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“Well, Captain...uh...er...”
Hitsugaya stared at her. “Why won't you deliver this message to Captain Kenpachi?” he asked grumpily. She looked down, but not before he caught her face. “Matsumoto! Are you blushing?”
“Um, yes,” she said. “Please, can't we send our third seat to do this?”
He stared at her. “Give me a good reason.”
She looked up, and then nodded towards the couch. “You might want to sit down. It's a long story.”
He looked at her once, and he headed towards the couch with her following. He sat down and he watched her sit. “All right, Matsumoto. What is causing this very obvious change in behavior, and what does it have to do with Captain Kenpachi?”
She looked at him and took a deep breath. “HeandIgotdrunkandendedupinbedtogether.”
Hitsugaya looked at her, and then blinked, and then his jaw dropped. “You...and him...and you both...?”
She nodded. “Last night.”
He continued to stare. “But...why?”
She looked at him and frowned. “You missed the part where I said we got drunk?”
“Matsumoto, I've come into this office with you very drunk before, and often with Kira and Hisagi here passed out alongside you. As far as I know, you haven't...” He made some strange motion with his hands. “...with them, right?”
“Well...only once,” she muttered under her breath. Then she caught her captain's face as it turned scarlet. “Captain! Oh, I'm sorry! I keep forgetting you're so...young.”
“No. More. I don't...I don't want to hear any more!” he said, shutting his eyes and rubbing his temples. “You can still talk to them after...after...” He made the hand motion again. “Why can't you deliver this simple message to Captain Kenpachi?”
She took a deep breath and looked at him, then let it out and shook her head. “I've traumatized you enough already. I snuck out of his barracks this morning before he woke up. When I...” She imitated his strange hand movement . “...with those two, they were at least awake when I left. In fact, they woke up first and spent twenty minutes trying to wake me up.”
The scarlet color on Hitsugaya's face deepened and ran all the way from his face down to his neck and to the tips of his ears. “I will never, ever, ever ask you for details into your personal life ever again,” he said very slowly and quietly. “For your part in scarring me for life I'm going to make you deliver that message. Personally.”
“But Captain--” she began, but he held a hand up.
“Please. Just...go.” She looked at him and nodded, getting up. “And Matsumoto?”
“Yes, Captain?” she asked.
“Hisagi and Kira are never again to be allowed in this office as long as you are here and I am not. Ever. Especially if there's sake hidden anywhere in this room,” he growled. “Am I clear?”
She sighed. “Yes, Captain.” And with that, she walked out of the room.
–
She approached the barracks with trepidation, and finally stood outside of the division headquarters. She took a deep breath and knocked. “Whaddya want?” came the voice from the other side.
She let her breath out. “I have an important message from 10th Division Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya,” she said. She waited for a few moments as she heard a chair being pushed back and heavy footfalls getting closer to the door. She held the envelope in front of her face as the door opened. “Here you go, I delivered it, right then, good-bye!” she said brightly, trusting the paper at him and beginning to leave.
He let the envelope fall to the ground and grabbed her wrist instead. “Rangiku,” he said quietly.
She cringed and looked at him. “Yes?” she asked quietly.
“Why was I alone when I woke up this morning?”
“I panicked?” she squeaked out.
He looked at her, then smiled a slow smile and let her wrist go. “Okay.”
She stared at him. “Okay?”
He nodded. “Okay.”
“What do you mean, okay?” she asked, starting to get irritated.
“I mean it's okay. I thought you did it for some stupid reason,” he said with a shrug. “Or you didn't think it was very good.”
She shook her head. “No, I just...what about your lieutenant? Shed tell everyone.” He looked at her and laughed. Then she got really irritated. “What is so funny?”
“She doesn't stay in these barracks!” he said, bending over while still laughing. “Unohana has a bed for her in the 4th Division headquarters because she doesn't think a little kid like her should be around all these men. Something about that 8th Division Lieutenant when she was a kid, some crap like that. Woman scares the hell out of me and Yachiru seems to like having a room over there, so it's good.”
“Oh,” she said.
“So all you really need to worry about is Ikkaku or Yumachika runnin' their mouths off, and if they know what's good for them they stay quiet.”
Her eyes widened slightly. “So I took off without needing to?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” he said wit a nod.
“Oh,” she said.
“Want to go have another drinking contest tonight? Who knows? I might win this time.”
She scoffed. “In your dreams. Yeah, why not?”
“All right,” he said with a nod. “See you tonight, then.”
“Okay,” she said, grinning at him. “Tonight. Okay.”
He grinned at her some more, in something disturbingly close to a leer but not quite as distasteful, and then picked up the envelope from the ground and went back into his office. She stared at the door for a moment before walking back to her own office, humming to herself. Perhaps if she was lucky Hitsugaya would not question why she suddenly seemed so happy. One can only hope, she thought to herself.