Disclaimer: Bleach, Hitsugaya Toushirou, and all other Bleach Characters and setting etc. belong to (c) Tite Kubo.
Sakurada Ayumi and 'You Had Me At 'I Hate You'' plotline belongs to me, user 1504103 on FanfictionDOTnet (:
Don't you loooove my long-ass chapters that lack proper writing technique?
YEEESSS you do (:
Haha. Here it is, lovelies. Your reviews are gorgeous.
-X-
Toushirou sat at his desk, frowning. For the past week, his members dared not interrupt him in his bad mood, afraid of being shrieked at. Even Rangiku didn't dare venture in for the first few days. Hinamori Momo, his childhood friend, helped her out by being the first to step into his office since the 'incident', and everyone was shocked to see that Toushirou's murderous aura suddenly expanded even more. Momo was being rejected from his affairs.
He looked about ready to kill the next thing that moved.
"T-Tai...cho?" Rangiku sputtered as she slowly opened his office door in fright.
He gave no response as he glowered at his paperwork, hurriedly filling them out. Not even a grunt of acknowledgement.
...
"Hitsugaya Tai-cho, perhaps you should make up with her now," if the members had been eavesdropping, they would have gasped at Rangiku's straightforward implication, however they figured out that eavesdropping would only lead their young captain to rage. They had stopped the eavesdropping by the second day he was angry.
He stiffened slightly at the mention of her, and then slouched again, continuing with his paperwork.
Toushirou... is really having a bad man period... Rangiku sighed.
"Tai-cho, I've finished some paperwork. I need you to sign them," she put some papers onto his desk, dropping them loudly on purpose to emphasize her anger. She had been there when the argument happened and seen everything, however she found it just so stupid. A week! A WEEK! And Toushirou was still in this state of depression! God knows if it was depression or anger, or maybe both.
"Hn," this response was an improvement.
"Tai-cho, you're acting strange, and... and It's not doing the division any good to have such a brooding Captain!" Rangiku tried using the sense of duty to persuade her stubborn Captain.
Toushirou simply continued to read over his document. "I'm not brooding, Matsumoto. Nothing's wrong."
Rangiku gritted her teeth at his unchanging dumb look. "Okay! I've had it, Tai-cho!"
Toushirou glanced up at his seething Vice-Captain.
"I've finished all my paperwork this past week and I haven't even complained to you!" Rangiku began ranting up a storm. "You're being moody and we all know what the cause of it is, so why don't you do everyone in our division a favor and just apologize to each other so there isn't the feeling of a funeral everywhere we walk?"
"What happened to you, Hitsugaya Tai-cho? This isn't like you," Rangiku refused to go on, turning away. She knew exactly what was going on with him, but it gave her so much stress to know that he was still unaware to everything! But yet she can't just butt into what's not her business, no, because that would be wrong of her! Why was she a victim of his business!
Without so much as a goodbye, Rangiku slammed Toushirou's office door shut, and walked over to the Ninth Divison's door, sliding it open.
-X-
I looked up to see Rangiku. I smiled as much as I could manage. Although she was a great friend to me, her presence reminded me too much of the Captain next door.
"Ayumi-chan, Hitsugaya's being an ass," Rangiku pulled a chair from the side to face me across my desk.
"Rangiku-chan, Toushirou's just going through a phase known as puberty," I shrugged. Rumor had it that Toushirou was 'different' after our argument. I felt so smug when the gossip got around to me. It gave me the sense of accomplishment. Take that, asstard.
"Then shouldn't his body be growing? The only thing that's growing is that creepy aura he emits every time someone mentions your name," she slouched in her seat, blowing her bangs out of her face in boredom.
"May I enter, Sakurada Tai-cho? This is Hinamori Fuku-taicho of the Fifth Div-"
"Just come in, Momo! No need to show such formality!" I laughed. Momo opened the door, forcing out a grin. She was having a bit of trouble smiling lately, but this was a far better improvement than how she was months ago. I had met Hinamori Momo long ago back when she was a kid in the District of Rukongai. We reunited within the week, and when she had a break, she would come over to chat. I loved it, anyway. Got my mind off things, and I'm sure it did the same for her.
"Talking about Hitsugaya-kun again?"
