"Hey, Toshirou! You ready?" Ichigo called from downstairs.
Hitsugaya turned around to stare at himself in the mirror one last time. His Ralph Lauren suit was holding up nicely. After the mall, Hitsugaya had stopped at the local flower shop to buy what Ichigo called a corsage for Hiromi. Apparently, Hiromi would show up with some flowers for Hitsugaya, too. At first, Hitsugaya wanted to buy some baby blue roses to match her eyes, but later, he decided that cherry blossoms would be more symbolic.
Gently grabbing the fragrant blooms from the silver shopping bag, he carefully tucked the corsage into his front pocket, taking care as to not dent any of the fragile flowers.
"Hitsugaya Taichou!" Hisagi yelled.
"Coming!" Hitsugaya straightened his suit for any wrinkles and exited Ichigo's room and out the front door.
A sleek black limo that Ichigo had rented pulled up in front of the Kurosaki estate. They crawled in, the chauffeur pulling open the door for them.
"Where are the girls?" Hisagi asked, peeking around the comfy leather interior of the car.
"They're in another limo," Ichigo replied briskly. "They'll meet us there. They got ready at Inoue's."
"Oh." Hisagi slouched in his seat, twirling the scarlet rose corsage in his hand.
Hitsugaya shifted in the leather, wondering what dress Hiromi was in. Probably something that Matsumoto put her up in.
He stared nonchalantly out the window. The landscape melted into flurries of lights and greenery. It was dark out, so the streets were lit with warmly glowing lamps.
"Hey Toshirou, do you know how to dance?" Ichigo asked.
"I guess."
"I hope I can dance," confessed Hisagi. "I've tried, but it doesn't seem to click with me."
"Well, at any rate, Matsumoto is a great dancing coach," Hitsugaya offered.
"How do you know?" Ichigo wondered.
Hitsugaya looked down at his loafers and tried to think of a clever or witty comeback, but he was saved by Hisagi.
"When are we gonna get there?" complained Hisagi. "Flash-stepping is faster than this."
"Just wait."
They sat in silence for another few minutes.
"Say, who is Inoue going with?" Hisagi asked.
"She's going with Sado," Ichigo answered.
"Then why isn't he riding with us?"
"He rented a Lexus. He's going with Asano and Mizuro," Ichigo explained.
"I see. Where and when are we going to meet the girls, then?"
Ichigo checked his glass-fronted Rolex watch. "We'll meet them at the front of the school underneath the flag. We're scheduled to meet at seven thirty."
The limo pulled up in front of Kakura High, and the crew piled out, and Hitsugaya was instantly amazed at the sudden transformation of the school.
The two massive oak trees that stood before the school had been draped with Japanese lanterns, which cast a hazy glow over the campus. He could hear music wafting out from within the walls. Two Bonsai trees greeted the couples at the doors, along with a sign up sheet and checklist to make sure that the students brought foreign couples.
"The girls should be there." Hitsugaya shook his head, clearing his thoughts out of his mind as Ichigo motioned over to the flag. It waved and rippled majestically in the night air.
Hitsugaya's heart leapt. He was still terribly nervous about confronting Hiromi at the dance. What if he suddenly forgot how to dance and stepped on her toes? What if a bee stung his tongue and he would talk gibberish for the rest of the night? What if…?
His thoughts were suddenly whipped away from his mind as he spotted four lone figures standing beneath the scarlet flag. He could see the loose, undulating hair of Matsumoto and Inoue. Rukia and Hiromi's tiny figures were partially blocked by shadow, but he could make out the rustles of their dresses.
They approached the girls. Ichigo and Hisagi whisked Rukia and Matsumoto off, leaving Inoue and Hiromi alone. Chad raced up to Inoue, followed by Asano and Mizuro, and a petite blond girl. Asano had been stupid enough to come without a date.
That left Hiromi standing alone. Hitsugaya felt as if he was rooted to the spot as Hiromi stepped out of the shadows. She was beautiful.
Her gleaming black hair was up in a bun, but sleek, curling strands still framed her pale, oval face. The bun was held up by a shimmering, whitish gauze that looked suspiciously like the tail of Kasumi no Shoushitsu. She was debuting a silk, strapless ice blue dress. It was tight till it reached a little underneath her chest, where it splayed out in a flurry of lace and ruffles, strips swishing around her knees. A silver necklace with a single diamond pendant graced her thin neck.
Hitsugaya blinked, bringing himself back to reality. Hiromi's glistening teal eyes were staring back at him, an unsure smile flickering across her glossy lips.
"Sh-shall w-w-we?" Hitsugaya held out his hand awkwardly, while trying not to stammer.
She smiled her familiar Mona Lisa grin, and placed her palm in his hand. "We shall."
They hurried past the freshly mowed lawns of Kakura High School, trying to catch up with Ichigo. However, they were both rather slow in their shoes: Hitsugaya was in loafers, and Hiromi had on a pair of satin white peep-toe stilettos.
