This fic is here to serve as the official Grand Opening announcement for On Cloud Ten! We've restructured the site so that you can join and post your HitsuMatsu fanfics there! It will be a haven for us, as long as you help make it that way. So, please consider this your official invite! For more details, take a look at my profile!

Title: Convention
Date: 25 April, 2010
Words: 542
Characters: Toshiro, Rangiku; mentioned Yachiru, Byakuya
Pairings: Rangiku & Toshiro; implied Byakuya & Yachiru, Gin & Aizen
Summary: Matsumoto has a crafty idea to have her cake and eat it, too.
Inspiration: Round Robin style fic, co-written with Anki-Shai.
Rating: PG

A/N: A "Round Robin" style fic, co-written by Anki-Shai (formerly KatonRyuuka) in celebration of the Grand Opening of the new fansite!

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you at the site soon!!
-Rachel Noelle

oOoOo—RN—oOoOo

"Matsumoto, what are you doing?" Toshiro asked, staring at his fukutaicho. She sat at her desk, obviously ignoring the paperwork before her.

"Breaking the rules of convention," she replied simply.

Toshiro opened his mouth to reply and demand she finish the work until he finally understood what she had said. "You're what?" he replied, rather confused

"Breaking the rules of convention. You know, not doing what's traditionally expected of me. Being female and all," she replied.

Toshiro blinked again before letting his mouth hang open. Finally managing a coherent thought, he asked, "Why?"

Matsumoto stopped doing nothing and turned to look at her Taichou with a thoughtful expression, "Now that you ask, I think this is what defines me as me, you know? If I were to do everything that is expected of me then I wouldn't be me which means I would be another person."

Toshiro tried very hard to not let his mouth hang open at the nonsense his fukutaicho had just spoken. He had to remember why he liked the woman in front of him before answer with an intelligent, "You…eh…you…what?"

"You see, if I acted like, say, Yachiru, for instance, I wouldn't be me anymore. I'd be Yachiru. And goodness knows one is enough. Besides, if I were Yachiru, Byakuya taicho would be after me. And I wouldn't be able to date you or anything, being Yachiru and dating Byakuya and all," Matsumoto responded smartly.

Toshiro felt the unmistakable signs of a headache approaching while his mind tried to look for an answer that would cut out all the nonsense and make his fukutaicho do her work for once.

"So, what you're trying to tell me is... is..." Toshiro sighed heavily. What was she trying to say? "Wait a minute, what does you not doing your work have to do with breaking the rules of convention?" he declared, sending another glare Rangiku's way.

Rangiku smiled charmingly at him, leaning forward while playing with necklace around her neck, "It has everything to do with it, Taichou."

Toshiro was slightly distract by her sudden change of posture, his eyes were now following the playful movements of her fingers around her necklace and he never got the chance to see the gleam of triumph in her eyes. "Maybe we should discuss this with more detail…over dinner?"

"Dinner?" Toshiro felt his cheeks and neck heat. Sure, they briefly touched on the fact that they should date, and usually did not bother to correct anyone who thought the same. But there was nothing official yet. And the idea made him blush forcefully.

Swallowing a lump in his throat, he agreed. "Alright, dinner."

"Really?" Matsumoto exclaimed before she could stop herself. Toshiro nodded, once again, with a noticeable blush on his face. Rangiku couldn't help but grin happily at her Taichou before standing up and hugging him against her chest. "Is a date then!" She said kissing him softly on his cheek and leaving the office with a "I need to get ready then!"

Toshiro sat in a daze for a moment longer. It was a date, then, indeed. Looking down again, he noticed the still unfinished pile of paperwork on both desks.

The demon woman had left him to do the paperwork again.