Title: Late – Part 2
Date: 14 January, 2009
Words: 587
Characters: Matsumoto, Hitsugaya, mentions of Ukitake Unohana, Isane, and Hanataro.
Pairings: Hitsugaya & Matsumoto
Summary: Hitsugaya finally realizes what Matsumoto means by "Late."
Inspiration: I actually have no idea why this idea popped into my head…
Rating: PG-13/T – Still some talk of sex, nothing graphic, but, just in case. 8-)

A/N: Shamelss plug for another new story, called Waking Up In Vegas. Please read if you have time. Will be posting two chapters a day until finished. -M rated, for lemons- Features IchiNel, RukiHana, and of course, HitsuMatsu.

Otherwise, let me know about the A/N at the bottom, so I can decide what to do next. 8-) Thanks for your help! And all the reviews! Please read, enjoy, and review!!
-Rachel Noelle

"Yes, you are. But I suppose it's okay. Not that you'd care anyway, but, since you've been with Unohana and all," he shrugged, wondering why she would say something so strange. She never brought up the fact that she was late.

"Well, that, too, Taicho. But, I mean, I'm late," she smiled nervously.

"We never decided on a time to go to lunch…" Hitsugaya simply could not pick up the meaning behind her words.

"No, no. We didn't do that. But there's something else we obviously didn't do. Probably six weeks ago. I'm late," she tried again, wondering if she was just going to have to tell him. Which, for some reason she was incredibly worried about doing.

He cast her words around in his mind for a while. If she didn't mean late, like to the office or for lunch, what did she mean? And six weeks ago? What had they done, or not done, as she put it. When the realization hit, it hit hard. Hitsugaya's eyes suddenly went big and round, his mouth threatening to hit the floor.

"You're late? As in, like… late, late?" he gasped, fearing he might faint.

"Yes, late, late." She finally responded. "It could just be a silly hormonal imbalance, is all, but, I thought you should know. I won't have the test results until the afternoon. They're pretty busy in the fourth today, what with the eleventh's joint training with the ninth."

"So, we have to wait until you get the results back, right? And then when they show that you're… Well, we can deal with this then, right?" he didn't really think he wanted the results to be positive, but he felt like if they were and he'd said otherwise she'd be afraid to tell him or something.

"Unohana said we should start thinking about what we'll do if it's positive. Just… just in case." She sank onto the sofa, looking tearful. He was afraid that was probably a positive sign of a 'yes' test result. Matsumoto wasn't usually that kind of emotional.

"Well, in that case, we won't be needing much of Ukitake's gift for a while…" he trailed off, trying to assure himself and her that there was some sort of silver lining in there somewhere.

"Toshiro, would you accept responsibility for it?" Matsumoto looked with sad eyes to Hitsugaya.

"If it's mine, yes. Which it better be," he looked pointedly to Matsumoto, who giggled.

"As if it would be anyone else's. Ikkaku and Renji have taken to beating up any guy that comes near me at the bars, and I've been home with you every night. I may skip out on paperwork, but I can assure you it isn't to go 'stepping out' on you. Do you really think I'm stupid? I don't want you to kill me," she laughed again, finally smiling.

After they returned from lunch, they sat waiting anxiously for the results from Hanataro. Both were so nervous that they nearly jumped through the roof when Hanataro knocked on the door.

They beckoned him in and he stood nervously in front of them, all three looking equally wary. "Erm, H-Hitsugaya taicho, Rangiku fukutaicho, I have you're, um, test results ready." He presented an envelope to Matsumoto, looking incredibly nervous. They weren't sure if it was due to the test result or being in such close proximity to Hitsugaya.

Matsumoto opened the envelope with shaking hands. She quickly scanned the list of results, finally reaching the end and smiling softly. "Well, Toshiro…"

oOoOo

A/N: Yes, no? You decide! Let me know, and I'll find a conclusion to this. It should be funny, right? 8-) I'm not sure which I want to go with yet. What do you all think?
-Rachel Noelle