Chapter Twelve

Two females sat by idly at their spot at a café. One of them was a tall, busty female with mid-length, wavy blonde hair. She was a beauty, interesting every male that was currently spending their time at this café. The other was a young woman with a cute bob haircut. She was lady-like, unlike her best friend, who wore a halter top with high wasted pants. Maybe that was attracting all the guys attentions. But neither paid attention to the guys surrounding them. No. Their eyes were focused on one man just across the street.

"Hey Hinamori." Matsumoto whispered. "Why do you think Captain Hitsugaya is here in the World of the Living?"

"Do you know what today is?" Hinamori giggled. "It's their three year anniversary!"

"Ahh! I remember!" Matsumoto swooned at the memory. "That wedding was the best ever! I drank so much sake with Naori-chan! She got so intoxicated! I bet their wedding night was really something!"

"Rangiku…" Hinamori chuckled. But then, their target moved. "Wait! He's going inside!"

"Where? Where?" Matsumoto soon smiled in glee when she spotted her captain. But that smile turned upside down when she saw the store name. "What? A kitchen appliances store? Again? Are you serious? Even in Soul Society, it's pass that age and time!"

"That's something only a horrible husband will do! He can't do that to his own wife!" Hinamori gasped. "Even on her birthday, he got something from here! We have to stop him!"

"We must! We must! Or poor Naori-chan is going to suffer another terrible gift!"

Matsumoto bolted out of her seat and sprinted across the street with Hinamori following closely by. In mere seconds, the pair was panting in front of the store window. Hinamori snuck a quick peek in, spotting her best friend mulling over a series of pots and mixers. The younger woman began to shriek, but Matsumoto quickly clapped her hand over her mouth, hopefully keeping her quiet enough.

"What did you see?"

"He's looking at the mixers!"

"Mixers!" Matsumoto screeched. "Does he think our Naori-chan is weak with a mixing spoon? How horrible! Does he think that lowly of her? Well, I'm going to set him straight!" She haughtily marched right in.

Hinamori quickly followed, mostly in worry. This cannot go well! "Rangiku-san!"

Hitsugaya pondered closely at the variety of mixers available. The stats, written on the cards next to each mixer, listed different speeds, different colors, and different handles. He already narrowed out most of the mixers to those that have a variety of speeds. He also chose those with a comfortable small grip. But, there was the last option: Color. Why? Why, out of all days, did he have to forget her favorite color! What was it? Was it blue like her hair? Or was it yellow like her eyes? Or was it some random color like red, orange, green, or something like that? Wait! Green was his favorite color. They don't have a lot of similar interests. Well, that's one color out. Only six more to go!

"Captain!"

He didn't hear his lieutenant. In fact, he may be mumbling to himself. "Should I just get the monochromic colors? She can't complain about that?"

"Captain Hitsugaya!"

"Ah!" The man jumped at the sudden shout. "MATSUMOTO!"

"What are you doing, Hitsugaya-kun?" Hinamori chirped and jumped next to her best friend.

"Tha-That's none of your concern!" He stammered back, obviously turning red in the face.

"It's for Naori-chan! Isn't it?" Hinamori excitedly asked, and then squealed when Hitsugaya's face confirmed it. "It is for her? What are you going to buy for her?"

"It better not be this." Matsumoto winced in disgust as she picked up a mixer with her thumb and index fingers like touching bread with mold.

"You know what you should buy her?" Hinamori eagerly hooked onto his arm, most likely planning to drag him out. "I think you should get her some jewelry! I think an amber necklace will make a great gift and it matches with Naori-chan's eyes!"

"She hates accessories just as much as dressing up." Hitsugaya deadpanned back, also yanking his arm out of Hinamori's grasp.

"Then, we'll shop with you!" Matsumoto hooked onto his other arm. "Hinamori and I are shopping experts! Every married woman out there loves receiving diamonds, gold, silver, clothing, and romantic dinners on an anniversary! We know what a lady wants and we'll make sure you make yours happy."

"Naori is not a 'lady', I can assure you that." Hitsugaya mumbled and angrily yanked his arm out. "Just go! I know what I'm doing!"

Hinamori whined, "And you've been repeatedly buying her kitchen supplies! Don't you think it's time she deserves something nice?"

Matsumoto also proceeded to join in. "Yeah! In fact, I've never seen you be at least romantic with her. You guys always act so professional in the office."

"Why the hell will I ever let you see that?" Hitsugaya screamed back. "Both of you! Just leave!"

Hinamori and Matsumoto decided to finally release their hold on his arms. Hinamori sighed and prodded her forehead while Matsumoto merely placed her hands on her hips and sighed. They both shook their heads in disappointment with his stubbornness.

"Oh, you do not know what you're doing?" Matsumoto remarked. "Okay! We'll leave you. But don't cry to us tonight when Naori-chan kicks you to the couch."

"I'll see you later Hitsugaya-kun! I hope you find a good gift for her!" Hinamori waved good bye and also followed after a haughty Matsumoto. "Hey! Maybe he'll change his mind!"

