7

"Hey, look who's coming!" someone practically chirped. Seiko looked at the direction the voice was coming to see a weird man wearing a hat and a colorful kimono with pink background. The man looked very lazy with the way talked and lied on the floor with a little bottle in his hand.

"Hello, Captain Kyouraku~" Matsumoto chirped even more melodically, waving her hand. The man smiled to her, then he noticed Seiko.

"Say, Rangiku-chan, who is this little lady?" the man asked, looking directly at Seiko. Seiko hid behind Hitsugaya, leaving one eye out to see what was happening; she was embarrassed.

"Oh, she's Seiko-chan!" Matsumoto answered him, smiling cutely, "I found her pretty wounded in the Rukongai, now we're treating her and looking after her. It seems she has a great potential to be a shinigami; but we don't know much about her either, at least not yet."

"Ooh~ is that so?" the man mused, then smiled at Seiko. "Nice to meet you, Seiko-chan!"

Seiko closed her eyes and hid totally behind Hitsugaya. She wasn't used to people, meeting new people or close attention like that.

"Forgot to tell you, she's a little unsociable and couldn't talk until a little while ago." Matsumoto sweatdropped.

"Oh... I see." the man giggled. Seiko heard Hitsugaya sigh.

"Seiko, it's not right to be like that. Now come out at least a little and listen to him properly, will you?" Hitsugaya said. Seiko gasped. She was being scolded by the ice prince. She didn't want that. She didn't want him to grow tired of her. She didn't want him to leave her alone. She was going to be a good girl. She slowly got out from behind him, still holding onto his haori tightly.

"Uh... ni-.. nice to..." Seiko tried, not being able to get the words out of her mouth properly, her nervousness wasn't helping at all. It was definitely frustrating.

"Yeah, that's enough." Seiko heard Hitsugaya's voice and felt his cold hand ruffle her hair. She looked up at him. She was approved of. She sighed with relief and tried to smile, found out her face was still stiff like a stone.

"My name is Kyouraku Shunsui, Seiko-chan." the man said. Seiko turned to look at him properly, blushing a little. She had never been acquainted with new people before, her old family would always keep her in the home and take care of her there. About the time she was dealing with burns and nightmares... well, she remembered almost nothing from that time anyways.

"Kyo... Kyora..." Seiko tried to say his name; but it was pretty hard making the words come out properly, especially with the long words. Matsumoto giggled.

"Well, you don't have to force yourself, Seiko-chan." She smiled at Seiko warmly, "You can call him Kyo-chan!" Matsumoto chirped.

"Matsumoto..." Hitsugaya growled warningly.

"What's with it, captain? I'm just trying to make it easier for Seiko-chan!" Matsumoto pouted. A vein popped on Hitsugaya's forehead.

"Well well, Captain Hitsugaya, isn't it alright?" Kyouraku interrupted, "It's for Seiko-chan after all; she still can't talk that well, right? No need to be that stern."

"Fine, if it's alright with you." Hitsugaya sighed.

"Um... Kyo... san?" Seiko asked. She had corrected 'chan' to 'san' automatically; even though she had never gotten sociable before, she had been taught that 'chan' was something you'd use with people you're close. She didn't know this Kyouraku person that well yet.

"Yep, just like that!" Matsumoto chirped.

"So, where are you going now?" Kyouraku asked, sipping some drink from a red, wide cup. Sake? Well she had seen her foster father drink that before.

"To fourth division for her check-up." Hitsugaya answered him quickly, then glanced at Matsumoto; "Also, we need to hurry or we will be late."

"Oh, sure! Then, bye, Captain Kyouraku!" Matsumoto chirped, waved at Kyouraku.

"Have a safe trip!" Kyouraku waved back. Hitsugaya started walking again. Seiko looked one last time at Kyouraku, then followed Hitsugaya, still clinging to his haori. Even though they were healed, she still felt her legs a little shaky and weak, she felt like she would lose balance sometimes. Holding onto his haori made her feel safe.

"Now, if you please won't start chatting with Abarai..." Hitsugaya mumbled.

"Huh? But he's my friend, Captain!" Matsumoto protested weakly.

"And we're about to be late. Does this mean anything to you?" Hitsugaya sighed.

"Fine, I'll just say hello, if I see him." Matsumoto mumbled. They both were quiet for the rest of the way. Were they always like that? Hitsugaya looked like he was a little fed up with Matsu... Ran-chan. Seiko wondered if Ran-chan had done something wrong... or if Hitsugaya was always like that. She had pretty much understood that he usually had a serious attitude towards life; but wasn't he a little depressed compared to the day before? Or maybe it was just Seiko being a little too chary about him. She decided to let it go before she got too paranoid.

...

The fourth division was pretty empty. Most of the shinigami were out on cleaning duty and the patients there were either very lightly wounded or having a health check. Things were pretty peaceful around Seireitei lately, except for little accidents and a few hollow cases. Unohana sighed with satisfaction in her room. Having everyone healthy was certainly a nice feeling, especially when she had all her paperwork finished.

Knock, knock.

"Yes?" she replied automatically. The door opened a little and Isane's face appeared in the gap.

"Captain Hitsugaya is here, Captain Unohana." Isane said timidly. Unohana smiled at her sweetly.

"Take them to room six, I will be coming shortly."

"Alright." Isane closed the door with that. Unohana finished what was left of her tea and started making her way towards room six. So that little burning kid was back. She remembered that the kid had a strong body that could heal very easily. Unohana knew that if she didn't start burning again, she probably was fully healed.

When she entered the room, all faces immediately turned to her. She smiled sweetly at all of them.

