Since writing "Betrayal," I've been contemplating an actual confrontation between Matsumoto and Hinamori about her behavior at the end of the SS arc. I also wondered how Hitsugaya would react if he knew how Matsumoto felt about it (according to my view, of course, since there's no indication in the manga of such a visceral reaction from Matsumoto as the one I gave her in "Betrayal").

Maybe it goes without saying, but this, like "Betrayal," contains spoilers for the end of the SS arc. It also contains some strong language, but nothing too offensive, I think.

She wanted to forgive.

She wanted to overlook it, to put it in the past and block it out of her memory like she had when Gin had turned his back on her. She was slowly, slowly, getting over that...and she wished she could get over this, too.

But she couldn't.

She wasn't as good a person as her captain.

The more she tried to remember the good, the more light shone on the bad...and it just wasn't going to work.

Hinamori Momo would never be the same in her eyes.

Ever.

She was going on about how wonderful the living world was, and Hitsugaya was smiling. He even replied on occasion, and that was a surprise because the Tenth Division captain was anything but a talkative person, and the things Hinamori was pointing out were pointless and stupid.

Matsumoto knew the anger coiling in her gut was dangerous, but she also didn't really feel a need to care. She reveled in it...because it felt better than the pain of knowing that her captain was in love with a woman who hurt him.

Ikkaku and Yumichika, who were accompanying them, had caught onto the blonde shinigami's current mood, and were careful not to say anything that would upset her further or, worse, turn her rage on them.

They were of the Eleventh Division, and they considered themselves stronger than most of their peers, but...they knew.

Hell hath no fury like a woman with a sword.

Matsumoto liked those two. They were good people, honest and trustworthy, even if Yumichika's eyebrows did creep her out and Ikkaku's luck-luck dance was the stupidest thing she had ever seen (except perhaps a grown man running away from a girl with a soccer ball...but then again, Kurosaki Karin was rather scary).

She liked them...yes. And she appreciated the fact that they were there. There was something about their presence that made her feel slightly better.

But...it wasn't much.

"...Cutest little thing, isn't it, Shiro-chan?"

"Don't call him that..." Matsumoto hissed under her breath, and the pair behind her didn't miss the venom in her voice. "You don't deserve to call him that..."

"I thought I told you, it's Hitsugaya-taichou!" said the white-haired boy, but there was no real conviction in the admonition.

"Rangiku-san..." Yumichika murmured softly, "...you should calm down, you know, before you say something you'll regret...I know how you feel about your captain...you don't want to hurt him any more, do you?"

No...of course she didn't. She had never wanted to hurt him. He was more than her captain, more than a friend...something far more precious than that. She didn't even know if there were words to express how important he was to her.

It wasn't jealousy that made her stomach cramp and her head throb whenever she saw Hinamori these days...nothing of the sort. It was the knowledge that she didn't deserve him.

The damn whore...

"Oh, Rangiku-san, aren't those flowers lovely?"

"...I guess."

Hitsugaya and Hinamori turned to look at her.

"Is something the matter, Rangiku-san?"

"That's a stupid question," Matsumoto snapped.

"Matsumoto, what are you...?"

"It doesn't matter. Don't mind me. I'm tired."

...Tired of her.

Hinamori frowned and crossed her arms. "Rangiku-san, you're not tired. Something's bothering you, and I'm not moving 'til you tell me what it is."

Matsumoto passed her by. "Stay there, then."

Hitsugaya scowled. "Matsumoto, what's your problem?"

She stopped. "...Nothing you should concern yourself with, Taichou."

"I asked a question, Matsumoto, and that answer won't fly."

She turned and looked at him, at his cold, sparkling, hypnotizing eyes. They really were a lovely color...a downright gorgeous green that numerous female shinigami (and the occasional male, such as a certain Eleventh Division pretty boy who always felt the need to point out beautiful things, regardless of what others thought about him because of it) had only just begun to notice and admire.

And the only person those lovely green eyes ever seemed to soften for had eyes that reminded Matsumoto of a cockroach's back.

"Fine...you want to know?" Matsumoto asked, and the tone of her voice was frightening. "I didn't want to say this because I knew it would upset you, Taichou. But fine."

She crossed her arms. "I'm bothered because this entire situation feels entirely too wrong to me. I'm bothered because this entire situation isn't fair. I'm bothered because she is acting like nothing ever happened!"

Hitsugaya was silent for a moment. "...Matsumoto. If that's how Hinamori wants to deal with this...what right do you have to be angry about it? She idolized Aizen, you know that as much as anyone else."

"I'm not talking about that four-eyed overbearing fuck, I'm talking about her!" Matsumoto snarled, her rage suddenly coming to a head. "She's acting like she never did anything and goddamn it, it pisses me off!"

Ikkaku ran a hand over his smooth head and groaned. "Oh, boy...this won't be good."

"What...what do...you m-mean...Rangiku-san?" Hinamori stuttered, which just made her angrier.

"Don't play cute with me, Hinamori, you know precisely what I mean!"

She had spent so many months straining to keep up a friendly façade for her captain's sake...but now that it had crumbled, she didn't really feel bad about it. As angry as she was, it made her feel better to finally let her thoughts on the matter be shown in the open.

"What you've done makes you no better than Aizen, Gin, or Tousen! You think you're a victim in this? You want to say he used you, that he tricked you? Well, you know what? I don't buy it. Trick or no trick, the fact is you don't even have the decency to feel ashamed at what you've done!"

Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed, and his voice was tinged with ice. "Matsumoto..." he growled dangerously, "...watch what you're saying..."

"No! Punish me for this if you feel it necessary, but damn it, I'm going to let you know what I think about this!" She turned her blazing gray eyes to the now-quivering vice-captain.

"Do you see...? Do you get what's going on here...?" she asked in a deceptively soft voice as she approached Hinamori. "After what you've done...to him...he still protects you. After you came at him with the full intention of killing him, after your backstabbing maggot of a captain almost carried that intention out and you didn't even blink, he's still putting himself in the line of fire for you...he still loves you even after that...and do you even care one goddamned bit about that?"

Hitsugaya's anger wavered into confusion.

Hinamori was shaking.

Ikkaku and Yumichika were looking at everything but the scene in front of them.

"I don't understand it..." Matsumoto said. "Maybe you can enlighten me. I really don't get what's so great about you that my captain would love you so much. You hung around his house when he was younger and you gave him watermelon, and that's it? Bonded for life? You gave him the name 'Shiro-chan' and he worships you? What is it, Hinamori? What's your secret? Hm?"

The tension in the air was almost a living thing, coiled around them like a huge, malicious snake poised to strike. The anger in Matsumoto Rangiku's voice was unlike anything they had ever heard.

And none of them dared say a word.

"Enlighten me, Hinamori Momo, as to why you get a second chance after spitting in his face, trusting a man you barely knew over a friend you've had for years. Enlighten me as to why you can get away with trying to kill him without any repercussions at all! Enlighten me as to why you're so ever-fucking perfect that you don't have to care about the man who loves you!"

If looks could kill...how old was that saying? Who had first come up with it?

Whoever it had been...must have seen the expression currently twisting Matsumoto's beautiful features into a glare of such black hatred that even Zaraki Kenpachi would cower in terror.

Hinamori's face was as white as the spirits she so often saved from hollows, and it did Matsumoto's heart good to see it.

"Tell me...Hinamori Momo...why? Why are you the only one he ever thinks about? Why are you the one who can call him 'Shiro-chan' without him getting angry? Why are you the only one he's given his heart to?"

Tears began burning the backs of the blonde vice-captain's eyes.

"...I've stood by him, helped him however I could, backed him up during fights with particularly dangerous hollows, nursed him back to health when he's sick or injured; I'd give my soul for Hitsugaya Toushirou without a second thought...so why you? Why are you so special that you can ignore his existence and still have his love? Why do you get that smile I'd give my life for when you haven't done a goddamned thing!"

She was crying now, but she couldn't feel it.

She couldn't feel anything.

She felt drained...dead. The anger had left her now...and all she felt was numb.

Without another word, she vanished.

Ikkaku sighed. "...Damn..."

Yumichika's eyes were cold and razor sharp. "...I'm curious to know your answer, Hinamori-fukutaichou...if you even have one."

It took a lot for a man like Yumichika to get truly angry. He was annoyed by many things, but very few things...could put that look in his eyes.

"I think you got some thinkin' to do, Momo," Ikkaku said, "'cuz don't you go thinkin' that anything she just said was wrong. I ain't all 'at observant when it comes to anything outside of fighting, but I've wondered myself why Hitsugaya-taichou dances on your strings when Matsumoto-fukutaichou practically bends over backwards to get a single 'thank you' out of 'im."

Hinamori could think of nothing to say.

She turned her gaze to Hitsugaya, whose haunted green eyes were staring at the ground. "S-Shiro-chan..."

"I think Shiro-chan died when you tried to kill him," Ikkaku said.

It was midnight.

Matsumoto sat on the roof of Inoue Orihime's home, staring at the full moon and marveling at just how stupid she had been. She should have just kept her mouth shut and faced Hitsugaya's disapproval later than blow up at Hinamori and risk everything.

If there was one indisputable truth about her captain, it was that he didn't stand for anyone treating Hinamori Momo the way she had just treated her.

It had felt good, initially, but now...she regretted it.

Not for Hinamori's sake. Matsumoto would likely never actually care about anything that happened to the Fifth Division vice-captain ever again...but...

"Matsumoto."

She stiffened, but didn't turn to face him.

"...Taichou."

She heard his uniform whispering about him as he approached her. She lowered her head and waited, knowing what would happen now.

She'd be lucky if she managed to keep her position after this.

Her heart stopped when she felt his arms wrap gently around her neck, felt his head rest on her shoulder.

"Matsumoto...I'm sorry..."

He kissed her cheek.

"I didn't mean to hurt you so much...I didn't realize..."

She couldn't think.

She couldn't breathe.

She felt shame wash over her at the guilt so evident in his voice.

And then...

"...I love you, too, Rangiku...more than you could ever know..."

...She felt nothing but his warm, comforting embrace.

She finally managed to turn around and face him.

She threw her arms around him and cried.

Hitsugaya held her close, staring at the full moon and marveling at just how stupid he had been.

I think this would qualify as my first serious attempt at a real romantic scene, and while I'm not entirely sure how well I managed it, it works for me. I find myself hoping that, while this was going on, Hinamori was watching from another roof.

Yes...I really, really don't like her anymore. It takes a lot for a character I like initially to make me hate them, but Hinamori Momo is one of the only two to have done it, the other being Uchiha Sasuke from Naruto. And actually, he's starting to get interesting again...so maybe Hinamori's the only one now.