It Takes Time

By: Le tired

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters, blah blah blah, etc.

Rated: T for some language and…stuff?

Author's Notes: Mwahaha two chapters in rapid succession. So happy. There are some more replies below to earlier reviews that accumulated over the last two years I've been AWOL (because I wanted to thank everyone but realized I had inundated the chapter with my babble and that is lame so I split up the answers!). Now I feel truly caught up!

Flouder5: Thank you!

SakuraCa: Thank you!

Ducati96: Haha if you're still waiting, wait no longer!

MetalChickCrisis2040: Aww thanks for your support! I'm sorry I was unable to provide additional chapters until now, but I hope you enjoy them!

EilidhRose9: Yay I like making people smile! Then again, it's not hard when it's MatsuHitsu!

x-xChronax-x: Thank you and again so sorry it took so long!

RarusuRinnu1310: Argh I feel so bad when someone writes that they're waiting for another chapter. Not that I think your life revolves around my fanfic, but I just feel so guilty. A thousand apologies! Thank you for reading and please enjoy my newest chapters!

Igniculus: Hehe maybe indeed. I guess only Hitsugaya knows… :D

: Haha surprise, it's not abandoned (just horribly neglected)! It was really awesome of you to go ahead and review it when you thought it was, though. Many thanks!

Chapter 7

The evening sky was just settling into a rich purple with a fiery red along the horizon where the sun was still touching down as Matsumoto raced to the street corner outside headquarters where she and Hitsugaya had agreed to meet. Such a lovely night. If this had been a real date, she would have insisted on taking a walk along one of the rivers after dinner to enjoy it to the fullest.

Too bad it wasn't.

But they were going out to dinner, just the two of them, Matsumoto thought. Alone. Wherever she liked, and her darling Hitsugaya-taichou was buying. It was more than a half-step in the right direction, and one that she hadn't even allowed herself to dream of. She honestly couldn't remember the last time she had felt this happy.

And, as she rounded a final corner, as if on cue, the reason for all her joy came into sight. There, at the corner, by a telephone pole, stood Hitsugaya, waiting. Waiting for her. It was an odd feeling, almost like empowerment, knowing she'd had her serious and stern little taichou, who never spared her a second glance in the office, waiting for her, paying all his attention for the next few hours entirely on her. Not that dratted paperwork or other administrative matters. If he looked at her, talked to her, it was because he wanted to. I need to strip more often, Matsumoto thought gleefully.

"Hiii, Hitsugaya-taichou!" she sang even as she finally slowed to a stop in front of Hitsugaya. "Let's be sure to have a ton of fun tonight!"

Hitsugaya grunted. He was, of course, still dressed in his captain's uniform. Matsumoto knew he'd opted for staying and working in the office a little later until the meeting time while she ran home to change.

"So, where do you want to eat?" He was looking down one street, presumably scanning for any promising restaurants. They were in the first section of South Rukongai, at the intersection of two of its most commercial streets. Matsumoto actually preferred some of the sections further away from Seireitei when it came to shopping; the fashion in the clothing shops were a little to fancy and formal for her, but she'd heard the dining was second to none. "I guess it's going to be a fancy place, with that dress."

Matsumoto's heart stopped for a moment. "You don't like my dress, taichou?" She suddenly felt horribly gaudy and overdressed. It was all Renji and Hisagi's fault. Right before she had left, she had changed her mind again about the outfit and her appearance. Her hair was just too frizzy today, and the dress made her arms look a little fat, she'd wailed even as Renji and Hisagi all but kicked her out the door. Well-meaning boys but honestly, what did they know about clothes and makeup? Crazy tattoos were their idea of sprucing up. She was plotting revenge when Hitsugaya's voice cut through her thoughts.

"I didn't say that. I said it looks expensive."

She immediately perked up. "I know! That's what I love about it! It was actually on sale, can you believe it? And that's why, taichou, you should shop every day because you never know what you might miss otherwise-" Matsumoto paused as Hitsugaya's statement registered. "So you do like my dress, taichou?"

