8

"Captain~ Have you seen Seiko-chan today?" Matsumoto chirped from the door. Hitsugaya raised his eyes from his work for a brief second. His hands never stopped.

"No. Have you checked out the candy store?"

"I looked at everywhere, I even asked Yachiru-chan but she said she knew nothing too." Matsumoto whined like a puppy dog.

"She could have been hiding from you." Hitsugaya breathed.

"Wha~t? You're so cruel, Captain!" Matsumoto whined again.

"She knows, after all, that you will dress her up today." Hitsugaya sighed. He was getting a little bored of doing this. Nothing was happening aroung Seireitei these days so all he did was reporting the same things with same words. He actually hoped that something interesting would happen, even though he didn't really want anyone getting hurt. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy some peaceful days, but...

"No!" Matsumoto said, "I couldn't get the ribbons I ordered yet, and she knows it. We'll play dress-up tomorrow."

"Are you sure she isn't sleeping?" Hitsugaya said, putting aside his pen and closing the lid of his ink bottle.

"It's the first place I checked." Matsumoto said, "This place was the last to check out again, I thought maybe I missed her on the way and she came here."

"For sure she didn't" Hitsugaya mused, then raised his head and looked at Matsumoto's eyes. "Where exactly did you check out?"

"I checked her room and the baths, I checked out her friends' rooms. I checked out hot springs too. I asked Captain Unohana, Captain Byakuya, Captain Kyoraku, Captain Ukitake, Captain Komamura..."

"Komamura?"

"Yeah, Seiko-chan likes his fur. Anyways. I asked Yachiru if she had seen him, but Captain Zaraki wasn't "playing" with her. I asked Nemu and she said she hadn't seen her the whole week and Captain Mayuri had something else to research on so she isn't with her either. Then I checked out the shopping stores, she wasn't seen. After that I checked out the candy store, the salesman said he had last seen her yesterday. Nanao-chan and Momo-chan were on break and chatting; but neither of them have seen her today. Renji was busy cleaning whe division, Izuru and Shuuhei were napping. Nothing from them either. I asked the gates guards too, but she hasn't gone out of Seireitei. Then I came back here. That's all."

"You did a good job there." Hitsugaya mused, "She could be at my flat of yours too, though. Remember, she likes randomly going there and playing by herself."

"She wasn't at mine." Matsumoto said.

"She could be now. Go check out the houses of people she likes. I guess I'm going to do a street search during this time to see if she's just walking randomly." Hitsugaya ordered.

"Aren't you saying just random places?" Matsumoto chirped.

"You checked most of all the relevant places, all we have left is random. So let's do a random search, shall we." Hitsugaya said.

"Alrightie!" Matsumoto chirped and got out quickly. So Seiko was missing again. She had gone missing before too, and Hitsugaya had found her at the mountain side, and once close to the forest. Hitsugaya assumed she would be around the wild again. He sighed. He knew that she sometimes could need a place to hide so he wasn't going to reveal her "secret places" even to Matsumoto; but this time there wasn't even one single reason for her to run to there. She really had to stop doing that so Hitsugaya would probably have to have a long chat with her... or scold her a little. Of course, that'd have to wait until he found her.

...

"So where exactly did he find me?"

"Umm, I'm not really sure if I'm supposed to tell you this, I don't know if it's true after all. It was just a great gossip that time, I'm sure what I'm telling you is the modified version."

"So you didn't hear it from Captain's mouth? I thought this was the real story!" Seiko whined like a puppy.

"I never said it was!" Nanao shrugged, "You were the one who persisted to hear it."

"Yeah, anyways," Seiko sighed and went back to her first excitement, "Since it's some big gossip, I'm sure there's some truth in it. Come on, tell me the rest of it! Where exactly did Captain find me?"

...

She was right there, standing on the Sougyoku Hill. Hitsugaya let out a tiny gasp when he saw Seiko stand there with an extremely naive look on her face – as he could see from that far, at least. What was she trying to do this time? And it was banned to go there without special permission anyways; how the hell had she gone there in the first place? Hitsugaya decided to Shunpo there whether he had a permission or not; he could explain himself to Soutaichou anytime. The worst punishment he'd get would be some extra paperwork. Not too bad, he was used to it anyways.

He started shunpoing towards the Hill and at the same time he saw Seiko move too. She was getting even closer to the edge. Really, what exactly was on her mind? He was totally going to scold her good when he reached her. As he got closer, he saw her expression clearly. She had this look of excitement in her face, looking down from the hill. He had no idea what she was so excited about, but he sped up even more when he saw her so close to falling.

