile and grabbed some clean underwear. After shutting the door behind me, I leaned against it and let out the second sigh of the last three days.
Why me? Dear God, why me? Why did you make me fall in love with the short stack freak? I would have been happy with Renji or Ichigo. KON would have been a nice choice. Why Shiro?
Twenty minutes later, I was in my white "under-uniform" while I was laying next to my Shiro, my head on his shoulder and my left index finger tracing lazy circles over his smooth, pale, muscled chest.
"Do you really love me, Shiro?"
"What makes you think that I don't? Like I told you earlier, you are the one that melted the ice around my heart. You melted more than Momo even did. My heart is yours, my little field mouse."
I smiled at his nickname for me. Before I knew it, my eyelids didn't want to stay open any longer. I looked Shiro in the eye and puckered my lips. A quick peck from my lover and I was out like a lightbulb. Before my hearing went away completely, I heard Shiro tell me that he really did love me.