"What do you mean again?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Matsumoto and I have been talking about it all week with each other. I guess we both resorted to Ayumi-chan in the end, didn't we?" she said, dragging a seat over. Perhaps I was too accustomed to be calling by my first name, so I always insisted that people do it. In return, they always feel the obligation to let me call them by their first name, but you have to admit that it always brings us closer.
I raised an eyebrow of concern. "You mean... he's not over it?"
"Over it? He's way 'over it' alright," Rangiku waved it off, as I nodded in relief. "Way over the edge. Hitsugaya's probably going to dead by the end of the month. This is probably the point in depression followed by thoughts of suicide, right?"
...
"Wow, Toushirou. I didn't know he was such a baby," I shrugged, suddenly curious as to how he was holding up.
"Ha! Hitsugaya's a bigger baby than you might know," Momo said, looking at Rangiku as they both giggled at their inside joke.
"You don't seem too bothered with it, Ayumi-chan," Rangiku said, staring at me.
"I don't?" I said, but instantly regretted it as I saw Rangiku's smirk and Momo's eyes go wide.
"So you are bothered!" They both said in unison.
"No, I-" I blushed, hating myself. Due to my Asian blood, when I blushed, it stayed on my face for so long! I searched my mind for a retort, failing as I made something up. "I'm just worried- I mean, I don't want him to-... I mean he's like this because of me-... I don't want him to die?" I ended pathetically.
"Oh, we understand completely, Ayumi Tai-cho," Rangiku's face twisted menacingly. I blinked, mind dazed.
"I...don't like him, Rangiku-chan..." I amended pitifully.
"Are you sure, Ayumi Tai-cho?" Momo's grin hadn't left as she stared me in the face.
"I don't like him at all. Case Closed."
Momo began. "So why are you-?"
I cleared my throat, ungrateful for the attention. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just... guilty."
Rangiku remained snickering. "Guilty?"
"... Ahem, well you know. It's my fault he's like this, isn't it?" I nearly lost my cool, and decided to quickly get back to my work.
"If I didn't know better, Sakurada Tai-cho," I braced myself for what she was going to say. She had called me by my full rank: she wasn't playing safe anymore. "I'd. Think. That. You. Have. A. Crush."
I froze, ignoring the angry outbursts that swam around in my head.
"Okay, maybe. But I'm pretty sure I'm only this flustered because you guys are teasing me about someone I'm not attracted to," I contradicted, standing up to shove some papers into a file cabinet.
"Oh?" Rangiku and Momo rotated their bodies to follow my steps, staring at me mischievously the entire time. They looked like they had this planned. I sweatdropped, sighing at my bad luck of not anticipating this.
"What, Ayumi-chan? Do you not find my Captain charming?" Rangiku chuckled.
"Cute?" Hinamori pressed.
"Dare we say it? HOT."
I was utterly repulsed. "If you like him so much, then you guys take him! He despises me, remember?! Not only that, but I'm... I'm so much taller than him!"
"Oh, but there's the matter of friendship, and the already mutual understanding between us!"
"We will forever remain friends with Hitsu-kun! We don't think of him that way!" They both rebutted skillfully, causing me to twitch uncontrollably.
"You guys are obsessed," I whispered weakly.
"Oh please," giggled Rangiku to Momo in a would-be whisper, as if I wasn't there. "I bet Sakurada Tai-cho can't wait to pop the cherry!"
"WH-WHAT THE H*LL? I'm not some salacious lady-pervert like you two! That's disgusting!"
"Temper, temper, Sakurada Tai-cho," Rangiku warned sternly, still playing with me.
"Perverts? Oh, you're the perverted one, Ayumi-chan. Seducing Tou-" Momo was once again silenced by Rangiku.
Narrowed eyes. "I don't like him. At all. If you want to change that, you better have medieval torture methods prepared to persecute the feelings out of me."
They laughed. "You're quite the comedian, Sakurada Tai-cho!"
"I wasn't joking."
"..."
"..."
Yeah, that shut them up, I thought triumphantly. A knock came on my door and I sighed. What was with all the visitors? I told whoever it was to come in.
"Captain Sakurada! Oh, and um... Lieutenant Hinamori, Lieutenant Matsumoto," It was a young brown haired guy around my age, maybe a little older, holding it bowl of...
...Oh no.