But he was still too far away from her when he saw a piece of earth splitting from the edge of the hill and breaking Seiko's balance too, and making her fall from the edge.

...

"Liar! That's not jumping off, that's falling!" Seiko protested.

"The rumors still have it as you jumped off of there!" Nanao defended herself.

"Then where did you hear this version of things?" Seiko insisted.

"I heard from Captain Kyouraku. He told me after I scolded him a little; but he said that's what Captain Hitsugaya told Soutaichou when he was defending himself... and you." Nanao shrugged.

"Why would he defend us?" Seiko asked. It sounded weird.

"Because, like I told you just now, normally it's forbidden to enter that area without permission. In the end the guards were punished for being so careless as to let you in. Soutaichou wanted you to be taken care of Captain Unohana and not Captain Hitsugaya, but you wouldn't accept so Captain Hitsugaya was given a warning some extra paperwork as a punishment instead. You somehow tore off the hook with nothing." Nanao explained. Seiko remembered a time Hitsugaya took no time to take care of her because of the paperwork and always told her that it was because of her foolishness and ignorance that he couldn't attend to her so she had to be "more careful from now on". But she really didn't remember a thing about the time she had fallen off of the Hill and she absolutely wondered how exactly she was alive right now.

"Come on, tell me the rest of it!" Seiko poked Nanao. Nanao giggled and continued with the story.

...

Hitsugaya clenched his teeth and pushed himself to his limits, shunpoing full speed, not caring about the amount of reiatsu he had to spend or anything. Seiko was falling and he was too far away from her. She was going to crash. Hitsugaya caught a quick glance on what happened around him and let out a low growl. He left some damage everywhere he passed and had all of the shinigami looking after him to make out who he was. He couldn't care less. His eyes and his whole being was focused on Seiko. He had to reach her, prevent her from crashing. But she crashed much sooner than he expected.

When her back hit the rock that stuck out of the wall of the Hill, Hitsugaya felt a surge of fear take over him. Don't be hurt, please don't be hurt, please don't be hurt because of me. Please don't be hurt because of my remissness. With the surge of fear, Hitsugaya realized, that there was a bigger wave of guilt inside him. He had sworn not to let anything hurt her despite Seiko herself; but he had just failed himself. He hated that. He sped up even more, pushing himself over his limits, using all of his reiatsu. Seiko was about to hit the ground; but he was about to reach her too. With a little roar, he pushed himself forward hard one last time and caught Seiko right before she hit the ground.

Just in time, he thought, as he landed on the ground; but the momentary relief wore off quick. Seiko was unconscious. Of course, after the damage her tiny body had taken... Hitsugaya checked her pulse. Her heart was still beating. She was still alive, for now. Hitsugaya quickly checked out her back. He was relieved to see only a few scratches and nothing more. But she could have internal bleedings or broken ribs, he couldn't know. First, he wanted to know if she could come conscious. If she could wake up, he gave himself permission to relax a little. He absolutely hoped she was okay. He was doing his best to be rational but he still felt scared, that couldn't be changed.

"Seiko!" Hitsugaya called her name, softly shaking her, making sure he wouldn't hurt her any more even in the case her wounds were really serious, "Seiko can you hear me? If you hear me, open your eyes! Just open your eyes."

Seiko whined softly and opened her eyes a little. Hitsugaya sighed and relaxed a little.

"Shi... Shiro?" Seiko asked weakly. After the rush of relief, Hitsugaya suddenly felt angry after the quilt of fear was gone. He had forgotten for a moment that she could still be in danger.

"What do you think you're doing, going up there like that?" he suddenly started scolding, "Don't you know the word danger? If I were one second late, you could have died! Haven't you promised me you wouldn't do anything dangerous anymore, huh?"

"I... I..." Seiko stuttered, then her eyes watered. She hadn't shed real tears even once; but Hitsugaya had seen her eyes water when she was in awful pain. He suddenly remembered that there was still a possibility that she was fatally wounded.

"Sorry... sorry, sorry, sorry! Shiro... sorry..." Seiko whined, holding onto his haori. It didn't seem that she was in physical pain this time; her face didn't look like that. It was more like she was sad, so sad that it would cause... her... tears? Okay, that would definitely soften his attitude.

"Okay, let's make a deal." Hitsugaya breathed and saw the happiness and hope in her eyes the same instant, "I will forgive you under just one condition. You will NOT do anything like this anymore. No more climbing cliffs, playing with swords, or anything dangerous like that. Not until you actually learn what's dangerous and what's not. When you want to go somewhere, you have to get permission first. Do you understand?"

