I really pushed it with the, "I'll update again next week," thing this time around. I've been trying to work out various issues with my other projects, and couldn't get into the right frame of mind.

Part of it might have something to do with watching both Fullmetal Alchemist and Kuroshitsuji II, both of which are…well, not Bleach. Add to that reading the Naruto manga, and…well, inspiration is running all over the place right now.

Just the same, I hope you enjoy this installment of the Decay.

I think it's cute.

Hitsugaya woke up the next morning to find that he had been using Matsumoto's lap as a pillow. Sitting up and running a hand gingerly through his alabaster hair, the young captain stood up from his cot and looked back at his adjutant, who was sleeping upright, leaning back against the wall with her prized pet perched on her shoulder.

He found a smile. "Sleep well, Rangiku," he murmured, reaching over and leading her gently to lay down. She didn't stir. He turned away and walked silently out of the room. He stepped into the office he shared with Matsumoto, expecting to find—as he always did—an ungodly pile of unfinished paperwork overflowing off her desk and seeming to migrate onto his own.

He didn't.

Instead he saw a meticulously clean, spotlessly organized workspace. In Hitsugaya's inbox…there was nothing. In the box marked, "Outgoing," however, there was a stack of paper half as tall as he was, some stuffed into manila folders, others held together with large black binder clips. Still others had various notes attached to them.

On Matsumoto's desk was a similar pile, smaller than Hitsugaya's but still taller than usual.

He checked the top page of the stack on his own desk. It was a night sheet for the third seat officer's patrol. Sugimura's laborious print indicated that nothing of note had occurred that night on the grounds of the Tenth Division, but on the notes section, Matsumoto had written:

In consideration of the current and potentially continuing lack of high-ranking personnel, owing to a still-unknown illness, it is my opinion that we should expand nightly patrols so as to lessen the burden on each division as a whole. Sugimura's patrol, beginning in two days' time, will be set to include the first and second corridors of the 11th and 12th Division grounds, as well as his current route through the fifth and sixth corridors of the 10th.

The previous orders are hereby authorized by the hand of Matsumoto Rangiku, second-seat-ranked lieutenant of the Tenth Division, acting under the authority of Hitsugaya Toushirou, seventh captain of the Tenth Division.

Hitsugaya checked over the rest of the paperwork, and found each sheet to have been filled out. Perfectly. Not a single drop of ink was out of place, not a single sentence was unfinished. As he continued over to Matsumoto's desk, he found that it had received this same treatment.

Staring at the state of the place, Hitsugaya wondered if he was dreaming.

Arms crossed, turning over and over, he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do with this. He glanced toward the entrance to his bedchamber as Matsumoto stepped into the room. She was grinning broadly at him, and he couldn't help but grin back, unable to find the words.

Matsumoto said, "I figured you could use a slow morning for once. Go ahead, Taichou. Put your feet up." She gestured to the boy captain's desk. "I'll have Sei make some tea for you." And she all but forced him to sit down and lean back. Hitsugaya watched idly as the kitten hopped up onto his lap and started purring. He didn't bother to pretend he didn't like the little thing. He petted the tiny animal, and let out a sigh.

Matsumoto winked at him, and headed for the exit. She shut the door behind her, leaned against it, and slowly sank onto the floor. Before she even realized that she was tired, she had fallen asleep.

Hinamori was looking over a sheaf of papers as she passed Hitsugaya. She looked up at him and said, "Hitsugaya-taichou. Rangiku-san had some new proposals sent over. I was just checking them." She smiled nervously. "Stress seems to bring out the best in her." She lifted the paperwork and added, "These are brilliant."

"Stress," Hitsugaya murmured. He thought back over the past couple of weeks, and couldn't pinpoint any particular point at which he'd noticed any more stress from his vice-captain than usual. He frowned, thinking that he needed to start paying more attention. He said, after shaking his head, "So. You're willing to adopt the procedures?"

Hinamori nodded with a grin. "Of course."

"Excellent. Have you heard from anyone else?"

"Abarai-kun says he's interested. I think he wants to talk to Rangiku-san about some of the specific patrol routes she's suggesting, but that could probably be figured out in about an hour or two. We should probably see about setting up a meeting in the next couple of days."

Hitsugaya nodded with approval.

"Rangiku-san asked me to send over any of my own ideas," Hinamori said. She handed a sheet to Hitsugaya. "Could you give these to her, please?"

Hitsugaya nodded again. "I will."

She bowed. "Thank you, sir."

Hitsugaya inclined his head.

They each went their own way, and the thought occurred to both of them as they passed that while their relationship was nothing like what it had been, and would never be that way again, it was stronger, in its own way. Sometimes it felt distant, but in a way that worked. Hinamori still remembered what had happened the last time she'd gotten too close to someone. She didn't ever want to run the risk of doing anything like that again.

Hitsugaya found his third-seat officer, Sugimura, leaning against the wall beside the door to his office. He bowed his head. "Sir," he said to Hitsugaya, "as requested, I have allowed no one to enter." Hitsugaya nodded. "The vice-captain is still resting."

