AN: Hey everyone. Thanks for reviewing the last chapter, even though it was a bit of a late delivery and it was about…basically nothing (damn plot development). Anyway, here's my next update…you may notice I'm updating slightly slower now (like every two days, instead of everyday) but you can blame that on the education system. School's hitting pretty hard, so…yeah…anyway, here we go. Big HitsuHina chapter comin up. Sorry to the people who wanted RenjixTatsuki to continue. I mean, it will continue, just that I need to sort out some issues Hitsugaya is having. And yeah, I'm a big fan of RenjixTatsuki as well. Something about their attitudes just draws me to them, and I think, draws them together. Hehehe, don't worry, I'll make a nice relationship happen there.

Reply to a review: I am a guy. I hope that doesn't bring down the popularity of this fic. –looks around nervously- I hope my story is sounding very…um…very much like what a normal guy would write…cuz if it isn't….AHHH! LOL! Anyway, please do not let my gender deter you from enjoying this fanfic. If it's easier for you to imagine me as a girl, then by all means, do so as you are reading this :P

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

A Summer Job: Outing

Hitsugaya literally stormed down the pathways of the Court of Pure Souls. He wasn't angry, well, wasn't angry with anyone else but himself, and he wanted some peace and quiet. His division knew that he was back, and they surely wanted to see him…but he needed to get away from that now.

He flash-stepped to make the way to the tenth division faster. Upon arrival, he noted, with some surprise, that his vice-captain was actually seated at her desk. Normally, you would think, that any vice-captain would sit at their desk, but his vice-captain – no way. She would usually take residence in the couch in front of his desk, snoring away quietly, leaving him to do all the work. But, even though the morning meeting had just finished, she was sitting at her own desk, signing off some paperwork.

"Er…Matsumoto?"

She looked up, a questioning glance on her face. He pointed at her, then pointed at her desk.

"Are you sick?"

She laughed shortly. "If you're wondering why I'm sitting in my desk, doing paperwork -…"

She was cut off by Hitsugaya. "I don't mind at all. Not at all. Not even one single bit."

She smiled, and looked down at her desk. "Well, I know you taichou, and…you seemed like you wanted to get away. I'll take care of today."

He gaped. His lazy vice-captain actually decided to do something. "Are you sure you're well?"

Standing up, she said, "Well, fine if you want to do all this paperwork…" she stopped, because he was already out the door. She sat back down, grinning to herself, as she opened the bottom drawer of her desk. In it was a jug of sake, and another pile of paperwork, with a small piece of paper stuck on it saying, '5th division paperwork'. Sometimes, he just needed a little push in the right direction, she thought, as she raised the jug of sake to her lips. She knew that at any moment now the timid 5th division vice-captain would be coming to ask her if she had seen her allotted paperwork, and she was sure to bump into Hitsugaya. Matsumoto cackled to herself like a madwoman, raising the jug of sake to her lips again.

Hitsugaya grinned to himself. Well, at least there was one good thing that had happened to him today. He wouldn't have to do his usual mountain of paperwork. He almost hopped in delight, but as you all know, captains do not hop.

Hmm, a visit to our old place would be nice, Hitsugaya thought to himself as he walked down the empty paths. He saw someone running at him, and it seemed like…

"Shiro-chan!"

He sweatdropped. Only one person would call him that. But he grinned in spite of himself. He hadn't had the time to say hello to her properly. After all, they got back extremely late, and the first thing in the morning was the combined captain and vice-captain meeting. It was good to see her again. Then, a twinge of guilt glanced the inside of him as he remembered he had lied to her not so long ago.

"Hinamori," he acknowledged the figure, who now stood in front of him, panting quietly, catching her breath. "What are you doing here?" Even though he was secretly glad to see her, alone.

"Shiro-chan!" She jumped at him, arms wide. Hitsugaya just stood there. And she hugged him. For a few seconds, he relished in the warmth of her hug, then when she pulled away he put on a frowning face.

