Author's Note: A lot of cuteness and OOCness coming up from this chapter onwards. A lot. Helluva lot. Heh heh heh.

Disclaimer: Read previous chapters.

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Chapter 4 – The One Being Trusted by the 5th Division

The bright morning sun's warm rays shone against the sleeping figures of Hitsugaya and Toushirou, coming in through the window. Snow had stopped falling but it was still freezing cold outside, and everything was still covered in snow. Feeling the warmth from the sun, Hitsugaya woke up, even though he wasn't quite a morning person. Glancing (or glaring) at the sun, he sat up, remembering that he wanted to visit Hinamori. He shook Toushirou a little, in an attempt to wake the boy up, and he did. Mumbling something incoherent, the child opened his eyes and yawned.

"You're up, Toushirou?"

Sapphire eyes met teal eyes. "Mm. I guess so," replied Toushirou with a sleepy grin.

Hitsugaya stood up. "Get up, then. We're going out."

Rubbing his eyes sleepily, Toushirou asked, "Huh? Where are we going? It's so early…"

"We're going to…" Hitsugaya hesitated a little, then continued, "To…visit my friend."

"Oh…You wanna tell me about him?"

"Her name is Hinamori Momo. We're childhood friends."

Toushirou made a face. "She's a girl?"

Hitsugaya flushed, shooting the child a small glare. "Why? You got a problem with that?"

A pause.

Then…

"Hyousetsu-oniichan has a girlfriend!!!" the child-like boy cooed, clapping his hands teasingly.

Hitsugaya's flush turned into a deep blush. "I-I don't!" he protested, not noticing that he had stumbled over his words.

Toushirou ignored his protest and continued cheering chirpily, teasing Hitsugaya while Hitsugaya himself tried to hide his red face, cursing under his breath.

＜ブリーチ＞

"Here, taichou, your breakfast," Matsumoto said, putting a plate of eggs and bacon on Hitsugaya's desk, along with a cup of herbal tea.

Hitsugaya stared at his fukutaichou quizzically. "I didn't ask for a breakfast so…human."

"Oh, the tea's for you, taichou. Toushirou-chan!" Matsumoto called, causing Hitsugaya to twitch. Toushirou walked out of Hitsugaya's room, shihakushou properly dressed. "Ah, there you are, you little cutie! I got you breakfast!"

Toushirou walked up to Matsumoto who handed him the plate of eggs and bacon. He accepted it happily. "Arigatou, Matsumoto-oneechan!" He then ate it with gusto, making Matsumoto squeal at his cuteness.

Taking a sip from his cup of tea, Hitsugaya signed the last piece of paperwork from the previous day. Ending his beautifully written signature (A/N: I'm serious, I got a picture of his handwriting), Hitsugaya took another sip before standing up from his seat and ordered Matsumoto, "Matsumoto, when I come back, I expect to see today's paperwork neatly done. Is that clear?" She was obviously not paying attention to him, for she was too busy playing with Toushirou and pinching his face. A vein throbbed on Hitsugaya's head. "Matsumoto! Are you listening to me?!"

Duh, of course not.

Sighing wearily, Hitsugaya finished his herbal tea, gulping the boiling liquid down his throat, and dragged Toushirou out of his division once the latter had finished his human breakfast. "Mou!!! Taichou…!"

Smirking a little at his fukutaichou's slow reaction, Hitsugaya turned with the frown back in place and repeated his order, "Matsumoto, when I come back, I expect to see today's paperwork neatly done. Is that clear?"

"Hai…" Matsumoto sighed.

＜ブリーチ＞

Carrying the young child mystery on his back, Hitsugaya shunpo-ed off to the 5th Division, careful about slipping on the snow. When he arrived at the 5th Division fukutaichou office, he suddenly felt a pang of nervousness. Why did he even think about coming here anyway? Hinamori'd just push him away. The lengthy gap between them would just grow even further and further apart. Why the hell did he even think about coming here again? His relationship with Hinamori was already bad enough. Anymore and she might even join Ai-

Hitsugaya Toushirou shook his head to get rid of the thought and knocked on the door.

"Hinamori?"

Not really expecting an answer, since she might very well be ignoring him once she heard his voice, Hitsugaya was about to turn around and leave when Hinamori's tired and muffled voice spoke, "S-Shirou-chan…?"

"Hinamori…May I come in?" he asked, feeling rather unsure.

There was a slight delay in response, but an answer came nonetheless. "Come on in, Shirou-chan." Hitsugaya nodded while the child on his back stared confusingly. Hitsugaya opened the door and entered the office. It was dim inside, with only a single lit candle as the light source. It was eerily quiet other than the soft crackling of the tiny flame. "Hitsugaya-kun…"

Oh, so it was Hitsugaya-kun now, huh? What happened to the informalities between two childhood friends?

Without saying that aloud, Hitsugaya manifested his reryuku into a small glowing ball to lighten up the room and saw the bedridden figure of Hinamori Momo lying on her bed on the floor. He moved over to her and sat down, Toushirou still comically hanging on his back. On closer inspection, Hitsugaya could see bags under Hinamori's chestnut eyes. She had rather messed up let-down hair and furrowed eyebrows. Hitsugaya's eyes widened a little. Hinamori looked downright horrible. "Hinamori? What happened to you? Didn't you get any sleep?"

Hinamori smiled a little. "Ah, but I can't get enough sleep. Don't worry, Hitsugaya-kun, I just need a few more days and I'll be ok."

"You definitely don't sound ok, baka," Hitsugaya muttered under his breath, letting Toushirou off his back. He kind of forgotten to correct Hinamori about the name-calling…

The adorable white-haired boy caught Hinamori's eye. Forgetting all her pain and troubles, she sat up and squealed, "Waah!!! KAWAII!!!" Hitsugaya sweat dropped as Hinamori picked Toushirou up and cradled him in her arms. "Aww…Shirou-chan, he looks just like you when we were younger!"

