Fire Melts His Ice

Merry Christmas! This is Chapter 5; my heart goes out to all of you who have been reading ( not much people though TT^TT ). I added a touch more Hitsu x OC into this part, so I hope you enjoy it.

Scars and Reminiscence of the Days

Matsumoto waved her hand in front of her captain's face. "Hu-llo? Taichou?"

Hitsugaya, who had been deep in thought, snapped to. "What?" he said irritably.

"You're like, staring into space. You know, like you're brain dead or something. Is it because Hotaru kicked the ass out of you just now? It's time for dinner so perk up. Man, I hope dinner is gonna be just sake and more sake."

Normally Hitsugaya would have snapped back after a playful insult from his overly carefree liutenant, but instead he looked at her. "I need you to research something for me."

Matsumoto raised her eyebrows, obviously expecting a cranky retort. "Ah? Me? You know I hate reading."

"What is the 3rd seat officer's family name? Her information papers only indicated her given name."

"I don't know either." Matsumoto put her finger to her lip, thinking. "I only call her Hotaru. Guess I never thought about her family name. I thought you know."

"..." Hitsugaya took out the stack of papers regarding the new officer's particulars. At the top was simply the name 'Hotaru', and at the posting section was '10th Division 3rd Seat - Special Request'. Special request? Hitsugaya thought, looking at the two words that rarely, or otherwise never, jumped out of officers' papers. Suddenly, he was aware of two heavy protuberant...things on his shoulder.

"Oi, don't come near me!" Hitsugaya quickly moved away from Matsumoto, glaring at her.

Ignoring him, Matsumoto produced a sake bottle from behind her back and started chugging while staring at Hotaru's papers. "Special request? Wazzat?"

Hitsugaya shuffled the stack and shoved them in a drawer. "It's not something for lieutenants to see so just go and do what I said. Research. Now." He pushed back his chair and got up.

"Where are you going?" Matsumoto's voice started to sound slurred.

"Away from you."

"Aww! Taichou's such a meanie. I'm gonna tell on you to Hotaru-chan!"

"It's night time. Don't get drunk, for goodness' sake. You haven't done your work. I expect to see it by morning, get it? Get it? Matsumoto, stop drinking!"

Swearing in his mind, Hitsugaya walked out of the room, the stress of paperwork and the puzzling words on Hotaru's papers still loaded on his shoulders.

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The moon shone brightly, illuminating the roof of the 10th Division main room and the silhouette perched at the edge of it. Hitsugaya looked up at the moon, staring blankly into space for a few minutes. He had come up to the roof to temporarily escape from the rest of the world and let all the tension slip away. He did it sometimes when the stacks of his (and often Matsumoto's too) paperwork was taller than him, or when he was tired after a long day.

Out of the blue, Hitsugaya sensed someone's presence. He moved his hand to the his zanpakuto's hilt instinctively.

Hotaru appeared at the other edge of the roof. "Taichou-kun!" The glow of the moon rested on her already bright face. "What're you doing so late up here?"

I should be asking her the same question, Hitsugaya thought. "Nothing. I'm just sitting here. What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in your room."

"I wanted to go have a little wee but I thought I sensed taichou-kun up here so I wanted to see if it was."

"..." Hitsugaya turned away from her, willing her in his mind to go away and leave him alone in peace. Not getting the telepathic message, Hotaru climbed onto the roof. She crawled over next to Hitsugaya and sat down, as if refusing to leave him alone. He sighed.

"Aren't you cold, taichou-kun?"

'Don't call me that!" Hitsugaya started to get ticked off.

"But you are a taichou!" Hotaru pouted. "What am I supposed to call you then?"

"Just leave out the '-kun'. You don't need any suffixes when referring to me as captain." He felt like he was speaking to a toddler. "Everyone calls me Hitsugaya taichou. Why can't you just call me that?"

"Too hard to say."

Scratch toddler. I'm speaking to an incredibly stupid infant. Hitsugaya thought. "There's nothing else you can call me, so just stick with Hitsugaya taichou. You're not above me so show some respect."

"I'm showing you respect by referring to you with a nice-sounding name."

"Which is?"

"I'll call you Toushirou-kun! It sounds like taichou-kun, and it's nicer than that Hitsu-something name of yours."

Hitsu...something?

Hotaru laughed. Strangely Hitsugaya felt somewhat drawn to it. It was like a lulling melody that captivated and enchanted everyone who heard it. When Hitsugaya looked at Hotaru, he was reminded of Hinamori. He realized how similar the two of them were.

"Tch. I don't really care what you call me anymore."

"Really? Yay!" Hotaru giggled. Hinamori... Hitsugaya thought. It's like they're related or something.

Hotaru tugged on her hair ribbon, allowing her shiny black hair to be loose. It was so long that it piled up on the roof behind her. Hitsugaya had never seen hair that long.

"Why's your hair so long?" He asked, his voice monotone. "It'll only get in the way when you fight."

Hotaru looked down at the white silk hair ribbon in her palm and smiled. "It's for the sake of my older brother."

"You have a brother?"

"Yes." Hotaru's smile seemed to be one of nostalgia. "When we were young he always told me my hair was beautiful when it was long, so I decided not to cut it because I admired everything about him, including what he thought of me. He was always kind to me and I loved him dearly, as well as my mother. The hair ribbon was hers. She said one day she would give it to me, so I took it from her when she was killed by a group of shinigami."

"Shinigami?" Hitsugaya's brow furrowed.

Hotaru nodded, a barely detectable show of pain inflicted in her eyes. Her smile was slowly fading. "After her death, me and my brother were left to fend for ourselves. We were living in the 76th District of Rukongai so everyday was like a brush with death for children like us. And since I only had my brother, I became more and more attached to him. The both of us also hated shinigami because they were the ones who killed our mother, and we promised each other that we would never become one ourselves. But then my brother went missing one day. I always thought he was killed, but then I heard some people saw him around, but I didn't know where. I tried finding him but I never did."

Hotaru paused to take a breath.

"So I had no choice but to come to Seireitei and become a shinigami, even though I knew I was breaking the promise between my brother and I." She bit her lip.

Hitsugaya slowly took it all in. Hotaru must have been desperate to save her own life to ignore a vow and become a shinigami. But why did she have such a strong, abnormal reiatsu? Hitsugaya had noticed it during their small fight. She was like the substitute shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo, with massive amounts of spiritual energy, except she had hers under control and didn't leak it out everywhere she went.

"Well...I'm getting tired." Hotaru rubbed her eyes. When she removed her fingers from her face, he noticed they were slightly wet. "I think I'll go back now...Toushirou-kun!" Hotaru smiled at Hitsugaya. Her smile suddenly seemed to shine more than the moon.

This chapter was longer than usual, huh? Haha. I hope so. I'm sick of short chapters all the time. W-ell, I hope this had a little more romance than the first few chapters. Sorry, Hotaru's past wasn't that well crafted, but I can't seem to make it more tragic then it already is.

And that concludes Chapter 5. Stay tuned :D