The sun was shining bright that day in the Soul Society but Momo couldn't bring herself to enjoy the warm rays as much as a she wanted to. She was sitting alone in the office, her Captain off at a meeting and had assigned her to finish up the reports from yesterday but she had already finished that and the rest of the paperwork nearly an hour ago. She was on the floor, perched up against the open window with one hand resting against her cheek. It had a little over a year since the winter war and everyone was moving on with their lives. She however felt like she was stuck. For the better part of the year she had been in recovery in both the Twelfth and Fourth Divisions. There was a scar right over her heart, it was amazing that there wasn't more damage but Unohana was incredible when it came to healing. Somehow she made the scar that she originally had shrink down in size to the point it could only be seen if she was naked. That made her glad and lifted some of the worry off her chest. She had been worried that if the others had seen the scar they would feel responsible. She already knew Hitsugaya did.

She could still the remember when she had first woken up from her coma. The expression he had shown her burned into her memory. It had been nighttime when she woke up, the moon was shining bright that night and was the only light in the room. She could remember how heavy her body felt and the pain that came if she moved to suddenly. Believing she was the only one in the room she had closed her eyes to go back to sleep when she heard the soft snores of someone resting beside her. Looking over to her side she saw Hitsugaya resting there, his head resting in his arms right next to hers. His mouth slightly open and soft snores coming out of his tired form. The expression he had on his sleeping face made her at want to laugh but the soft gesture caused her pain and instead of a laugh she let out a pained cough. Somehow that had woken him up and he seemed surprised to see her awake. He didn't do anything after that, just standing there and staring down at her with shock written all over his face and an emotion that was in his eyes that she couldn't explain. She offered him a tired smile, hoping it would calm things down but it had not caused the reaction she thought it would. He embraced her in a gentle hug but at the same time held her in a tight grip. His form was shaking and it didn't take her long to realize he was crying. She was in shock, having only seen him cry once in all the years they had known each other. She herself wanted to cry but she held it in and instead resting on hand on his hand and called him by the beloved nickname she had given him a long time ago. He had stayed with her for a few moments, crying away into her shoulder and her stroking his soft white hair. After he had composed himself they talked before she fell back into a state of unconscious. She hadn't even realized she had fallen back asleep until she woke up again that morning to a smiling Unohana.

Placing a hand over her chest she thought of the terrible wounds she had received. She had been used as a dummy while everyone had been tricked into attacking her. She had nearly lost her life and she was told there was a time when they had to restitute her back to life. The wound caused her a lot of internal damage and even caused problems for her psyche. When she first awoken it took her a while to face those that attacked her without looking fearful. She knew it was not their fault but she couldn't help the fear that would crept up on her when she saw them and their Zanpakuto. They all frightened her for a time. All but Hitsugaya. She thought of her childhood friend and wished that things between them would be different. She held no blame for his actions and he was the only one she could face without looking scared. To others it may seem strange that the one who caused her the most psychical damage is the one she doesn't fear. But she could never be scared of him, no matter what he did. But even if she didn't hold any ill feelings towards him it was obvious that he had them for himself. There were many times when she caught the look of guilt in his eyes when he watched her become tired from training. It wasn't his fault that her body was weak. She had been asleep for a very long time and her body was still adjusting to the old routine of working and training every day. She told him on countless occasions that she was fine and he shouldn't blame himself but that didn't seem to help. It wasn't until he returned from his mission from the World of The Living did he begin to go back to his personality. She had been so happy to see the look of guilt had begun to disappear from his gaze.

She had been so glad to see him return to his old self but she could tell that he was still unhappy because she herself wasn't happy. This didn't help their relationship and if anything it only made things awkward. When they were alone together they were awkward silences that would have never appeared before. Neither knowing what to say or what not to say. They had been placed in a situation that neither knew how to get out of. She let out a low sigh, knowing that this was her fault. If only she could get out of her slump then maybe her best friend wouldn't be so depressed.

"Wow, that sounds like a really depressing sigh."

She gasped when she heard her Captain's voice, quickly spinning around to face him but let out a surprised yelp when she saw his face was only inches away from her. She backed up from the shock and winced when her head hit the windowsill. "Captain Hirako, I asked you not to do that."

