Diez Veces

By Stalk Me

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She awoke to darkness. Night had fallen, and Hitsugaya had yet to return to the apartment. He was close though; she could feel his reiatsu. Strong as ever.

Rubbing sleep from her eyes and ignoring the slight headache that thrummed at her temples, she sat up and pulled on her boots. She was still dressed from that morning: tights, a short skirt, T-shirt and jacket. Over two hundred years old, and she could still dress like a teenager.

She stood and went to the window, wrenching it open and climbing out onto the fire escape. He was on the roof, his favorite place to hide ever since he was a boy. Sitting against the edge of it, his arms draped lazily over the sides, he was staring up at the heavens and gave no physical sign of noticing her approach, though his reiatsu surged slightly as though saying 'hello'. Matsumoto crossed her arms in order to stay warm as she followed Hitsugaya's gaze up to the stars.

"They're not so bright in the city, are they?" she asked.

"No," Hitsugaya replied simply. He reached out to her then, gently tugging on her arm and bringing her into his lap, his arms wrapping around her like a blanket. Matsumoto was surprised; it was the first time he had allowed her to sit on his lap. She wrapped one arm around his shoulders and twisted her upper body to face him. It was then that she noticed the bruise staining his left cheekbone black and blue.

"What happened?" she asked, gently touching his cheek, just below the bruise.

He grinned up at her. "Ichigo's still a grumpy bastard," he answered. "He didn't like the fact that we had figured him out."

"So you were right?"

"Of course I was," he replied, somewhat grumpily. "Well, I was right that he was hiding Kai's strong reiatsu with his own. But she's the only one. His children and other grandkids have very weak reiatsus. They shouldn't be much of a problem."

"Will Ichigo let us train her?"

Hitsugaya nodded. "He insists that he should be present when we're training her, though." His lips then twisted up into a sly grin. "And I'm not to be left alone with the girl either," he added. "She has a crush on me; Ichigo didn't like it."

Matsumoto bristled with agitation. "Did she see your wedding ring?" she asked.

"Yeah, but she's a feisty one. Doesn't really care that I'm taken. Ow!"

One of his hands left her waist to rub at his tender bruise; Matsumoto had slapped him. He was still smiling though.

"Actually, I have a confession to make about the wedding rings," Matsumoto announced. She adjusted herself in his lap, curling up slightly and resting her head on his shoulder; his arm wrapped around her once more.

"You're the one who came up with the idea for them," he stated.

She immediately snapped her head up to look at him. "You knew!?" she asked, completely shocked. Hitsugaya shrugged indifferently. "Why did you go along with it then?"

He stared at her, almost pleadingly. "You're really going to make me say it out loud?" he asked.

"Yes." She had no idea what he was talking about exactly, but she knew that she had to hear whatever it was.

He pulled forward slightly, one hand tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear as he brought his lips to it. "I'd do anything for you, Rangiku. I love you."

She felt as though all of the air had been knocked from her; it was hard to breathe, and all she could do was stare at Hitsugaya. She gently caressed his uninjured cheek; it was tinged pink with his blush.

"You're not going to say it back?" he asked at last.

She grinned slightly. "No." His eyes widened; he looked wounded. She leaned forward and touched foreheads with him. "Take me back to the apartment."

"Matsumoto, I…"

But she cut him off before he could apologize, her lips capturing his for the first time in all the years that they've known each other. His body tensed, then relaxed slightly as he held her tighter and kissed back, his lips moving slowly against hers.

After a few moments, she pulled away, untangled herself from his arms and stood. He gazed up at her, his brows knitted in both confusion and irritation. She loved that look on him. Her grin widened mischievously.

"I'm going to show you just how much I love you," she said at last.

Hitsugaya raised an amused eyebrow and slowly got to his feet. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this," he told her as he started to follow her to the fire escape. They started descending the stairs, Matsumoto in front and Hitsugaya close on her heels.

She grinned slyly. "What? Finally becoming a man?" she teased.

He chuckled. "I think you know that I already have."

She turned suddenly, pushing up against the building and leaning in predatorily. He grinned at her reaction.

"No offense to Hinamori or any of the other girls," she whispered, her face close to his. "But that was just child's play. I'm going to show you how it's really done. I hope you're up for it."

His voice was close to a growl. "I think I can keep up," he said, leaning in to kiss her, but she pulled away, and continued the trek down the stairs.

"Good," she said. "Because I'm going to keep you up all night. And probably all night tomorrow, and the night after that too."

They had reached their window, and Hitsugaya pulled it open for her. He grinned as she climbed in. "I look forward to it," he said before climbing in himself and letting the window slide shut. He took her into his arms once again, holding her close as he smiled down at her. He then picked her up and carried her to the bed.

They were no longer shinigami and kid, nor captain and vice-captain. They were just Toshirou and Rangiku.

Forever.

The end! I know it's short, but I meant for it to be. Most of you had correctly guessed that Diez Veces means Ten Times, and someone hopefully suggested that Ten Times means that there'll be ten chapters! Sorry, but no. Like I said before, I had planned for this to just be a little snippet about how their relationship changes from Captain and Vice-Captain to a romantic one. As for the secret meaning between Ten Times, this story is about ten first times between Matsu and Hitsu. The first time they meet, the first time they slept beside each other, the first time they said each other's names, the first time they saw each other naked, the first time he held her, the first time he held her hair while she threw up, the first time she sat in his lap, the first time she was jealous, the first time they kiss and the first time they told each other that they loved one another. ...And technically the first time they have sex together, but I've faded out before that happened so that I could keep it rated T. Anyway, I hope you guys liked it!

And if you guys like Harry Potter, I have a Valentine's Day one-shot that I'll be posting sometime between now and Valentine's Day, so keep your eyes peeled for that.