Hitsugaya cast her a withering glance.

"Taichou!" Matsumoto wagged a manicured finger at him, even as he turned his head as if not looking at her would make her stop. "Don't you know anything about going on a date? You need to make the woman feel beautiful and special! You have to compliment her every chance you get, starting with her dress! It's rude not to acknowledge all the trouble we go through to look nice for you men!"

Half of her was bracing for her taichou to point out that this was a not a real date. But Hitsugaya just exhaled explosively and all but snarled, "Alright. You look nice, Matsumoto. Now will you pick a place already? Unlike you, I actually get up before noon."

"Don't be pushy either! That's not going to make a woman feel appreciated," Matsumoto responded gaily, but also began appraising the signs and advertisement boards. It wouldn't do for Hitsugaya-taichou to lose his patience with her and leave. "Ahh! How about that Italian bistro over there, taichou? It looks cuuute!"

"Fine, fine."

It was past the dinner rush hour, but the restaurant was still relatively full with couples chatting leisurely over an after-meal coffee. The house lights had been dimmed, while small white candles flickered and glowed on each table, casting a warm golden aura over the patrons at each seating.

"Ooohh this is classy, taichou!" Matsumoto squealed in excitement, and rather loudly. Several customers near the entrance looked up in mild displeasure at the interruption of their private reveries. Many, particularly the men, continued to stare upon seeing Matsumoto in her form-fitting dress and abundant bosom spilling out of the top in all its glory. Of course, that ended quickly enough when their eyes fell on her companion, a white-haired boy wearing a sour expression and more importantly the official garb of a captain of the Gotei 13. As they were led to their seats by a nervous host, whispers ricocheted all around them.

"Oi oi, is that boy really a captain?"

"You don't suppose there's trouble…?"

"I'd heard there was a child prodigy among the captains…"

"But he's so young! And what's he doing with that grown woman? Surely they're not a real couple…"

"What's she doing with him? A beautiful woman like that can't be part of the Gotei 13."

Matsumoto couldn't help giggling to herself as that angry little vein on her captain's head began making its presence known as more comments about his height and youth circulated in the air. She'd long ago given up caring how strangers regarded her (as long as they still thought she was smoking hot), but Hitsugaya was clearly still sensitive about the issue. It was all rather amusing to Matsumoto.

Then again, she thought, such confusion wouldn't occur if the Gotei 13 actually entered Rukongai now and then. It was odd how detached they were from the very people they protected. As a result, the regular populace of Soul Society regarded Seireitei with as much fear as there was admiration. Perhaps it was for security reasons and certainly, there was much work to be done in Seireitei, but it still struck Matsumoto as strange that in all the years she had been lieutenant, she had never heard of a captain taking one foot into Rukongai unless there was trouble. Which was doubly bizarre when you realized how many of the current high-ranking Shinigami, most of her friends like Renji and Momo for example, had come from the poorer areas. And of course, Gin and herself.

Ah, Gin. She'd almost made it through the day without thinking of him. But his memory, much like the person himself, came and went as it pleased, with seemingly no regard as to how it might affect her. The familiar bitterness leapt to her throat and that squeezing ache in her chest lanced through her.

Some of her thoughts must have reflected on her face because Hitsugaya peered at her and asked, "Are you alright, Matsumoto?"

Oh just dandy, taichou, just missing and dreaming of one of your most hated and bitter enemies. While at dinner with you. Shall I just slap you in the face while I'm at it? Matsumoto felt her face flush with guilt and quickly forced a smile. "Just fine, taichou! I was just thinking…um…" Her thoughts flew helter-skelter to the last subject she'd been musing before Gin. "…I was thinking, ah, why don't you ever leave Seireitei? You were born here in Rukongai, right?"

Hitsugaya's green eyes widened and a strange light entered them. For the briefest of moments, he was a child again, the unruly crybaby kid she'd tried to help out that day at the market. "Why don't I leave…?"

