Chapter 8 is here… srry guys I've been busy with several things and I got a bit of writers block … anyway enjoy! ^^ btw this is the longest chapter so far! (get some popcorn! :))

3 months later….

Several party blowers blew out, and confetti poofed out from around us.

"Congratulations, students! You are now fourth years!" One of our instructors said to us.

Our classmates cheered and patted each other on the back. It had been about nine months since I joined the academy, and now, I was a fourth year. Only three more years to go before I became a 'soul reaper' as they called it in the academy.

"Awesome!" Kaede cheered and gave me a high five. Our fellow fourth years celebrated around us until a huge kido blasted above us.

"Cut it out already! Just because your fourth years doesn't mean you don't do your lessons today! Now pair up! You're doing zangetsu sparring today!"

My classmates groaned but did as ordered. I turned to Kaede, shrugged, and we went to grab a pair of practice swords. Something hit my foot and I fell down.

"Hinata?!" Kaede stopped to help me up.

Someone giggled and I looked up to see Chitose. "How clumsy. I feel sorry for the squad that gets killed because of you!" She laughed and walked off with her entourage.

Kaede just rolled her eyes. "I swear that girl gets more and more childish every day. C'mon Hinata let's get to practicing."

I put the incident out of my mind like I usually did. Chitose had it out for us since day one. By now we were used to her silly pranks. We just got her back several times worse, but lately she just bored us so we didn't even bother. Me and Kaede found an open area and began practicing. When I first came I was terrible at Zangetsu, but thanks to Kaede's coaching I was at an 'acceptable' level to her. We now practiced at full ability, rather than Kaede going easy on me.

Kaede blocked attack after attack from me and I did the same. The instructors called for everyone to stop. They had decided to start pitting us against our classmates to gauge our skills rather than us just fight the same opponents over and over.

"First let's have… Fujiwara and Arihyoshi to the sparring mats!"
Arihyoshi Arisa was one of Chitose's buddies. A loud mouth as I recalled. Literally she would insult us so loud you could hear her 50 feet away. Kaede smirked at this and went to the sparring ring.

After the rules for the match were read they signaled for them to begin. Arisa ran forward with her sword above her, Kaede sidestepped her and, in the blink of an eye, put her sword across Arisa's neck, ending the match.

Everyone cheered and laughed at the quick ending and Arisa was sent with a hanged head back to Chitose. Kaede high fived me. After five more matches we switched to Hakuda fights. My name was called for the second match against Daishi Machiko, a boy I had seen around often. He was a burly and big guy, with a loud laugh. I never had talked to him at all, not that I talked to any of the boys really.

Our match started.

"I'll try to go easy on you, girly." He chuckled and got into a stance.

I didn't reply. He roared and ran toward me, right fist out. I stepped to my right and grabbed his right arm with my left. I pulled him off balance and struck at his jaw. Machiko wobbled backwards in confusion. Not down yet. I took the opportunity and dashed forward and low kicked his knees. He fell backward and onto the ground, Machiko stared above him in pure confusion, I walked over and put my foot on his throat, ending my match.

"Match! Hyuuga!" An instructor announced. Kaede and a few others cheered for me as I left the sparring area. The guys mocked and laughed at Machiko as he also left.

"Shut up you idiots!" An instructor yelled at us. "Is that how you behave in front of a captain?!"

That made everyone quiet.

'Captain?' I wondered. My classmates looked toward the instructor and their mouths dropped open. I looked as well. I nearly fell down. Standing next to the instructor was none other than Hitsugaya Toushiro.

Toushiro vision

I groaned as we walked to the academy. "Do I have to go?"

"You can't back out now!" Rangiku scolded me, ironic. "Besides don't you want to see how that girl is doing?"

I looked away from my lieutenant. "I have no idea what you're talking about." I lied.

Rangiku rolled her eyes. A few days ago I was informed that I had been selected to congratulate the new fourth years on their 'graduation' as it was called. I had the feeling that Rangiku had nominated me for it, though I have no other proof than an evil smile she had the day I was told about it.

Even though I acted as business was normal, from time to time I did wonder how Hinata-chan was faring in the academy. Even more so when I heard about how two girl students, one fitting her description, had almost blasted an instructor with a kido.