"I told you, I brought another couple!" Ichigo was yelling at the ticket master. His amber eyes raked the scene. He spotted Hitsugaya and Hiromi.
"Hey, Toshirou, over here!" He waved his hand violently over his head, almost ruining Rukia's chignon. Then he turned again to glare at the ticket master, who responded with an upturned nose and an arrogant hair flip, sending a wave of Dove conditioner towards Ichigo, who doubled over at the sudden strong scent. Straightening up, he shot one last steely glower at the ticket master and marched off, towing Rukia behind him.
The multi-use room, where the dance was held, had been transformed since Hitsugaya last went there as an undercover shinigami. The lights were down. Streamers were hung from the ceiling, and bubbles were blown into the air by a machine. Fragrant, crimson rose petals were scattered randomly on the clean, scrubbed floor.
That's right! Flowers! The corsage! Hitsugaya remembered. He removed it from his pocket.
Taking Hiromi's hand, he slid it onto her thin wrist with a smile.
"I was going to get you roses, but I thought that these were more symbolic," he explained.
Hiromi grinned. "Then I guess we had the same thoughts, huh?" She reached into a hidden pocket within the folds of her dress, revealing a delicate cherry blossom pin, which she fastened to his chest pocket.
Hitsugaya touched it with gratitude, and they smiled at each other.
A slow song started. The lights dimmed, and couples emerged on the dance floor.
Hitsugaya licked his lips. It was now or never. "Wanna dance?" He motioned to the dance floor.
She smiled, nodding.
Hitsugaya quickly tried to recall all the dance steps that Matsumoto had taught him but there was no need. Hiromi's moves guided him gently, and he felt like he had been dancing with her his whole life. They waltzed gracefully across the dance floor, and only stopped to depart to the snacks table when a fast hip hop song came on.
While Hitsugaya was munching on a pink sugar cookie, his cell phone bleeped in his pocket. Startled, he pulled it out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Hello?"
"Hitsugaya Taichou." Hitsugaya recognized Yamamoto's raspy voice right away.
"Yes, Captain General?"
"We have received reports that Espadas are headed toward Kakura Town. Alert Kurosaki Ichigo and the other shinigami with you. This is urgent. I will call you again when they are detected. They must be eliminated."
"Hai, Captain General." With that, he snapped his cell phone shut and ran off to find Ichigo.
He found him and Rukia laughing in a corner, and their faces immediately became grim as he told them the news.
"We'll go tell the rest of them," Rukia assured him.
With that solved, Hitsugaya made his way back to Hiromi, ready to deliver the news.
Her face became worried. "But we don't have any Soul Candy! We're still in gigais!" did I spell that right?-.-
A sickening pit formed in Hitsugaya's stomach Hiromi was right. Desperately, he patted his chest pocket, and then moved onto his blazer pockets. Nothing. He felt his pant pockets. A sinking feeling hovered over him… Then his hand touched a lump in his left pocket. Bewildered, he drew out a few capsules of Soul Candy.
"What? How'd it get in there?"
Hiromi's confused face told him that she had no idea either.
"Surprise!" gushed a giddy voice behind him.
It was Matsumoto. Hitsugaya looked her up and down behind her. Matsumoto was, like she always was, heading for sexy, unlike Hiromi, who displayed elegance from head to toe. She was wearing a scarlet strapless silk minidress that barely coved the label on her pink Victoria's Secret underwear.
"I packed it in secret into all of your clothes," she told Ichigo, Rukia, Hisagi, Hitsugaya, and Hiromi. By now they had all gathered around her. "I passed Urahara by the MAC counter in Sephora, and he recommended it."
"What's Urahara doing in Sephora?" Hiromi asked dubiously.
Matsumoto shrugged, lifting her dress up even more. Hitsugaya noticed, out the corner of his eye, that Hisagi was drooling and looking at her butt. Not that there was much to look at. Her minidress hardly covered her half of her perky little butt.
He snapped his fingers in Hisagi's glazed face. "Hey. Earth to Shuhei."
Startled, Hisagi hastily wiped his mouth on his Calvin Klein blazer and gave Hitsugaya a sheepish look. Hitsugaya rolled his eyes. Thank God that he didn't have such an airhead of a lieutenant who got lolled so easily by women. Then again, as Matsumoto was his lieutenant, he wasn't the one to talk, either.
Just then, his cell phone bleeped again. Ichigo, Rukia, Hisagi, Matsumoto, and Hiromi gathered even more in to hear the news. Inoue and Sado had joined their midst, and Rukia quickly gave them the news.
"Hello?" Hitsugaya flipped open his cell phone.
"They're here." Then the line went dead just as there was a loud explosion overhead. The roof was blasted off.
Standing in the air above them were three Espadas.