Seiko stayed motionless for a short while, then nodded slowly.

"You swear to get permission when you want to go somewhere and not to do anything dangerous, then I will forgive you. Deal?" Hitsugaya repeated, just to be sure.

"Deal!" Seiko said with enthusiasm.

"So you swear?" Hitsugaya said.

"Swear! I swear!" Seiko said turthfully.

"Are you sure you got what I mean?" Hitsugaya said, doubtfully. He remembered the same conversation from the time she had promised "not to do anything dangerous" last week.

"Un!" Seiko nodded strongly.

"Alright then." Hitsugaya sighed, he had decided to believe her again. Then he remembered she had just hit a rock with high speed. She just looked so healthy and not in pain. "Say, does it hurt anywhere? Does it hurt when you breathe? Or does your stomach hurt?" Hitsugaya asked, pausing for an answer after every question. Seiko shook her head no to all of them. "Can you feel your legs?" Hitsugaya asked after that.

"I'm okay!" replied Seiko and got on her feet, holding onto his haori still, "No hurt!.. umm... my back... hurt... sore? Injure?"

Hitsugaya almost giggled after this. Her back hurt. Her back hurt!

"Of course it hurts, you hit it so hard. It's injured, that's right." he said to a softly smiling Seiko, "It's a miracle that it doesn't hurt anywhere else; but we have to have you checked up still, so we're going to the fourth division."

...

"And he gave you a piggyback ride all the way back."

"Haha, that sounds so cute!" Seiko giggled, then let out the loud laughter that she failed to hold back.

"Even I saw you like that, it looked cute." Nanao joined her laughter with a giggle.

"Yeah, it's a great time to recall your memories with the amount of paperwork gathered on your table and the missing Rukongai citizens, isn't it? Hoshikaze Seiko!"

Hearing her Captain's very stern voice, Seiko bounced up immediately, feeling Nanao do the same next to her; then Nanao saluted Hitsugaya quickly and hurried away, unlike Seiko who stood perfectly still.

"Sorry, Captain, I was just taking a break!" Seiko apologized quickly.

"It's been one long break, don't you think?" Hitsugaya said with the same stern voice, then continued with a softer tone, "I can't do everything by myself with this much work. Even Matsumoto is helping, you come do your job too. You're the third seat of 10th division now, don't forget the responsibility it puts on you."

"Aye!" Seiko said and started making her way in, but right when she reached the door, she remembered something and turned back, "Hey, I think it'd be good if you'd take a break once in a while too, Captain." she told him over her shoulder.

"I'm used to it, moreover, I have the whole night to rest." Hitsugaya said in a devil-may-care tone, coming after Seiko. Seiko shrugged, she cared about her Captain alright; but she knew her place well enough and wouldn't meddle in his private life. She could be new to the third seat position; but she wasn't new to him. She had known him for so long and she had also woked under him for thirteen years straight. All she wasn't used to was having this high a seat. After the last mission she had completed about the Hueco Mundo; she was given a huge promotion – like up from the tenth seat to the third seat. It made a few of her comrades seriously jealous while it made the rest very happy for her. She was loved a lot by almost everyone. Even Zaraki Kenpachi loved her in his own wicked way. Well, whatever.

She went inside to her seat. Hitsugaya had been right, there was a giant mountain of paperwork waiting there. She looked at the clock, it had just been half an hour since she had got off of there and there was not even one paper when she had left! Things were going seriously hectic it seemed. Even Matsumoto had a smaller mountain on her desk and she was actually working. Seiko noted the date of the day on her calender; she was definitely going to hold an anniversary of this day.

A/N: there goes, Unnamed, the reason why Seiko would jump off of Sougyoku Hill. or not. well, i know she wouldn't be that silly, i just wanted a scene where Hitsugaya's worried for her and scolds her. i thought it would be cute. i hope you thought so too. but after this, i might not be able to update daily. the rest of the story, in its raw form, is written in my red notebook. i have to type and edit it first. i'll try to make it quick; but i have to go to my doc tomorrow and get some blood tests runned so i might not have much time for that. i'll try my best, though. but after this chapter, cutesy past is mostly completed except for some recalling i might decide to add later on. after this chapter, i'm up for the action and my personal fantasies. expect more. and thanks again for every single review. again. ah, whatever. hope you still like this fanfic. please review, thank you!