We stopped in front of the academy entrance where an instructor was waiting for us. The man spotted us and came over quickly.

"Captain Hitsugaya! Welcome. This way this way. The fourth years are sparring right now so you can watch their progress!" He rambled. As he led me away I waved for Rangiku to go, she had only come to tease me, she waved goodbye and went back to work on her mountains of paperwork.

Walking around the academy brought back memories of when I attended. I wouldn't be surprised if I could find my old room by just walking around aimlessly. Finally, we stopped in front of the doors to a sparring room. I could hear voices from the other side cheering and sounds of fighting. He put a finger to his lips, I guess he wanted us to surprise them, and we went inside.

None of the students noticed us as we stood against the back wall and watched them. I crossed my arms and observed the students. From where we were we had a good view of the sparring area. Two students were just finishing a zangetsu match when we arrived. The man who had brought me pointed out the two students and named them. I watched with mild interest as they began Hakuda fighting, I was more of a zangetsu person. I made sure to memorize their names and faces though.

The match ended and the next two were called. "Step up to the sparring area, Hyuuga Hinata and Daishi Machiko!"

I looked up at the name and scanned the students. I finally spotted Hinata-chan walking up to the sparring area.

I kept my eyes on her as I asked the instructor a question. "Is the Hyuuga girl one of the girls who almost used a kido on an instructor?"

The man gave me a look. "Yep, in fact it was me they almost hit. Stupid girls deserved to get expelled!" He turned to glare at Hinata-chan.

I felt like 'accidentally' hitting him with Hyourinmaru but decided against it. I studied Hinata-chan's opponent. A big guy with lots of obvious strength. The guy said something to her but she didn't seem to care at all. The match started and he ran forward to hit her. My hands tightened but I apparently had nothing to worry about. Hinata-chan dodged him easily, grabbed his arm, and made a blow to his chin. The bulk staggered and she hit his knees, bringing him and the match to an end by putting a foot on his throat.

I felt pleased, and strangely proud, as the match was called in favor of Hinata-chan. Some of the kids cheered and a group of boys laughed at the conclusion. The man next to me glared at the fourth years.

"Shut up you idiots!" The instructor yelled at them. "Is that how you behave in front of a captain?!"

'Well, that's one way to announce your presence.' Hyourinmaru commented and I sighed.

The students got quiet and turned to us. Their eyes widened at me, but I stared straight on.

The man turned to me with a suck up smile. "So sorry, Captain! With a bunch of troublemakers like these what can you do?"

"It's fine." I replied. I waved my hand at the fourth years. "Go ahead and continue."

The instructors paused, then obeyed and called the next pair. I could see Hinata-chan out of the corner of my eye looking at me. A girl her nudged her, and said something. She looked away to talk to her. While she was looking away I studied her. Her hair was a bit longer than he last time I saw her. She was also wearing the headband I gave her all those months ago, good thing to know that she was making use of it. Other than that she didn't look much different. I noticed that Miharu wasn't with her, not surprising at all really.

'Go talk to her already!' Hyourinmaru told me.

'What are you talking about? I just wanted to know if she was doing all right and she is.'

'Stop that attitude already!'

'Attitude?'

'You know what I'm talking about. You always act like work is the only thing on your mind, even now you're using that same mindset!'

'That's because work is the only thing that I'm worried about, with that lieutenant of mine always ditching her paperwork!'

Hyourinmaru groaned. 'It's because of your silly denial that you're going to lose her to someone else, don't blame me then!'

The whole conversation was annoying me to the point of getting a headache. 'Lose her? What's that supposed to mean? Why would I care if she got a boyfriend or something?'

Hyourinmaru ignored me. I remembered that I was still staring at Hinata-chan and looked away. I caught a girl with long brown hair nearby looking at me just as I was looking away and our eyes met. She looked away first but as she did so her eyes locked onto Hinata for a second. I immediately knew that she had seen me looking at Hinata-chan, and that she wasn't pleased about it. But that didn't bother me much, she couldn't cause any harm.

A girl came into the sparring room, apparently late, and ran to join the crowd of students.

