I don't own Bleach. That's enough said.

Exactly 2000 words, yo.

Oh wow. I still can't believe how far this story is going. And I can't believe I got 50 reviews this week. Author's note on bottom, as I usually do.

Dedicated to the 399th and 400th reviewer--HeArTsAnDLeMoNs and KaRiSa!

(I like dedicating every 50 reviews.)

Thanks to my beta, Goddess of Crimson Sand!

Recap:

"I JUST SAID I'M A VIRGIN!"

"I... I... think that I..."

"Just because you wanted to go on a date with Nemu-san, it doesn't mean you have to cut off what I say!"

Of Wasabi Cakes and Thoughts
Matsumoto paced back and forth, fingers rubbing her chin in deep thought. "What to do," she mumbled, "what to do! I know I've forgotten something, but I just don't know what..." She paced again, her paperwork carelessly shoved aside. After she had managed to bring Orihime and Ishida together on a date, she couldn't help but think that she was forgetting a slight detail. Matsumoto was too joyous at that time to notice, but now, she couldn't help but wonder what it was that etched in the back of her head.

Unfortunately for her, she had forgotten one slightly major detail.

She had not bet on Ishida Uryu and Inoue Orihime. Matsumoto Rangiku had bet on Kurosaki Ichigo and Inoue Orihime. And the worst part was?

She didn't know that.

Until now.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

Once again, Matsumoto ruins her own chance of winning. How sad.

"Well..." Rukia stumbled on her words as Ichigo impatiently waited for her answer to come. "I... I think... I think that... that I..." She fumbled with her fingers, her hair covering her face.

"Dammit, Rukia!" Ichigo's brown eyes blazed in fury. He wanted to really yell, but held it in. "Do you like Renji, or do you not? What the hell?! Is it just hard to say yes?" he shouted at her in annoyance. I'll kill him afterwards, anyways.

He wants me to like Renji? I... "Well then..." Rukia crossed her arms in anger. "What if I do like Renji, huh? What would you do about it?" she answered as if it were nothing. "Huh, Ichigo?"

"Y- You do?" Ichigo froze a bit, stumbling when trying to speak the words he wanted to say. "I... uhh... well... I wouldn't do anything, if that's what you wanna know." Rukia's eyes darkened in disappointment.

"Really?" She was kinda disappointed-- she imagined Ichigo standing up for her. The boy scowled at her, face showing no emotion.

"Of course. You expect me to go and say, 'Oh Rukia! I love you!'" he pointed out. She blinked. "I don't like you like that." That was a big lie.

"Oh..." Her face fell, quickly covering it with a grunt, looking elsewhere. "Fine with me. I really don't care."

"So, you like Renji?"

As they spoke, they didn't notice a tall red-head standing by the door way, a happy smile on his face.

"Hitsugaya-kun..." Hinamori had come back to try and comfort the poor captain, but now, she didn't know if comforting would work. "It can't be that bad, right? With your strength, no one would want to remember!"

"Remember what?" Hitsugaya was back at his division, lazily sprawling his name all over the paper. "I don't recall."

"You're a virgin, remember?"

"Hinamori, I was trying to forget," he scoffed, dipping his quill into the ink and making it leak over onto his papers. "Thanks." His dry, sarcastic remarks didn't help either.

"Hitsugaya-kun!"

"And besides," he continued, "I'm not worried about the questions..." Hinamori blinked.

"I'm afraid of the answers," Hitsugaya sighed, standing up and walking to the window, pulling the blinds up reluctantly. Hinamori's eyes widened in surprise. Apparently, Soul Society did hear what he said.

A group of people stood outside the window, signs in hand.

They read:

Hitsugaya ILU

I WANT TO BE UR 1ST

I WANT TO LOVE YOU

etc, etc.

Hinamori snickered lightly, covering her mouth to hold it in. "You've got fans," she managed to say with her mouth covered. "And some of them aren't girls, Hitsugaya-kun!" Hinamori wiped a tear from her eyes. "You should be... mmf... glad."

"And who in the right mind would like to have men globber over you, Hinamori?" he questioned dryly, quickly closing the blinds and returning to his desk with a huff. "I am not gay." Hinamori pouted.

"I meant the attention," she said. "Do you always have to answer so mean, Hitsugaya-kun?"

"Well, do you always have to call me Hitsugaya-kun?" he retorted. "Geez, it's not like I call you Bed Wetter Momo all the time. It grows off you." He glared at her, Hinamori sticking her tongue in return.

"Well, I think Hitsugaya-kun is much better than Shirou-chan, ne?" Well, not really. Because of that promise she had given him a long time ago, it was always like that. No Shirou-chan. It had taken her years, but she had gotten used to Hitsugaya-kun by now.

"Whatever you say, Bed Wetter Momo." Hitsugaya's mouth cracked into a smirk. "Just don't leave a yellow trail."

Hinamori's hazel eyes flashed.

"Hey!"

Not a pretty sight after that.

Ichigo strode past the divisions quite quickly-- it was what he wanted. To get away from that girl-- that was his goal. "Grr... Rukia!" He stomped past the Fourth Division, the nurses peeking out the door, sensing his flaring riatsu.

"I wonder what's wrong with that man...?" they all wondered inwardly, feeling his riatsu flaring even more by the second.

He ignored them, grunting as he kept walking.

Walking

Walking

-- wondering why he was getting all frustrated.

That's not how Kurosaki Ichigo does it.

Kurosaki Ichigo would always say what he thinks, without thinking himself. He didn't.

Kurosaki Ichigo would yell. He didn't.

Kurosaki Ichigo would never lie about something important. He did.