"I'm Ryou from the Fourth Division! We're just doing some roundabouts because our division recently dealt with a problem at some Acre, and we got these for payment." By the time he held out the bowl to us, you could have fried an egg on my cheeks.
"Would you care for some Cherries, Captain?"
"NO! GET THE H*LL OUT OF MY OFFICE!" I shrieked, hurling a stapler at him, half hoping he'd dodge it and half hoping it impaled him. The boy gasped and bowed, dashing out of my office.
Rangiku and Momo doubled over in laughter.
-X-
It didn't take long for Ayumi to shrivel under the room's mocking. It was as if Rangiku and Momo had not left at all, and Ayumi was stuck with this nagging to knock on Toushirou's office.
Not that she wanted to go because of... uhh... to see him or anything. Just that... she didn't want their division to go down because of her. Toushirou was such a jerk, if he crumbled the tenth division would plummet, and it would be all her fault!
Think. Think of someone else. Uhh... Orihime... Didn't she like Ichigo? Aah, so cute. Two orange heads together. Ori and Ichi even sound alike- OH SH*T, HELL: ICHIGO!
She hadn't even told Ichigo about her coming back to Soul Society! It had been nearly two weeks! She pulled out a blank piece of paper from her second desk drawer and clicked her pen before scrawling something down to tell Ichigo.
'Hey Strawberry! GUESS WHO.
-I'm in Soul society right now, and I've become the 9th Captain! Cool, huh? (Okay, okay, much to be explained. I'll tell you the rest some other time...')
I'm pretty sure that smartass Kisuke already knows. (He somehow knows everything). So go ask him for details (:
Visit me sometime! I miss you guys. Tell everyone for me, OK? And help out my Gigai. I'm sure she's confused as ever that I'm still not back.
Don't hate me now, Strawberry. Because I love you lots! Don't you love (my cooking) me, too? (:
More later,
Ayumi'
She scanned her letter one more time before slipping it into an envelope, and writing 'Kurosaki Ichigo' on the front, just so she didn't mix it up with any other letter. Right on cue, Hisagi Shuuhei opened the door to her office, with a pile of paperwork in his hands.
"Is that all for me?" she opened her arms to receive the documents, but he shook his head and she retracted.
"It was. But I finished them," he said, dropping them on her desk.
She sighed. "Hisagi, you don't have to do my work for me."
"I know," he smirked, "but when I wanted to drop them off earlier, Rangiku came out of Hitsugaya Tai-cho's office and went into yours looking really angry. I figured you wanted some girl time or whatever... I was free."
Ayumi gawked. "Really? That's so sweet! You're such a softie, Shuuhei-kun!"
He raised his eyebrows at her. Him? A softie? And had she just called him by his first name with the honorific '-kun'?
Ayumi looked at Shuuhei's expression and mentally slapped herself. "I mean... Hisagi Fuku-taicho. Sorry. I'm not used to calling people by their last name. My apologies."
Shuuhei had never needed to accept an apology before, so he felt awkward as he said his reply. "It should be me apologizing, Tai-cho, I should not have shown such a disrespectful face."
"Bullcrap."
"... I beg your pardon?" Ayumi smirked at Shuuhei's (obviously fake) manners.
Ayumi cackled, which Shuuhei responded with furrowed eyebrows. "You're interesting, Hisagi-san. I look forward to working with you."
"My feelings precise, Sakurada Tai-cho," he bowed.
"You may call me Ayumi when we're not one duty, just saying," she smirked. He nodded in thanks.
"Thank you, Sakurada Tai-cho," he said before turning around to exit.
"Oh! Hisagi, would you mind mailing this off for me? To the human world?" Ayumi pulled out her letter to Ichigo.
Shuuhei stared at it curiously as he clasped the casing. A love letter?
"It's not a love letter," Ayumi glared, causing Shuuhei to want to ask for forgiveness yet again. "Friends have to tell each other where they are. It's been two weeks since I disappeared from the human world and no one has a clue where I really am."
"I'm sorry for-"
"Stop apologizing, Hisagi, or else I'll stop liking you and regret my decision of being your captain," Ayumi dictated, continuing to fill out her documents. "You've done a good job of keeping me interested in you, so don't jump off the train now."
Shuuhei smirked. "Then I shall deliver your letter now, Sakurada Tai-cho."
