I DON'T OWN BLEACH

Frozen Passion

"Matsumoto...I dream that I die in a field of ice."

"Matsumoto... What I'm about to do. I hope you understand. I am also territorial."

Night two;

She stirs opening her gray eyes and glancing around for his shape. However, this evening she will not find him next to her. Getting up she finds a large bouquet of pink roses with a note attached to them. Grinning she puts the flowers in the vase he has on the kitchen table.

Rangiku, I'm sorry I'm not there when you wake up. Please forgive me. I have gone to talk to Urahara about my reiatsu. Meet me at the Water Tower Office after nine tonight. You are in my heart, Toshiro Hitsugaya.

"AWE!" Her eyes read over the last line three times. "AWE!" Matsumoto fights the urge to cry from the sweet gesture. She looks around for the teapot and stubbles across a little yellow book.

"Sex, for dummies?" Opening it up she sees many passages underlined, and tears start to well up in her eyes. "That's my captain for ya." She sniffles putting the book back and grabbing the teapot. Orihime walks inside and looks at the large vase of flowers on the table with wide eyes.

"Are those from Hitsugaya-kun?"

"Oh, it gets better, read the card!"

"Awe!"

"I know!" Matsumoto stuffs the card in her purse with a big grin on her face. "I knew the moment I saw him, he was gonna treat a girl right."

"You know Rangiku-san, I have been wondering. What are going to do when he gets his powers back and turns...um...shorter again?" Orihime puts her hand out in front of her at about where Hitsugaya's height would be.

"I don't know..." Rangiku grows quiet thinking about her problem for a moment. "Guess that means sex is out of the question. Awe damn it, and he is so good at it!"

"When Kuchiki-san got his powers back he went back to the way he was."

"Yeah, except he got a wife to show for it. I-I suppose I'll just have to wait until he a little taller before we..." She stops, looking at Orihime's flushed face. "You gonna explode from hearing the details?"

"N-No, it's just I just realized K-Kurosaki-kun's.."

"Oh MY GOD! You are just figuring out that he is fair game now?!"

"I-I don't know how he feels about me! Help me Rangiku-san, I need advice!"

"I know exactly what to do!"

~FP~

Somewhere in Karakura town a cold chill runs up Ichigo's back.

"Kurosaki, are you listening to me?"

"Sorry Toshiro, I just felt some kind of odd sense of foreboding. What did Urahara say about Rangiku-san eating your reiatsu?"

"He said it would be for the best if we separated until my powers come back." Toshiro replies hating just saying it aloud.

"Lame, somehow I don't see you leaving her for any reason." Ichigo replies checking his watch.

"You late for something, Kurosaki?"

"Eh, I'm supposed to be meeting Inoue for.." He swallows hard. "Dinner."

"Good luck with that." Hitsugaya grimaces recalling the time he was subjected to Orihime's cooking.

"Rangiku-san can't cook either."

"I know but when she tries. I can't help but lov-" Hitsugaya's voice stops cold. Did he just say that? He love her? Already?

"Awe, that's real cute Toshiro."

"Say anything else Kurosaki and you die!" Hitsugaya's deep voice jumps an octave.

"Don't be shy..." Ichigo stands up with a big grin on his face. "You loooooove her! HAHAHA!"

"Kurosaki!" Toshiro kicks Ichigo on the back of his knees making him trip and fall. "I haven't told her yet."

"HAHA-What?"

"I just didn't have the right moment yet."

"I thought you were..um you know."

"Shut-up!"

"Oh man, you did it and didn't say you-"

"I chickened OUT ALRIGHT!"

"Kurosaki-san! Hi~!" Inoue waves to them running toward the two men wearing a short black leather skirt and a rather revealing off the shoulder top.

"Holy Shi...Inoue" Ichigo mumbles getting up off the ground. "All that skin..."

"You are doomed Kurosaki. I think Matsumoto dressed her up tonight."

"Very doomed."

~FP~

It was dark by the time he arrived at the water towers office. He was thirty minutes early and as he opened the door he didn't expect to find her there. He also didn't expect to see a pool of blood on the desk and Matsumoto's Soul Candy dispenser laying crushed underneath the desk. He quickly scans the area looking for clues while his blood pressure steadily rises. Finding nothing he runs out the door and stop abruptly as the arrow land in front of him with a note stuck through it.

Missing something? Be at the overpass in front of the expressway's number 3 exit in twenty minutes. Don't be late...we might get bored... She has a nice body. Act one.

"Where is she?" Hitsugaya's turquoise eyes flash with a ferocity in the quiet moonlight as he steps under the shadow of the overpass. The three dirty men holding wooden bats with nails protruding out of them sneer.

"We are supposed ta give this to ya." The man wearing a ripped leather jacket tosses a pink scarf on the ground, kicking it in front of Toshiro. "He said, 'Your kitten sure is a pretty thing, and if you don't hurry...When he is done with her, she might not want you to save her." The group howls nasty comments and laughs in Hitsugaya's frowning face.

"Where?" He asks his voice hissing under his clenched jaw.

"Be here at midnight, tomorrow." The man in the jacket drops a folded up piece of paper to the floor. "If you are late...he is going to start cutting off parts, and it'll take you a month to collect enough to bury her." They walk away leaving Hitsugaya alone, the darkness casting a shadow over the anger on his face. He walks over and picks up the scarf and the next "Act" in the game he must play. He will play the madman's game to get back the one thing he refuses to lose. His gaze falls on the pink scarf he was accustomed to seeing wrapped her neck and arms. His eyebrows furrow noticing drops of blood around the center part where it would fall around her neck. Looking at the map he sprints away heading for the place he hid her sword, his feet pushing his body forward.

Nearing the outskirts of the city Toshiro climbs up a water tower and slumps to his knees on the scaffolding. Wrapping the pink scarf around his neck, he lays down making a pillow with the slack, gently rubbing his face with the soft knitted fabric with one hand, clutching her zanpaktou with the other. The peach and ginger fragrance of her scarf comforting him, and the echo of her distant laughter, lulling him to sleep.