"Good," the boy captain said. "How have you been coming along on those manuals?"

Sugimura ran a hand over his short-cropped black hair and chuckled. "Well enough, sir. I'm chagrined to admit that I was unaware of the nature of protocol. There are a lot more steps to take than I would have thought. I suppose I was under the impression that paperwork was as simple as filling it out and tossing it in an 'Outgoing' tray."

Hitsugaya nodded again. "It's a common theory. No doubt Zaraki figured his captaincy would only entail swordplay. As I hear it, the Captain-Commander has largely given up on expecting reports from the Eleventh."

"Wouldn't surprise me, sir," said Sugimura.

Hitsugaya gestured dismissively. "It's late. Take leave, soldier. I'll handle it from here."

Sugimura bowed. In his first days, he had protested whenever he was given permission to leave his post early like this; he had thought it would make a good impression on his superiors if he offered to take on more than what was expected of him.

Matsumoto had said to him once, "You don't have to impress any of us, Sugimura. If we hadn't taken notice of you already, you wouldn't be Third Seat. And if you're extra ambitious, and you expect to one day rule this division, then you might do well to seek out those qualities expected of captains. Running yourself ragged to prove that you can is not one of those qualities. Now get out of here and cause some mischief. You make the rest of us look bad."

So yes, he bowed, and he said, "Thank you, sir. I'll be going, then."

And he left.

Hitsugaya stepped into his office and found Matsumoto lying on the couch in the middle of the room; she wasn't asleep, rather, she was staring up at the ceiling, petting the kitten. She didn't look at him when she said, "…I'm going to name him Ash."

The young captain raised an incredulous eyebrow. "What? He's orange."

Matsumoto laughed. It didn't last for long, but it was good to hear. Hitsugaya realized that he hadn't heard his vice-captain laugh in over a week. "I get this sneaking suspicion that we're going to die," she said, and any traces of mirth left the room in a hurry. "I can't help but think that…even if Aizen isn't behind this, this is what he wants."

"If he isn't behind it, I doubt this is what he wants," Hitsugaya murmured caustically. "He wants to get rid of us himself. If this is random happenstance…he won't be satisfied with it. Not by a long shot." He gave a dark little chuckle. "I almost hope it happens that way. We might die, but at least he won't get what he wants."

Matsumoto scratched Ash's chin and frowned at Hitsugaya. "You have a morbid sense of humor, Toushirou, do you know that?"

Hitsugaya smirked. "I've been told."

Matsumoto sat up and patted the cushion next to her. "Sit with me."

He did.

Matsumoto leaned her head against Hitsugaya's shoulder and sighed. "I don't know about this, Toushirou. Kurotsuchi is psychotic and pretty much a grade-A male appendage, but it usually doesn't take him this long to figure out a problem. And Unohana-taichou is a master. You'd think they'd be getting better by now."

Hitsugaya sighed and leaned his head back, staring up at the ceiling like Matsumoto had been doing. "No use worrying about it. We have enough to be dealing with right now." He leaned his own head against Matsumoto's, closing his eyes. "We probably look ridiculous," he said.

"Shut up."

He did.

After a while, they fell asleep.

Three officers were guarding the entrance to Hitsugaya's office when Hinamori Momo approached it the following morning, holding a stack of papers. Perplexed, she glanced at each face in turn, met with the same expression: smug amusement.

"Ah…is Hitsugaya-taichou awake?"

Three heads shook left, right, back to center. Smirks rose in sync with each other.

"Um…Matsumoto-fukutaichou?"

Left, right, back to center. Still smirking.

"Could I leave these for them, then?" she asked, handing the paperwork to the one she thought was an officer. The woman's smirk shifted into a genuine smile, and she held up one finger across her lips. She turned around and pulled open the door, smoothly and silently.

She gestured for Hinamori to go inside.

Holding her paperwork to her chest, the young lieutenant did as directed.

The image that met her as she stepped inside all but melted Hinamori's heart. Matsumoto lay curled up on the couch, leaning against her captain's side, using his left shoulder as a pillow. One arm was slung across him. Hitsugaya's head leaned against Matsumoto's, with one arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders. Both were sound asleep. Their swords were lying against the couch, crossed over one another. The symbolism was not lost on Hinamori, who had heard—and believed—that when two shinigami formed a bond, their swords formed one as well.

The kitten which had become something of a Tenth Division mascot over the past couple of months was nestled in Hitsugaya's snow-white hair.

"Oh…my…god."

It took all that she had not to burst into a fit of giggling fit to wake the dead.

…Wait.

Shaking her head, Hinamori slipped over to Matsumoto's desk—which was closer—and set the stack down. She would have given her left arm for a camera right now, but all the same thought it was probably a good thing that she didn't. She didn't want to ruin what was probably the most peaceful morning her two friends were likely to have in months by embarrassing them about it.

She left the room with a grin on her face.