Chitose vision

I glared at Hinata, half wishing she'd look this way. Little slut! She had annoyed me ever since I first saw her. Strutting around with Captain Hitsugaya, getting a 'special' recommendation from him, cheating her way through the academy. Completely unfair to everyone who has worked hard to get here.

'Whats so special about HER?' For the billionth time I wondered what her connection to the captain was.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Ayaka, late.

"Where have you been?" I asked her. "I've been waiting for you!"

"Sorry, I just needed to look a little more."

"Find anything out?"

She smirked. "Tons! Get this, Hyuuga is from a dignified and powerful family. She was the heiress in fact! Not only that, but Captain Hitsugaya was the one who sent her to the soul society!"

"Interesting…" That explained how they knew each other. Good thing I had assigned Ayaka to be the one to dig into her past, her connections were to be admired.

She nodded happily. "That's not all! You know how that captain recruited her? Well afterwards, according to sources, he picked something in a shop the day before Hyuuga came here. Guess what? It's that little hairband she's always wearing!!"

I flinched. I had noticed it when she was my roommate. I wanted it instantly, it was unbelievably cute! I wanted it so much that it was one of the reasons I had gone through her stuff while she was out of the room that day. I felt anger boil inside me. Then I came up with a plan, a little idea. I'd show that little bitch just who was superior.

Hinata vision

"Uh oh." Kaede mumbled beside me.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Chitose is looking this way."

"What's so bad about that?"

"She looks incredibly pissed!" Kaede gave me an evil smile. "Hinata, you little devil, what'd you do to make her face so red?"

I blinked. "I don't know. I haven't talked to her in months. You?"

"Nope. I thought you did something."

We thought for a second.

Kaede looked behind us. "You think it's because of the captain?"

"Eh?" I kept myself from following her gaze. "Why would she be mad about Captain Hitsugaya?"

She smirked at me. "Maybe she thinks you two are like this?" She put two fingers together and started making it look like they were making out.

I blushed. "W-w-w-we're n—not like th-that! Wh-what would give anyone that i-idea?!" I looked at her fingers that were still making out. Kaede started to make sound effects, some people around us were staring. My face got hotter. I grabbed her wrists. "CUT THAT OUT!" I pulled her fingers apart and she laughed at my embarrassment.

She looked over my shoulder. "Ahh. Here comes the queen of pricks now."

I looked to see Chitose approaching me, she had a …nice smile??

"Hey, Hinata-chan? Could you come talk to me later? I feel really bad about how things have been this last nine months and… I want to start over! You too Kaede!" She smiled warmly at us.

"Are you on crack?" Kaede asked her.

I expected Chitose to snap but she giggled. "No, no! Of course not! Silly! Meet me in the girl's bathroom in five minutes, ok? See ya!" She walked back to her friends and they left the sparring room.

Kaede and me stared for a few minutes.

"What… the hell?! Has Chitose gotten a brain transplant in the last minute?" Kaede mumbled.

I shrugged. "You think we should go…?"

"Not in a million years! Probably some trick! ...although…."

"What?"

Kaede looked at me. "I'm partially interested in what she has in store for us."

I frowned. "I don't like it." I began to say. Kaede hooked her arm around mine and started dragging me toward the door. "K-kaede?!"

She grinned evilly. "Let's go see what the girl wants first! It could be funny!"

"W-what happened to 'not in a million years'?!" I asked her.

"That was forty seconds ago! Jeesh! Go with the flow Hinata-chan." She opened the door and she began dragging me down the hall.

"I don't think I LIKE this flow!!" I protested, but she ignored my pleas and we continued down the hall.

We finally came to the girl's bathroom. Kaede opened the door and walked through first and I followed behind her.

A group of girls were inside. All Chitose's friends. Chitose snickered as we walked in.

"What's so funny?" Kaede asked her calmly.

"Your stupidity." She responded,

"SAI!" A girl pointed at us, I felt my body go numb and I fell to the floor. The girls laughed and I realized that we had been duped. I recognized the Bakudou as Sai, a kido that restricts movement. I couldn't move at all, I could see Kaede beside me, also restricted like me. Two girls walked over to us, grabbed our shoulders, and held us up so we could look at Chitose.