"What was that for? And don't call me Shiro-chan" he said, as she stepped back, her face still red from all the running she had done. Well, he thought it was the running.

"Welcome back!" she said cheerily.

Hitsugaya sweatdropped. He had been away on longer missions. Why was she acting like this now?

"Uh…thanks?"

She smiled sweetly at him, then frowned, as if thinking. "Oh yeah, Shiro-chan, do you know where Matsumoto is?"

"Yeah." He answered bluntly. "She's in the office, doing paperwork. Speaking of which," he said, as she made her way around him, "are you doing anything today?"

She stopped, and he could almost hear her soft sigh. "Yeah, I have heaps of paperwork, but for some reason, I couldn't find it. Maybe Matsumoto knows where it is."

She turned to her superior, noting that he had just given her a blank look. "Er, Hinamori, I somehow think that she doesn't have your paperwork."

"Oh, you never know."

"I think I do know," he said, shrugging off her cheery reply. "Anyway, forget about paperwork, wanna come with me somewhere?"

Hinamori blushed. Did her Shiro-chan just ask her to go somewhere? Was he feeling ok?

"Well?" he asked, impatiently.

All thoughts of paperwork was gone. Even the thoughts of why she was here in the 10th division quarters were gone as well. "O-of course," she stuttered.

Hitsugaya grinned as they started walking away from the 10th division.

"Um, Shiro-chan, where are we going?" she asked him timidly.

"One. Do not call me Shiro-chan. Two. We are going to visit our old place."

"Oh." She grinned at both of the answers he had given to her. For some reason, whenever he said 'Do not call me Shiro-chan' it set up this unexplainable urge for her to continually call him 'Shiro-chan'.

Eyes closed, Hitsugaya lay on the grass outside of the house they had called 'home'. It was about midday, and they had been at the house for quite sometime. But they weren't bored. This house was important to them. It was tucked away in the middle of a forest, a small humble clearing was made for it, but around them, the light forest prevailed.

Hitsugaya heard a small laugh coming from behind him, and without looking, he knew it was Hinamori.

"Shiro-chan! I cut some watermelons for lunch!"

The person belonging to the sweet voice sat down next to his figure. Hitsugaya didn't open his eyes, but merely clenched his teeth at the mention of his nickname. It didn't really annoy him, however, he felt there was some sort of affection tied to it that he didn't care for. Well, he did care for, but he didn't want to care for it. Plus the fact that it sounded really girly, and whenever his, or any other division for that matter, heard his nickname they started snickering and giggling like a bunch of 5th graders. He knew this because when he was at the real world he had made the mistake of walking to Kurosaki Ichigo's place alone, after school. Some men had tried to assault him, but he bashed them up (quite proud that he hadn't even needed to use his real power). However, that wasn't really the problem. The real problem was actually that a bunch of girls (he had found out that they were 5th graders a while later) had suddenly started screaming and squealing and rushing over to him, and…ugh…hugging him. The most disturbing thing was that he was only a bit taller than these human girls. They all had stupid blushes on their faces, and were talking about how 'strong' and 'cool' he was, and what school did he come from, and how old, and all the rest of it. Luckily he was saved by Renji, who scared all the girls away.

"Um, Shiro-chan?"

The sweet voice belonging to Hinamori jolted him out his unpleasant remembrance of the real world. And Renji. Thinking back about Renji made his mood instantly darken again. He cracked open an eyelid, and saw Hinamori gazing intently down into his face. He jerked away, blushing, but quickly recovered and fell back into his dark mood.

Hinamori noticed this, and put the plate of watermelon away. Something was wrong. Really wrong. If Shiro-chan didn't eat his watermelon, then that was a sure sign of…wrongness. She sighed. She could guess what it was about. She looked at his small form; he was now sitting up and had his arms wrapped around his knees, scowling at nothing.