Ayumi nodded up at him in appreciation. "Thank you, Hisagi."
"Not a problem."
-X-
He was thinking about her.
Again.
He couldn't believe it. There was a time and place for everything, and now was clearly not the time and his office was clearly not the place. In fact, there was never a time and place to think about her. He shouldn't be, period.
What was she to him? Just some girl who gave him a little bit of a hard time, and now he's dwelling on it a bit more than usual. But it annoyed him to know... to know that the last words she had said to him were filled with so much emotion. She had meant it when she claimed to hate him, and he was content with that at first... but it was starting to bug him more than he would have ever imagined.
He acted out of irrational motives, and he knew full well that he was just as much to blame for the predicament they were in than her. She was still at fault, obviously; his anger wouldn't have escalated so much so quickly had she not purposely forced him over the edge.
Despite all that, he knew he wanted to see her. Just sneak a glance. Apologize. Even if he wasn't wrong, and even if she was a conceited pain in the posterior like she always was, he needed her in there. Now.
"Ayumi," he whispered her name absently.
Shhk. "You called?"
Teal met Umber.
Toushirou fell out of his chair, causing Ayumi to stifle a laugh. He crawled back up instantly, standing erect as his eye twitched furiously.
"You-you could have knocked!" he pathetically rebuked, causing her to smirk.
"You said my name, so... I thought you wanted me for something," Ayumi smiled innocently, standing outside his office, still, with the door open.
He blushed a crescendo of altered shadings of red.
One more try. Ayumi cleared her throat. "Do you need me... for anything?"
Toushirou swallowed a gulp of saliva. "No."
She sucked her lip in. Oh. "Then I'll be going."
She closed his door, leaning on it with her back for a second or two before getting up and trotting off to bug Kyouraku Shunsui.
Toushirou gripped his pen tightly. Before he could even stop himself, he got out of his chair, running to his door before throwing it open.
"Sakurada, wait!" he yelled after her, looking in both directions. Her scent lingered in the halls, but the black haired girl was nowhere in sight.
"...Tai-cho?" Rangiku stared at him, concerned, after hearing him scream Ayumi's name.
Toushirous whipped his head around, frenzied. He cleared his throat. "Matsumoto..."
"What's wrong?" she asked, quietly, wondering why her Captain came running out of his room so panicky, calling after Ayumi's name-
"Did you guys fight again?" Rangiku groaned loudly.
"The last one isn't even over yet," he grunted in reply.
Oh, so I don't need to change divisions just yet, Rangiku was relieved. So that would mean... Hmm...
A thought struck her. Eeeeeeh?
Toushirou... calling after Ayumi...
Hitsugaya Tai-cho stared at her with concern burning in his eyes like an accidental household fire! "Ayumi, what do you need to tell me?"
"I like you!" she sobbed through a swarm of tears. They fell down her face like cockroaches down a wall of on a warm summer day! Oh, the horror only fueled more tears!
Toushirou had not known how to respond! He clutched his face in flattery. His cheeks as red as a rose! How he hungered to hold her fragile semi-carcass! Oh, but he couldn't. He was a confused boy: confused with his feelings! He had no idea the nagging in his heart for the past week... was no other than love!
"Sakurada Tai-cho," Toushirou stood up, spinning away so he didn't have to face Ayumi's sobbing, hunched image. It hurt his heart, but he had to carry on with his dedicated, motivation speech!
"My feelings for you... are not love. I'm am sorry, sorry, sorry~"
"T-toushirou, you're so chaste, you IDIOT!" Ayumi shrieked, running out of the room as members opened their doors to see the petite girl shooting down the hall like a machine gun, tears streaming down her eyes like the river in their old village that provided everyone free showers when they were younger, but unfortunately the men got too scared to bathe after a while due to blood flowing down occasionally from oblivious women having their monthly bleeding!
Toushirou sighed, taking a seat. It was done. He had rejected her.
BUT WAIT, WHY WAS THERE THIS BEATING IN HIS HEART? It told him: IT WAS LOOOOOVE!
Before he could even stop himself, he got out of his chair, running to his door before throwing it open.
"Sakurada, wait!" he yelled after her, looking in both directions. Her scent lingered in the halls, but the black haired girl was nowhere in sight.