"How stupid are you two? Seriously!" Chitose laughed at us. I felt my body go cold.

"What's this about?" Kaede growled.

Chitose looked at Kaede with a cold sneer. "Don't get riled up, you brute. My business is with Hinata-chan, not you!" She walked over to me. "Bet you thought you were hot stuff, eh? What about now? Think you're so cool now?"

I stared at her. "What are you talking abou-?"

She grabbed my hair and yanked hard, making me cry out. "Shut up." She told me.

"Hinata-chan! Leave her alone you-" Kaede began. A girl put an onion in her mouth, silencing her. The girls laughed at Kaede and I wondered where they got an onion at.

Chitose looked at me again. "Like I said before, I want to start over, I decided to forgive you. On one condition."

"Condition?" I asked her. I didn't like how she said it.

She smirked. "You never speak or look at Captain Hitsugaya ever again."

I gawked at her. "What does the captain have anything to do with-?"

She glared at me. "Don't act innocent! You think you're so cool, being recommended by a captain. By the genius captain! You have his attention now, but that's only because you have a few talents. Once he sees that he'll forget all about you and you'll be just like us in his eyes! You're nothing special!" She tugged my hair again. "So do as I say and we won't ever bother you and Kaede ever again!! Understand?!"

I felt tears of pain brimming in my eyes. Her words sunk more in than I liked. Toushiro's smiling face, his sympathy, standing behind me when we met again, saving my life, the present he gave me… all the memories I have of him flitted in front of my eyes. Never to talk to him… never to touch him… never…anything with him… my chest hurt at the idea. Just like… when Naruto and Sakura got together. Why was I having this feeling right now? Was it because of these cruel girl's actions or… was it… that I was in love with Toushiro? An instant giddy feeling swept through me and I realized the truth.

'I'm in love with Toushiro.' Ithoughtto myself.

"Well?" Chitose yanked my hair again, interrupting my thoughts.

I knew my answer. "No."

"NO?! What do you mean no?!!" She demanded, shaking me.

"I mean... I won't stop my friendship with Captain Hitsugaya just because of a few jealous girls!" I said as confidently as I could and glared at Chitose. "I will NEVER do that to him."

She glared back, hatred glowed in her eyes. I thought she was going to hit me but she stopped and looked coldly at me. She let go of my hair. "I guess I can't force you…"

I was surprised when she said that so I just stared at her. She reached down and grabbed my hairband and pulled it out.

"Hey!" I protested.

"This… is important to you right?" Chitose said aloud. She glared at me again and started walking away. "If the captain is so important to you…" She walked the stall next to us.

She turned around and smirked evilly at me. She let go of the hairband and it fell into the toilet. "Then this shouldn't compare to your precious captain at all, right?" She giggled, flushed the toilet, and walked out of the stall. "Let them go. Undo the kido when we get back to the practice room." The girls holding us let us go, left the onion in Kaede's mouth, and exited the bathroom. We lied on the floor for a minute until we felt the kido release.

Kaede immediately got up and ripped the onion out of her mouth and half gagged.

"Thought I was going to die! That whore is going to die! Wait til I-!" She started stomping toward the bathroom door. She suddenly stopped and looked back at me.

I had stood up during this and was staring into the stall Chitose was in. My headband, of course, didn't flush. But the bows had become tattered and one was barely holding onto the headband, the other was floating freely in the bowl. I hadn't realized it but tears were falling down my cheeks.

"Hinata?" Kaede asked me. The first time she had said my name without the chan at the end, but I didn't pay attention.

I tried to stop myself, but I couldn't. My tears came out at once and I sobbed. I covered my eyes and waited for my tears to stop. Kaede walked over and put her arms around my shoulders.

"Was it that important to you?" She asked me sadly.

I nodded the best I could and tried to not sob too much. "C-captain H-h-h-hitsugaya gave it to me." I told her through my tears. Kaede flinched at this information, then looked down.

"Hinata….this is all my fault. This wouldn't have happened if…"

I shook my head and told her not to blame herself. Though we both knew she would. We stayed in the bathroom for a few minutes while I dried my eyes. Kaede retrieved the headband at one point, but I told her to just throw it away.