Kurosaki Ichigo-- what's wrong with you? --I don't know! And that's the truth.

He sighed, walking around a corner and placing his hands on his heads. "Agh..." He groaned into the air. "Something's wrong with me, god dammit!" Ichigo kept going forward, closing his eyes. He would keep walking-- no matter how much his mind hurt.

"Grrgh!"

Poor you. Kuchiki Rukia has taken control, subconsciously, of course.

"Look, wasabi cakes!"

Wasabi cakes? Ichigo opened his eyes when he heard a high-pitched voice call out. It was Orihime and Ishida, and it looked like they were going food shopping-- you could just see the way Ishida cringed when he heard the word.

"Wa- Wasabi cakes, Inoue-san?" he muttered carefully, inching closer to the green disk she held in her hands. "Is-- is that...?"

"Try this for me, Ishida-kun!" she smiled happily, forcibly stuffing the cakes in his mouth, his own face turning as green as the wasabi.

"I-- I-- I--" He gagged, clutching his throat, frantically searching around for some type of drink. He found it in the nearest barrel of water. Or whatever that was. "H- Hot!"

"Oh, really?" She took another wasabi cake and popped it in her mouth. "It's pretty sweet to me."

What happened to your taste buds?! Oh, how Ishida would love to say that.

"So-- really..." Ishida was gasping for the loss of breath. It was definitely spicy.

"Oi!" Ichigo called out, running up to them. Didn't want to miss whatever they were having, right? It looked... very... interesting from his own point of view. Orihime waved.

"Kurosaki-kun!" She jumped back into her happy mode. "You're here!" Ichigo's brows knitted.

"Well, I did come with you..." he pointed out, making Orihime blush a bright red.

"Oh, yeah..." she said, flustered.

Ichigo turned to eye Ishida, who was sprawled on the floor. He pointed to him. "What's wrong with him?"

"Wasabi cakes," she smiled, holding one out to him-- it was the size of a cupcake. "Want some?"

Do I want to end up like him? He saw Ishida twitch. "N-No, I'm fine." Ichigo and Orihime ended up having a witty conversation together, ranging from cupcakes to land plots in Karakura. They ended up forgetting to worry about Ishida, who was on the floor.

Ishida's a man. He'll live.

They didn't notice him stand up, dizzily. "Y'know," he started, his mouth still burning a little. "I'll just go and find a drink, Inoue-san. Kurosaki-kun," he muttered, staggering away from him.

Orihime called out to him. "Can you get me some Tabasco-flavored soda, Ishida-kun? I'd like that!"

Ishida twitched inwardly, pretending to not hear. If he were to say yes, where would he get it?!

Moaning, she wailed. "Oh Gin! Why aren't you here to slap some sense into me!" She pranced miserably around her office-- Hitsugaya's office, slapping herself mentally for missing that rather big detail.

"What are you whining about again, Matsumoto?!" His right cheek was still red from Hinamori's slap. "Go cry elsewhere!" Matsumoto pouted, walking to her captain and pulling out a seat. She then scooched it closer to his desk, placing her head on it. "

I can't believe it!" she bawled, making Hitsugaya wince at her loud, booming voice.

"What now?"

"I made Ishida and Orihime go on a date."

"And...?" Hitsugaya raised his eyebrow.

"I bet on Kurosaki-kun and Orihime to win the game!" Hitsugaya sighed, leaning on the back of his chair.

"Matsumoto. You didn't even bet much-- and you get paid like that every month!" he retorted lazily.

"Bu- But then...!" Matsumoto sighed. "I work really, really hard to get that money!" She blabbered on and on. ".And I bet both Byakuya-taichou and even Unohana would win the game!" she moaned in despair. "They're the top contenders of this whole thing, and yet Unohana hasn't done anything!" Hitsugaya was curious.

"Unohana-taichou bet on something?" he asked. "I didn't know that."

"A lot too." Matsumoto pointed out. "Last I heard, 40,000 yen."

"40,000 yen?" Hitsugaya scoffed with pride. "I make that in a day. Who'd she bet on, anyways?"

"Who else? Who are the two most likely to get together?" Matsumoto's sneaky grin came onto her face, her head rising. He shrugged.

"Surprise me." Hitsugaya wasn't a person who knew which two people were a couple-- that was all the women's job. Well, mostly Matsumoto. He wouldn't care in the end-- they would never last.

"You and Hinamori," she laughed, watching her captain leaning too far back on his chair, causing him to crash on the floor.

"NANI?!"

"Rukia?" Renji knocked on the door of the Thirteenth Division, peering inside. "Rukia?"

"Over here!" a voice said on the other side of the room. It was Rukia, playing with a pen-- she was trying to balance it on her nose.

"Oh, there you are." He walked up to her. "C- Can I ask you something?" Rukia smiled, nodding.

"Sure, sure! Anything for a friend," she grinned sheepishly, patting the seat next to her as a sign for him to sit. "What do you need?" she asked curiously, perfectly balancing the pen on her nose.

"Would you... would you ever... kiss me?"

Rukia froze, the pen slowly dropping from her nose in shock.

Pause-- "Excuse me?"

Random fact-- This story was made because it was for a school grade.
Yoo. I'm totally tired. Anyways, you get the chapter earlier. Yay for getting better grades. Lol. I got a 94 on my Japanese exam though. I was hoping for a higher grade. But then again, I didn't study.

Come to think of it, I never study.

It's a wonder how I get passing grades.

So, different interactions. Should I end this story soon? I'm starting to wonder.

Review! It makes me write faster-- I keep thinking, "The reviewers will get annoyed if I don't post by deadline." My deadline is at least by Sunday each week, unless something comes up.

-Tsukia, tma.