"...Tai-cho?" Rangiku stared at him, concerned, after hearing him scream Ayumi's name.
Toushirous whipped his head around, frenzied. He cleared his throat. "Matsumoto..."
He cursed mentally: He was too late, for Sakurada was GONE!
...
Rangiku suddenly squealed at an extreme volume, causing Toushirou to stagger back and question his own safety.
"Don't worry, Tai-cho, I'll get her back for you! So you say what you wanted to say, okay?" With that, Rangiku left to find Ayumi, leaving a Hitsugaya Toushirou standing alone, baffled and dismayed.
-X-
"R-Rangiku, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU TAKING ME?" Ayumi bawled, trying her best to escape the clutches of her captor. Ayumi was tall, but not as tall as Rangiku.
Her eyes went wide in fear as she began to realize she was heading for her own office.
"Why are you taking me-" they whizzed past said office.
"Wha- OH! OH MY GAWD, RANGIKU, YOU WOULDN'T-"
Rangiku plopped Ayumi down gently. Ayumi raised a brow, before Rangiku tipped Ayumi over gingerly.
Then, as Life would have it, Ayumi tripped over her own two feet, throwing open the two sliding doors on impulse, and pitched forward with a terrified scream.
-X-
Firm arms caught me, as I looked up into the chest of the main man. A little high than the board plane of his chest were the striking eyes of Hitsugaya Toushirou.
Those eyes were so beautiful...
"You scream like a dying moose."
Moment ruined and came to a screeching halt.
"Gee, thanks," I retorted sarcastically, straightening as I brushed myself off.
Both of us blushed. Pick a reason.
Rangiku coughed, breaking the awkwardness of the moment. "Have fun, you two, she winked, closing the door with a 'clack'.
We were suddenly a picture of disgust.
"..."
I stood there uncomfortably, eyes not meeting his.
"..."
Am I supposed to say something? I thought, raking my brains for any propriety ordinances.
"...Hi." Ah! Stupid! Mental slap! Mental slap!
(Toushirou stared at her blankly, suffering the same awkwardness and incapability of pursuing the fitting words.)
Not looking at him, I finally said what I wanted to say. "...I'm sorry," I stuttered. "I guess we got off to a bad start, and even though you asked if we could start over, I-... It was probably all my fault, though; I do the stupidest things, so I apologize if I-"
"It wasn't your fault."
I met his eyes, trying to blink away confusion.
"You're not to blame," he began. "I pushed you over the edge when I acted inappropriately, and claimed that... your existence was so insignificant that you weren't worth my time. That... was wrong. I know that it's not much of an excuse, but lately, when you're around, I become a completely different person."
He didn't flinch as he repeated the words, like an ethereal savior, "It wasn't your fault."
Finally, things were beginning to seem right.
I allowed myself to regain some color in my cheeks. The scenario was a rather strange situation, after all.
I tried to restore equilibrium. "No, I'm sorry. It was obviously my mist-"
"No, it was my fau-"
"No," I gritted out, "it was mine."
What the hell?
"It. Was. My. Fault."
"IT WAS MY FAULT, D*MMIT!" I shouted at him, grabbing the front of his shirt so I was face to face with him, nearly lifting him off his feet due to my height advantage.
I watched as his teal eyes widened to unbelievable proportions.
"...Uh... oh..." What the hell was I doing? Apologizing, and then violating him? ... Okay, that sounded wrong.
I loosened my terrifying grip on his uniform robes, backing away meekly. The temperature in my cheeks blaring up a few more degrees.
"Sorry," I mumbled weakly.
"...No, I'm sorry.
I glanced up, smiling faintly at him.
I guess we can be friends after all.
-X-
Sound familiar? No? Not surprised xD
It was such a horrible ending, I know, but I was quite content with it, actually *shifty eyes*
I took out the confession, WHICH I AM SO HAPPY I DID. Give me a few more weeks, the chapters will be all out, perfectly rewritten and ready for your new ones to come out! I'm going to Las Vegas in a few days, so another hiatus, but I'll be WRITING ON THE PLANE! HAZZAH! 8D
DO NOT FEAR, YOU CAN ALWAYS: subscribe to this story, because the updates are bound to be irregular, just like it's author (:
OR: review, because the more there are, the happier and more confident/squeal-y I am. Which makes me update faster ^^