After I finally stopped I got a wet towel and cooled my face down, as well as clean away my tears. Though there was no hiding that I had cried. My eyes were too puffy for that. Instead of heading back to the practice room… where Chitose and Toushiro were… we decided to go back to our room.

Kaede led the way and I kept my eyes to the floor. I knew that Toushiro would eventually notice that I no longer had the hairband. I felt empty inside. Numb to my surroundings. Like I wasn't even there.

I didn't register when we got back to our room. I didn't notice Miharu asking me what was wrong. I didn't notice lying down on my bed, or Kaede sitting on hers. I just lied there, not thinking.

I didn't even notice the knock on the door or Kaede going over to answer it. I didn't pay attention to the talking, or when the door closed, or when Kaede sat next to me.

"You ok, Hinata-chan?"

My eyes shot open immediately and reality hit me. Not Kaede's voice… it was…

I pushed myself up to look right into two blue green eyes. The eyes that I hadn't seen this close up in nine months.

"C-captain Hitsugaya?!" I stuttered in surprise. "W-why? Huh? Where's-?"

"Calm down and ask one at a time." He said in his serious voice.

I paused, took a long breath, and let it out. "Why are you here, captain?" I asked him.

"I wanted to know why you left and didn't come back." He answered me, easily. Of course he'd notice. I felt dread at how I must look to him right now. "What was your next question?"

"Um…where's Kaede?" I looked at the door.

"She went for a walk."

I looked at him in confusion. "Walk?"

He ignored my confusion. "You going to tell me why you didn't go back to the practice room?"

It all came back to me. I looked away.

"And are you going to tell me why…" He lightly held my chin and turned me back. "Your eyes are all red and puffy?"

My heartbeat speeded up as I noticed how pretty his eyes were. I became frozen by his gaze. His hand left my chin and touched the top of my head.

"And where's the headband I gave you?" He asked me with a scowl.

I snapped out of my trance. "N-nowhere." I looked away again.

"Tell me." He said sternly. I shook my head and he groaned. "Why won't you tell me? Is it that… you don't think it's 'important'?"

I looked back at him immediately. "No! Never! I just don't want to tell you that it-!" I stopped myself in time. He stared me down.

"It what? Come out with it, I'll find out even if you don't tell me."

I looked down and hung my head. "That… it was dropped into a toilet."

A moment of silence passed. "It was that brown haired girl, wasn't it? Chitop or something like that." He mumbled.

"H-how did you…?"

He shrugged. "I saw her glaring at you earlier and guessed. What happened exactly?"

'I want to know too.' Miharu said. I had forgotten all about her until just now.

I paused for a minute, and then began from when Chitose walked up, skipping Kaede's makeout tease and a bit of my response to Chitose, and finishing with when Kaede and I were released from the kido.

Toushiro listened calmly all the way through and, when I finished, thought to himself. I took the moment to look at him thoroughly. Spiky white hair, beautiful blue green eyes, lightly tanned skin. Like had done when we first met. But more so now. My feelings for him made me want to memorize now. His scent, the way his brows furrowed, how he crosses his arms, everything.

'Wait! You finally…?' Miharu asked as she noticed how I was acting.

'Yes. I… love Toushiro-san very much; I realized then, when Chitose was threatening me, that I have for a while.' I admitted to Miharu.

Miharu was speechless, but I could feel her approval and how pleased she was in the silence.

Toushiro looked over at me. Next thing I knew I was getting wacked in the head with Hyourinmaru. "BAKA!" He yelled. "What were you two thinking?! Of course something bad was going to happen! You two are both idiots!! Don't purposefully get yourself into those kinds of situations! IDIOT!!!" He whacked me again.

I rubbed my head where he hit me. I looked up under my lashes at him.

"Stupid. I heard the whole story from those girls as well. And you still haven't told me why your eyes are puffy."

I thought for a second. "Whole…?"

"Every little sentence and detail. You certainly omitted a lot!" He barked at me.

I thought to myself. He knows…everything we said… my face got hot and Miharu started laughing at me.