"Shiro-chan…" She moved in front of him, trying to get in the way of whatever he was scowling at. It worked. His scowl didn't disappear, but it did diminish. "What's wrong?" she continued.

He looked at her with an expression that said, 'I'm a man, there is nothing wrong.'

She rolled her eyes. "I know something's wrong," she said.

He gave her the same blank stare.

She licked her lips. "There is something wrong. Tell me," she said, dangerously accenting the 'is' of her sentence.

She looked at the captain before her. He held his defiant gaze, and for a moment she thought that he would actually end up not saying anything. But in the end, he closed his eyes for a moment, inhaled and exhaled loudly.

It wasn't much, but it was closer than anything. She took his reaction as an entry point for her to start speaking. She knew him too well. She knew what was wrong.

"It's Renji, isn't it?"

At that, the young captain opened his eyes, mildly surprised. "How did you know?"

Hinamori rolled her eyes. "Shiro-chan, of course I know. We've been friends for ages. I know you too well."

"Hn."

Honestly. Sometimes…just sometimes, it wouldn't hurt for him to put some burden on her. She was already aware that she had placed huge burdens on him at the time of Aizen's betrayal.

"Shiro-chan," she said quietly, gaining a surprised look from her male counterpart. "You could…tell me some things some times, you know?" She wasn't sure, but was that a guilty look that just flashed over his face?

He exhaled again. "Well…" he broke off, not meeting her gaze. Instead he got up, and turned away from her. All the pent up anger he felt at himself for letting Renji go off somewhere had just erupted, due to thinking deeply about the matter. He headed for the nearest tree, and smashed his fist into it, hearing the satisfying splinters of wood that went flying. He clenched his teeth, still angry.

"FUCK IT!" He cried, hitting the tree again. This time the tree shuddered under his new blow, but he didn't remove his hand from the wooden indent he had made.

Hinamori widened her eyes at her friend's outburst. Hitsugaya never swore. Sure, he grumbled under his breath various names at his lazy vice-captain, and spoke rather dangerously…but he never openly swore. She made her way over to him, looking at his body, and his arm still extended to the tree. She stopped a few feet away from him, unsure of what to do.

She watched as he pulled his fist back, ready to maul the tree to splinters. She reached in from behind him, and pulled his body into a hug from underneath his arms. He stopped his actions instantly.

"Shiro-chan…"

For once, he didn't say anything about her choice of names. Instead, he dropped into her embrace, not saying anything. She soon dropped to her knees, under his weight. He lay on her lap, his hair hiding his face from her view, and legs sprawled out awkwardly from underneath him. She cradled him like she would to a child, even though she knew he was far from one. They had had their situations like this before. Though, usually it was her on the more emotional end, crying about her problems, her issues. He was always there to comfort her. Even with Aizen's betrayal, he was the one who comforted her the most. Now, all she was doing was being on the other end. The comforting end. She stroked the tips of his hair, waiting for him to speak, as she knew he would.

"If Renji…" he stopped, trying to gather the correct words.

Hinamori didn't say anything, just held him there.

"I won't forgive myself…if Renji is dead."

A silence.

"I won't forgive myself," he said again. "I was the one who split us up. I practically sent him to his deathbed." He fell back into his brooding silence again, his only comfort being Hinamori.

"Hush," was the only thing she said, as she gently stroked his hair. She didn't try to offer any explanations as to the situation, but she felt that it was just enough, her being there for him; just like the many times he had been there for her. He had obviously outweighed his share of the deal as he had comforted her a lot more times than she had him.

"I…could have dragged the two arrancars together, so that they could fight them together." He paused, barely acknowledging that she was ruffling his hair. "I could've…"

He was cut off by Hinamori. "Shiro-chan." She didn't speak loudly to interrupt him, just spoke in her normal, sweet voice. "What is done, is done. Don't regret it."

He opened his mouth to argue, but she silenced him by placing a finger on his lips. "I know Renji is alive. I know, because back at the academy, he was never the one to give up."