Hitsugaya only sighed in weary. Oh fuck it! He'll just get a yellow one.

OoOoO

"I'm home." Hitsugaya tiredly slid open the door and entered inside.

"Captain Hitsugaya!" A golden-eyed woman with dark-blue hair going just past her shoulders ran out from the kitchen. "Captain! How was your visit to the World of the Living? Did you enjoy it there?"

"It was tiring." Hitsugaya sighed, letting his bagged shopping drop to the floor, and he sauntered off to the couch. "Naori. When are you going to stop calling me that? We're not at work anymore."

Naori laughed and scoffed at the same time, "Please! Who was it that beat the 'Captain' title into me? I've gotten to the point that I call everybody by their titles. I still have trouble not calling Hinamori a lieutenant. Sometimes, I'm even tempted to call her Hinamori-sensei."

"You can start now." Hitsugaya pulled the woman to sit beside him. He cupped her face with both of his hands, making her stare into his eyes. "Tou-shi-rou."

"Toushirou…" Her cheeks flushed red as she quickly turned away to avoid locking eyes again. "Sorry Hitsugaya-kun! It still sounds a little weird coming out of my mouth!"

"It was close enough, I guess…" Hitsugaya sighed, rubbed the back of his head, and pulled his wife close beside him. His arm wrapped around her shoulder and Naori laid her head against his shoulder. Hitsugaya mumbled, "We are such a weird couple."

"I know." Naori agreed, tenderly holding onto his other hand. "We don't call each other 'dear' or 'darling' or something endearing like that. We barely acknowledge ourselves as husband and wife at work."

"Our gifts to each other technically suck."

"Ha! That's right for sure." Naori chuckled. That was so true. He's been giving her kitchen supplies. And in return, she's been attempting to make amanatto plus other sweets and having him test out every batch. He always ended up eating most of it before the day was done. Once, Naori was swayed by Hinamori to buy him something nice for his birthday. So she got him a watch. He proceeded to prove to her how useless the gift was by accurately telling the time without having to use the watch. They ended up selling the thing and going out to dinner. Naori smiled at the nice memory. "By the way, Hitsugaya-kun, today's our third year anniversary…"

"Greedy person…" Hitsugaya smirked, "Here." He pulled out some object of metallic gold and placed it in his wife's soft hands.

"A hair barrette?" Naori questioned. She felt the back of her head. "But I already have one. And you know I don't like extra accessories."

"The one you have on is getting rusty. It's best to replace it."

Naori frowned at the thought, but nonetheless, she still reached back behind her head and unclasped the circular golden barrette she had worn for over a hundred years. Her dark-blue hair that was previously held back flew forward to shape her head. She carefully gathered the dropped strands and pulled them to the back of her head. Now, to get the new rectangular barrette on, she fumbled around trying to figure out the location of the hook. That took her a while.

Hitsugaya chuckled at Naori's messy fumbling. "No wonder you hate dressing up. You suck at it." He grabbed the barrette back and he fixed it into her hair for her. But when he was done, cheeky as he was, he planted both hands back onto her cheeks and pulled her down.

"Mmm!" Naori shrieked in a muffle. She couldn't open her mouth. He closed it with his and pressed his lips hard against hers; making it so she couldn't escape the kiss. She tried beating his shoulders with her fists, but that soon degraded towards resting softly against him.

Soon, they both broke the kiss…both flushed and blushing.

"I got you another gift." Hitsugaya awkwardly spoke after a while. "It's at the front door."

Naori headed out towards the hallway and she found the bag he dropped earlier. She tenderly took off the plastic and then, happily screamed when she saw the contents. "Hitsugaya-kun!" She ran into the living room with the box. "Thank you so much! I always wanted a hand mixer. I missed these so much back from the World of the Living. That and the blender! And I love this color the best!"

Her mentioning of another kitchen tool sparked another mental note he made during shopping. "Naori?"

"Yes?"

"When are you ever going to tell those two that cooking is your hobby?"

OoOoO

Naori brought over some tea (made by Hinamori) to her captain who was calmly resting on a couch. Elsewhere, Matsumoto was working on the paperwork required for Tenth Division clean-up. She decided to ditch during the battle so she definitely deserved it! After his medical treatment, Unohana basically banned the captain from working on paperwork and assigned Naori as his personal attendant. Not that he minded the arrangement, but he felt Unohana was doing crappy work by the way she bandaged his arm. It still was aching a little, even after the treatment.

"It still hurts?" Naori sat down after setting the tea. "Let me see." She took hold of his injured arm and started unfurling all the bandages. She recognized some leftover work that needed to be done on his arm. It was something a Fourth Division member could not miss. Her former captain, Unohana, can sure be a bastard sometimes!

Hitsugaya quietly watched her focus on healing his arm. Her soft hands were placed lightly on his forearm and they lit up with a recognizable green glow. Her healing was still top notch even after transferring out of the Fourth Division many years ago. He intently watched as her eyes darted to different spots on his arm, her wisps of blue hair that fell to her face, and her habit of occasionally biting her lips.