"So… you going to tell me why your eyes are puffy?" Toushiro repeated.

I felt embarrassed at what the answer was. I looked down. "W-well. That's b-because… er… I…"

He 'mm'hmm'-ed and waited for me to continue.

"B-because…."

"Because?" He asked.

My eyes flickered back to him. "Because I lost the thing you gave me."

"Why would you cry about something like that?" I flinched at that. I had hoped that would be enough. I didn't know what to say, I played with my fingers.

"Well?"

I ignored him and tried to make it look like I was more interested in what I was doing. I felt his hands grab my face and turn me back toward him. I was surprised to see that he was two inches from me. My face got hot again.

"Well?" Toushiro asked again, more annoyed.

The words came out on their own, hypnotized by him. "Because it was something you gave me." His eyes widened a bit and so did mine.

'I-I said it?!' My inner voice panicked. Miharu 'aw'-ed at it.

'W-w-w-w-what a-a-am I going to do?!!! I actually said it!!!!'

My panic was forgotten when Toushiro pulled me closer to him. I felt his lips touch mine. I froze for a second then started kissing him back instinctively. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. Not questioning, just enjoying the moment for all it was worth.

Toushiro vision

"Well?" I asked her. This cat and mouse game was beginning to annoy me. Once again she looked away to ignore me. In my frustration I put my hands on her face and made her look back at me, to make her pay attention to me.

Her pale eyes sparkled when they met mine again. I had to, more than anything, keep her from looking away.

"Well?"

I realized earlier.

When they left and they didn't return with those girls that something was wrong.

When that girl told me what she did to Hinata-chan and what it made me feel.

When I saw Hinata-chan's puffy eyes from when she cried.

When I touched her and couldn't help but do it again, to want to do it again.

I realized then. But maybe it had been going on for a much longer time than I originally thought.

"Because it was something you gave me." She answered in that quiet voice of hers. Both of our eyes widened.

Even now I don't want to let go of her. But I know why.

'Go on already!' Hyourinmaru barked impatiently.

I paused. 'Just…'

I pulled Hinata-chan closer and kissed her. She paused for a long second then kissed back and wrapped her arms around me. It made me want to hold her tighter.

'…shut up already.'

After a minute we stopped and looked at each other. She blushed and looked away. I couldn't help but smirk at her response.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" A girl screamed.

I snapped my head to the door. Several screams also rang out. I wondered if it was Hinata's roommate getting revenge, but I had the feeling it wasn't. I stood up and grabbed Hyourinmaru from where I had set him down after reprimanding Hinata-chan.

"What was that?!" Hinata-chan asked, standing up as well.

"Don't know. Stay here, get Miharu out just in case." I told her and walked out of the room. I ran toward where the screams were coming from.

Hinata vision

"What was that?!" I asked standing up. The screams didn't sound like the result of a prank.

"Don't know. Stay here, get Miharu out just in case." Toushiro told me, rushing out of Kaede and I's room. I reached under the bed and retrieved Miharu.

She sighed. 'Someone had better be dying to have interrupted such a cute moment.'

I frowned and glared at my zanpakto. 'That's a horrible idea! Don't think like that!!'

'Well they had better.'

I groaned and stayed where I was for a minute, thinking over what just happened...with Toushiro. I blushed again much to Miharu's amusement. I wondered what was going through Toushiro's mind as he...did that. Maybe my love wasn't one sided this time. I looked at the door that he had gone through just a moment ago and started walking toward the open doorway.

'Hinata. Toushiro said to stay put.' Miharu scolded me.

'It'll be fine. Besides, he's not my captain YET!'

'You're going to get in trouble.'

I poked my head out. 'No I'm….'

I didn't finish my sentence. At the end of the hallway was a huge monster. It had a skull head, a hole in its midsection, and was deformed beyond belief. I knew they were human souls but it didn't look even remotely human in any way.

A hollow.

I got only long enough to pull out Miharu before it charged towards me.

CLIFFHANGER!!! ^^ thx for reading again… wait… now that Hitsugaya and Hinata have become close… does that mean you guys won't read anymore?! NOOOEZZZ!!! O_O!!!