His eyes had…blurred or something. Matsumoto loved the sharp cool clarity in her captain's eyes, the harsh brightness not unlike that of a gem with its endless facets and reflections casting pure light in every direction. The way they unwaveringly took in the world with all its sins and ugliness, pierced it, and remained untainted by darkness. She had always thought it would be a sad day when her captain's eyes lost their focus, their strength. But instead…what had once been hard and indissoluble within those wide irises had melted into deep pools of turquoise, swirling with fierce unyielding passion. Joy, sorrow, fear, anger all bubbled to the surface in turn before being submerged by another thundering, crashing wave of emotion.

She was looking at the real Hitsugaya Toshirou. And he was even more breathtaking than when he shouted to the heavens and released his bankai. Her heart thumped madly in her chest at the thought that Hitsugaya had actually let down his walls around her. Never in a million years would she have dared to believe that she could achieve such a level of trust and closeness. Now was the time to say something, but her mouth was suddenly horribly dry. She grabbed the cup of ice water to her right and chugged it desperately.

"…I don't go back because there's no point." Hitsugaya's voice was low and steady, but his eyes were far away, seeing an old woman greeting him at the entrance of an old shack and a dark-haired girl in pigtails holding a watermelon as the sun set.

"Do you hate it, taichou?" Matsumoto asked softly. "Becoming a Shinigami was a means of escape for many people, especially the poor. I can understand why no one wants to look back." From what she'd heard, that was certainly the case with Hisagi.

"It's not that." Hitsugaya ran one hand through his snow-white hair, tousling his unruly spikes even further, and still avoiding her gaze. "There's nothing I can do for anyone out there. When you become a Shinigami, everything's different. How you are expected to act, how you are treated, how people will forever see you. Even if I went back, I wouldn't really be returning." He finally gave her a searching sidelong glance. "Do you understand?"

She did. Oh, but she really did. Neither one of them became Shinigami because they had wanted to. The only reason they had left their lives behind was for another, Gin for Matsumoto, Hinamori and Granny for Hitsugaya. Life hadn't been exactly easy for her in Rukongai (boy was that an understatement), but living out the rest of her life fighting and killing tormented souls eating other souls had been wholly unappealing. She would have been content squatting on the streets and scrabbling for nourishment, as long as Gin was at her side.

And really, what had it all been for? she couldn't help thinking bitterly. Gin was even further away from her than ever. And she certainly knew what Hitsugaya meant about how you were expected to act and be treated in turn. With her overly-developed physique, pouty lips, and long flowing hair she refused to cut or tie up like other female officers, it had taken decades before Shinigami started taking her seriously. She sometimes wondered if that was why Renji and Hisagi developed their rough and tough appearances, when in truth, they were such sweeties. It was all such nonsense, the hoops they jumped through.

We really make quite the couple, Matsumoto suddenly thought, bemused. The baby captain and his bimbo lieutenant. We fought tooth and nail to become Shinigami to prove ourselves to everyone, and then realize we haven't gotten any closer to our real goals, the people we love. It's so sad it's funny. She couldn't help snorting a little and noticed that Hitsugaya was looking at her oddly, still waiting for an answer.

"Sorry taichou, I find a lot of things funny."

"I can see that."

"I mean," she gestured to the two of them, "does anyone else look more unsuited for our jobs than we do?" She finished draining her water. "There's Yachiru, I guess, but Zaraki-taichou kinda compensates for that."

She was pretty sure Hitsugaya understood her line of thinking and how it pertained to what they had been discussing, but he just shrugged, clearly wishing not to delve further. His eyes were firmly resolute again, Matsumoto noted with regret. "We should order." He nodded at a waiter anxiously watching them from a corner.

The moment of confiding had passed but she wasn't going to let him slip away from her entirely. "Hitsugaya-taichou." Matsumoto placed a hand over her captain's. Hitsugaya swiveled back and looked down at her hand covering his, then at her face that shone with the same unspeakable yearning that echoed within him. "I understand. I miss Rukongai too."