"Welcome back. I hope my patient is alright."

"She didn't burn at night." Hitsugaya replied.

"Did you visit Captain Mayuri?" Unohana asked, going next to Seiko who was sitting on the wheeled bed. She reached for her arms, undoing the bandage carefully.

"Not yet. I will take her there after the health check."

"Hmm.." Unohana mused. It was a wise decision, considering Captain Mayuri's unstable personality. "And what did Soutaichou decide in the end?"

"He said that he would let it go until the results of Captain Mayuri's examination are out. After then he might take the issue to Central 46 depending on the results." Hitsugaya summed up.

"Then you should be quick about that, shouldn't you?" Unohana smiled.

...

"But in the end, Captain Mayuri did accept that you're normal. I think that itself is a good thing already."

"Please, I thought I'd die! That man is freaky, I'm telling you. I hid behind Captain the first time I ever saw him. I still have the emotional scars of that time."

"It can't be that bad. I know he's a little scary, but..."

"Imagine that you're a kid being taken to his laboratory and you're to be the next subject."

"Okay, that sounds scary."

"That's what I mean."

Seiko giggled and leaned back on her hands. She closed her eyes and raised her eyes to the sun. Those days were definitely warm memories in her mind. She was glad to be found by Matsumoto and she was even more glad that Hitsugaya had been the one to take care of her.

"I remember the day you actually snarled at Captain Zaraki." Nanao mused. They were sitting on the grass, chatting about the past just to pass time.

"Yeah, I remember doing that too. God, I was brave!" Seiko chuckled, "Though I bet he doesn't scare me as much as he scares you, he annoys me more than he does you."

"He can't miss anyone whose blade can actually damage him." Nanao nodded.

"What, is it my fault that I happened to scratch him that time? How could I have known?" Seiko laughed, remembering that time. She had thought that Zaraki was going to attack Hitsugaya and had wanted to actually protect him which made her snarl first, then jump on Zaraki's face and scratch and actually wound him which was a miracle in itself. Wow, past! Protecting Captain Hitsugaya, what a childish thought! She smiled unconsciously.

"What about the time with Captain Byakuya?" Nanao giggled.

"Now, don't say it like that! I'm still in love with the cookies he makes." Seiko said, laughing. She had discovered very early that under the "serious worcaholic" cover, he was a very nice man; one of the nicest men around, actually.

"I guess he'd like you for that." Nanao said, "you should tell this to him sometime. It could even get you a salary hike if you were under him."

"No thanks, I'm happy the way I am." Seiko breathed with the satisfaction she got from the warmth of light rays.

"I know you are." Nanao mumbled, more to herslef. Seiko decided to ignore it. Everybody knew it anyways and it was a true fact; she didn't mind who said what about it. She loved working under Hitsugaya, or more, being with him, since she remembered. It was normal that it would be widely known, considering she used to be the mascot of Seireitei once, when she was small enough to walk around the street behind Hitsugaya, holding onto his haori. She had lots of funny stories from that time; like the one time she had tried to cook. She had learned fast that she was supposed to stay at least one meter away from any kind of oven. Cleaning up had taken ages after that incident. She still laughed hard whenever she remembered Hitsugaya's expression of when he had seen his kitchen like that.

Seiko had learned a lot about Hitsugaya during the times she had had to live with him which was definitely a great bliss. Mayuri had taken his time finding out the reason of her burnings and "inventing" her reiatsu-suppressor pills so she had stayed with Hitsugaya for a considerable amount of time like two months. Even after that, Hitsugaya had been chosen to be her guardian until her mental state as well as her body fully healed and she was ready to be sent to Shinigami Academy. She treasured the memories of those times a lot, even though she wasn't so well in health, even if she couldn't perfectly talk yet, those memories were irreplecable.

"There has been times you scared all of us, though." Nanao breathed, like she was talking to herself. She sounded extremely relaxed, sleepy even.

"I don't remember such times?" Seiko asked.

"Of course you don't. You were one fearless kid. You didn't even know the meaning of the word danger. You were only shy at first. You always managed to shock all of us with your actions." Nanao chuckled softly, "Like the time you actually jumped off from the Sougyouku Hill."

"I really did that?" Seiko giggled with awe and disbelief.

"Yeah. If it wasn't for your Captain, you probably would be dead by now." Nanao sighed. Seiko slightly remembered something like falling from a high place and being caught by Hitsugaya; but she had no idea she had jumped off of such a place.

"Hey, tell me the story!" Seiko said with high enthusiasm.

"No way, I don't even want to remember that time!" Nanao giggled.

"Oh, come on! Pretty please?" Seiko practically begged.

"Uh... well, it wouldn't kill me, I guess." Nanao gave in.

A/N: there! finally comes the fun part for me. i wanted to skip the boring parts thus used "now" as a base to skip to exciting memories. i think i'll have more fun, and after the memories, the action with Seiko will come but i still need to edit ch9 and 10 for that. i have tomorrow all free so i think i'll be able to edit two chapters in one go... maybe. i have more to add to the story. i recently realized that i told nothing personal about Seiko and i thought i should add 'em to the next chapters so it may take time. anyways. i really appreciate any suggestions about the story, i'd like to hear what you'd want to read from me. hope you enjoyed this chapter too, enough to look forward to the next chapter; please review!

P.S: my unnamed reviewer; i'm so grateful that you actually follow the story and give me the reviews, i really do appreciate that. i wanted to thank you personally for that; but you don't have an account here so i didn't have the chance to pm you. in the end, i decided to thank you openly here for the support. hope i don't disappoint you later on the story. take care!