"Um…Hinamori, I need to talk to you…" Hitsugaya spoke, suddenly remembering the name-calling.

"Huh? What is it?"

"We'll need to go outside…" He then looked at Toushirou. "Toushirou, stay here and don't go out until we come back, alright?"

Hinamori looked at them in confusion. Toushirou?

Toushirou smiled. "OK!"

＜ブリーチ＞

Leaning against the wall with his arms folded, Hitsugaya sighed a little in frustration. Hinamori looked at him strangely, which gave him his cue to say his piece. "It's a long story, Hinamori. Just remember, don't call me Hitsugaya-kun and Shirou-chan and anything to do with Hitsugaya Toushirou." Hinamori blinked in confusion. She cocked her head to one side as if asking why. Hitsugaya then explained, "The boy just appeared out of nowhere and claims to be me. I don't know why, but for the time being, I'll have to use a fake name. Maybe until Yamamoto-soutaichou finds out more about Toushirou."

"Ok…" Hinamori mumbled a little, not being able to enjoy teasing Hitsugaya's hair color for the time being. Then her eyes sparkled with hope. Maybe her little Shirou-chan had picked a name with 'shirou' in it! "What's your fake name, Shirou-chan?"

Blushing a little, Hitsugaya mumbled out, "Hyousetsu Arare…"

"Damn", Hinamori thought to herself. "No Shirou…Oh well…" She clapped her hands together enthusiastically and squealed, "Waaaah!! Kawaii!!! Arare-chan!"

Hitsugaya's blush deepened. "J-just don't call me anything that has to do with my real name, Hianmori," Hitsugaya scoffed, trying as hard as he could to hide his embarrassment. He opened the door and entered the room with Hinamori trailing behind. Looking around for Toushirou, however, he found the window wide open with Toushirou nowhere to be found. Panic seized him. "Oi, Toushirou, where are you?"

There was no reply from the white-haired mystery. Hitsugaya searched the entire room with Hinamori offering to help by searching along the corridors in case the child had run out of the room contrary to Hitsugaya's instructions. Hitsugaya pushed the desk back to its original position when he felt something…soft hit him against the back of his head. Feeling a chill, he rubbed the back of his head and removed his hand. Tiny snow particles could be seen. Hitsugaya stared hard at the open window, then felt a tiny spark of reiatsu outside. He moved cautiously towards the window and leaned against it.

A snowball made contact with his face.

Rubbing the snow off his face, growling a little, Hitsugaya saw the rolling figure of little Toushirou on the floor, clutching his sides as he roared with laughter. Upon looking at the wide smile on Toushirou's face, Hitsugaya himself relaxed and smiled a little. He had to hand it to that boy; that kid sure was good at snowball fights. Watching the little boy laugh and having so much fun, Hitsugaya jumped out of the window – something you would not see him normally do – to join him in the fun. That was when his face met with another snowball.

Only…

Toushirou wasn't the one who threw it.

"C'mon, Arare-chan!" Hinamori cooed, making another snowball. "Let's have fun together in the snow, just like when we were younger!"

Hitsugaya didn't say anything else and snapped his fingers. A snowball twice of Hinamori's size fell on top of her.

＜ブリーチ＞

"Mou!!! Arare-chan!!! You're so mean! Achoo!" Hinamori sneezed, wrapping herself with the towel even more tightly. Hitsugaya merely smirked before making the fifth cup of warm milo for her. She took it and immediately gulped it down, still feeling rather cold from Hitsugaya's gigantic snowball. Toushirou was happily watching the two of them even though he was getting bored. He yawned, tired by the day's events, and his eyelids drooped over his beautiful but exhausted sapphire orbs. Hitsugaya was about to make another cup of milo for Hinamori when he saw Toushirou's little feet sprawled out all over the floor, sleeping soundly. Hitsugaya smiled. "Ne, Arare-chan, what're you looking – and smiling – at?" Hinamori asked, completely forgetting about the cold since she was shocked to see the rare smile on Hitsugaya's face. Hitsugaya hushed her, pointing at the sleeping child. Hinamori nearly squealed with delight when Hitsugaya hushed her again before he went over to Toushirou and picked him up. Sitting down on the floor, he cradled the child in his lap, allowing the latter to sleep much more comfortably. Hinamori couldn't help but giggle at the sight. It was so adorable! To think that her Shirou-chan actually had a parental side to him! "Aww…Shirou-chan, you're such a nice and cute Shirou-chan…" Hinamori commented, teasing a little.

Hitsugaya blinked. Flushing, he muttered, "Whatever, Hinamori. Just lower down your voice lest he wakes up…"

Giggling again, Hinamori went over to the two Shirou-chans and stretched her arms out. When she saw the confused look on Hitsugaya's face, she merely said, "Let me."

"Let you…do what?" (A/N: Damn…this sounded perverted XD)

"Let me take care of him. Just for today," Hinamori offered. "Shirou-chan, you've been taking care of him all this while. Let me take care of him for you, just for today. You deserve a rest. Ne?"

Seeing the warm, welcoming smile on his childhood friend's face, Hitsugaya picked the sleeping Toushirou up and Hinamori carried him in her arms, like a mother with her son. Hitsugaya resisted the urge to smile as he stood up and bid his farewells before leaving Toushirou in Hinamori's care for the day. Hinamori lied back down on her bed, Toushirou still in her arms. Pulling the murmuring child closer to her, she ran her hand across his hair and slept with a true smile on her face.

Hinamori Momo held him tight as they slept peacefully.

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A/N: …How is it this time?

I'm serious, though, I hate Hinamori. I feel like torturing her.