Hitsugaya mumbled something incoherent.

"And besides, the full written report stated that the arrancar lost its spirit power before Renji. That means that Renji killed it, which ups the chances of him living."

"Hn."

"Look," she told him flatly, "No one blames it on you. Even if he is dead – which he isn't – you did the right thing as far as a captain goes. Stop blaming yourself."

Hitsugaya didn't say anything, but it was obvious he was thinking.

"Uh…s-s-sorry, Shiro-chan…I-I d-didn't mean…" she stuttered, embarrassed because of her outburst.

Hitusugaya looked up from his place on her lap. She was looking at him as if she expected him to hit her or something. He felt better now. With Hinamori telling him that, he felt as if he had just taken medicine that could heal him instantly. He wouldn't fully admit it to himself, but she was good for him. She, and his vice-captain, were probably the women that kept him sane. And she, of course, was also the one that made him slightly insane sometimes. She was still looking at him with that stupid expression.

"Idiot," he growled, and lifted himself up from her lap. "Don't look at me as if I'm angry at you." He shifted around, so that he was looking at her directly.

"S-sorry…it just slipped out of my mouth…"

"Don't be sorry," he growled and looked away, embarrassed by her words. After a short awkward pause, he finally said, "Thanks."

Hinamori blushed, back to her usual self. "It's ok, Shiro-chan."

"Do. Not. Call. Me. SHIRO-CHAN!"

Obviously she wasn't the only one back to her normal self again.

Hitsugaya walked into his office after dropping the 5th division vice-captain to her quarters. He had a slight spring in his step, and it was fortunate that not many shinigamis were out that time of the night, and that it was dark, or else they would have rubbed their eyes. Here was the grumpy, spoiled brat of a captain, with a spring in his step, and…a smile on his face? No, it couldn't be.

His smile faltered a bit as he saw his vice-captain snoring quietly on his couch. He sighed. Somehow, in the back of his mind, he knew that this was going to happen. But he didn't really mind, now that Hinamori had cheered him up. His smile faltered again as he saw the pile of paperwork still on his vice-captain's desk. But, it was paired with another pile of work.

Hitsugaya made his way to the desk, wondering why there was two piles instead of one. On one of the piles it said, '5th division paperwork'. He sighed. Only Matsumoto would do something like this. But secretly, he was glad that Hinamori didn't find her paperwork.

'Bedwetter-Momo. Take care of your paperwork next time.'

She read the note aloud in the morning sun. The handwriting was neat as always. Hinamori smiled to herself as she scrunched up the piece of paper accompanying the now-completed paperwork. No need to let anyone else find out her nickname.

She sighed. Even though she knew it was his way of saying 'thanks' from yesterday, she…somehow wanted something more from him. Something more…romantic. However, he didn't have those thoughts. He didn't have those kinds of thoughts. Not Hitsugaya. But she could dream, as always.

Meanwhile, Hitsugaya was sitting on the side of his bed, feeling secretly proud that he had done Hinamori's share of paperwork. That was for yesterday, he told himself. Now, for lying to her…he'd have to do something more than just do some measly paperwork for her. Paperwork for a month? Nah, that was a bit too strenuous, especially since his vice-captain didn't help. At all. He grinned to himself, feeling a bit too happy.

He pondered on how he was going to apologize to her for lying to her…about that particular incident. After a few more minutes of pondering, he decided to talk to his lazy vice-captain. She was a woman; she would know what to do. But he would not thank her for what happened. Never.

AN: Ah, I finished it in time for the update. Hope you guys like the chapter – a bit more fluffy this time, though not too much. That'll come later. Since, the way Hitsugaya is going to apologize…is like the most romantic way ever. He's gonna take her out! To a restaurant! Hehehe, yeah that's right. Well, I just gave away his story. Damn. Oh well. Anyway, school tomorrow, so can't write a whole bunch here. Just read and review! Thanks guys! Stick with me through this boring time XD! You will be well rewarded :P