"Naori."

"Yeah Captain?"

"What ever happened to Yu Honda? I haven't seen him and we certainly did not kill him."

Naori slowly released her spiritual pressure, pausing the healing for a little bit. "While you were taken care of in the healing units, I spoke with him for a while."

"What did he say?" Hitsugaya began to grow alarmed. Did he try to do anything to her now that he was absent?

Naori pondered again on her answer for a while. "He…he apologized for everything. He said that hollow just took over his mind, so much so, that he couldn't control himself anymore. So he told me, he was going to leave for another District, probably in the twenties. Before he left, he told me once again that he truly loved me and wanted only the best for me." She paused again, knowing this part was the hardest. "I responded back to him."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What did you say?"

"I said…" She raised her head to answer. "I said that I was sorry and I could never return those feelings. I told him that the 'me' he fell in love with was not really me. He may have fallen in love with my appearance, but I told him that he could never handle my personality. He got the message and quietly left." She glanced at her captain for a moment. "Why do you look so pissed? Nothing happened!"

"Why did you act so guilty when you said that?"

"What?" She bit her lips and roughly squeezed his arm, making him yelp in pain. "I do not look guilty! You just act like a clingy crazy girl! What was with that act back when we fought him?"

"What act?"

"I was trying to heal your injuries and then, you just ignored me and you still tried to fight him! Do you know how worried I got?" Naori yelled.

But, instead of yelling back like usual, Hitsugaya grew quiet and looked away as if her words blinded him. He didn't want those golden eyes to follow after him, slightly weary and embarrassed for if she found out.

Naori also noticed this strange behavior and she quickly inched closer. "What's wrong with you? You're acting weird."

The captain mumbled, "I was just acting rashly. That was it."

"You? Acting rash? That's not like you."

"It was… It's just that…" He loudly sighed. "I was just mad at the moment."

"Captain Hitsugaya…"

"When I saw him hurt you, I just got really mad all of a sudden. Before, I was already aware that he liked you since he kidnapped you. But, I never thought he could actually hurt you. I thought you were safe. And this was the first I've seen you seriously hurt. I guess my feelings got the better of me and I didn't know what I was-"

Doing was the last word he wanted to say. But he couldn't.

Right in the middle of it all, Naori gradually loosened her grip on his arm and she leaned forward unexpectedly, cutting of his sentence with her lips. Without thinking, she pressed her lips against his, an innocent kiss, which she was the first to initiate. It made her head grow hot. Her breathing became unsteady. She felt her knees shaking with every second that this kiss lasted. Finally, she quickly broke apart and flushed with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry…" She mumbled. "I don't know what came over me…I just…"

"Naori…"

His smooth voice compelled her to look him in the eyes once again.

Hitsugaya reached for the back of her head and pulled her in for another kiss. This time, it was deeper. While Naori's kiss was an innocent peck on the lips, his kiss was a kiss that consumed her. She felt those swirling feelings inside of her swarm to her hot head and her trembling hands gripped tighter onto his arm. Since when did he get that good at kissing?

Smirking, a young child of five stood outside of the office and she clicked her tongue. Obviously, she saw the whole thing. Masaki was now very sure. No matter what, these two loved each other even though they didn't show it. So she had nothing to worry about. If they were anything like her parents, they will have a wonderful life together. Masaki sighed in wonder, fantasizing how married life between those two might be. Was it going to be a happy bliss? Or was it going to be a fight per day? She wondered if they were going to mature into responsible adults. Does that mean any kids sooner or later? She really wanted to have cousins!

Suddenly, a yell and a scream brought Masaki's attention back to those two.

"Oh crap! Oh crap!" Naori freaked out. "Your arm is bleeding again!"

"No shit!" Hitsugaya angrily yelled back, "Who told you to squeeze my arm so damn hard? The wound reopened itself! Hurry up and fix it!"

"Who told you to kiss me like that? You know I get really anxious!"

"Who told you to kiss me first?"

Masaki wanted to hit her head against the wooden wall. But that would alert their attention and give away the fact she was snooping. But, seriously, they look like two chickens fighting over a grape! They might even be worse than her mother and father! At this rate, nothing is ever going to be done! Their first date may as well be ten years from now!

Masaki glanced up at the hallway clock. It was almost three o' clock. At that time, she should be at the training hall.

The young child glanced back into the office. Now, Naori went back to healing her captain's arm and the room fell silent once again. Masaki sighed and she turned around to walk away.

It will eventually happen…only in due time…

Byakuya was waiting for her. She needed to start training.

Fin

And finally," Adult's Game" has finally finished! I'm sorry for the long, long hiatus. But I have completed my goal of finishing this story! Sorry if this chapter may be a little short, but I think it wraps up things nicely for an ending. And did you guys like the flash-forward section? I think it was cute in my opinion. Sorry for no omake, but I'm thinking of making a short epilogue section just filled with omakes of life after "Adult's Game" and stuff like our main couple's married life. Again, thank you all for reading and for sticking with this story till the end!