Shinji Hirako, he had been placed in charge of his former division not to long after the war. It took the members of Squad Five to get used to him but after a while everyone seemed to trust and respect him. Even Momo had come to look up to him but she just wished he would stop sneaking up on her. "Stupid, who told you to jump back like that." He rubbed her head in a comforting manner.

Momo pouted, "I only did it because you surprised me." She cried, face now flushed in embarrassment.

Shinji just grinned at his Lieutenant. "Well maybe if somebody wasn't busy daydreaming then maybe you might of picked up on my spiritual presences." He found it fun to tease this girl, she has had the best facial expression. Like now as her pout turned into a cute frown and eyes that tried to glare in a threatening manner but only made her appear even cuter. "Aw, now do you look cute trying to be all scary and mean." He chuckled, ruffling up her hair some more. He was tempted to tease her some more but was stop by someone clearing their throat.

The two commanders of Squad Five looked at the door to see Rangiku and Hitsugaya standing in the doorway staring at them. Rangiku held a few pieces of paper in her hands and was looking rather amused while Hitsugaya looked very annoyed.

"Are we interrupting something?" the white-haired captain asked, a heavy tone in his voice. You could see his gaze was settle on the hand that was resting on top of his friend's head.

Shinji saw where his gaze was and removed his hand from Momo's head. He had been told of the boy's temper, along with witnessing it on a few occasions and he wasn't in the mood to become a popsicle today.

"Nope," Shinji got to his feet and sat down in his chair, making it do a little spin as he sat in it. "Just a little bonding time between Captain and Lieutenant." He gave them an innocent grin.

Hitsugaya felt his eye twitch at this. "I see..."

"That's so sweet. How come you and I don't have bonding sessions like that Captain? I think we should do it." Rangiku gave him a small pout, her now short hair resting on her shoulders.

Hitsugaya scoffed. "Not likely." He was not in any mood for games. He was here on official business. His eyes cast a glance over in Hinamori's direction, seeing her stand up and offering him a quick smile. Maybe there was a small part that was also there to visit a friend but for the most part he was there on business.

Rangiku frowned at his attitude. "You're no fun," she walked over to Shinji's desk and handed him the papers in her hands. "Sorry if this is late notice but we need your signature on this request that will allow our two squads to do some training sessions together."

Shinji took the papers and read over the request that would have them all working together. He signed off on the papers, raising an eyebrow at the date. "I got no problems with it but you guys are really late with handing this in. The due date for this is tomorrow afternoon at the latest." He handed the forms back before leaning into his chair, one arm propped up so he could rest his cheek on his hand.

Hitsugaya grunted, arms crossed as he stared at his Lieutenant. "We would have had it sooner if someone actually did their job." He sent her a quick glare which caused her to freeze up and send him an apologetic smile.

"Hey, I already said I was sorry and told you the reason why I was so late with getting them here." She told him, hoping to get that glare off her soon. Whenever he gave her that look it made shivers run up and down her spin.

"Since when is you being drunk and hung over an excuse anymore?" he rolled his eyes at this. He had already had this fight with her and frankly he didn't feel like having another one.

"Yeah, but this time I was in hung over in the human world and the remedy Urahara gave me did something to my stomach." She cried, trying to get him to see that it wasn't really her fault for forgetting about her work. Even though it was.

"Yeah, whatever." Hitsugaya didn't care about her excuses anymore. He's had to have heard them all a million times already by now. This caused the woman beside him to become annoyed with his behavior and began to argue once more than this wasn't her fault but Hitsugaya merely drowned her out and shout back a few insults.

"Are they always like this?" Shinji asked Momo who had come to stand beside his desk. She gave a low nod and laughed at the two who were doing their usual back and forth banter. Like many in the Soul Society she was already used to their behavior and found it quite humorous. Shinji and the rest of them who had just returned were still getting used to it. "Whatever. It's none of my concern. Ok, hand me the rest of the paperwork. Once it's finished you can leave." He held his hand out, ready to start signing and looking over the documents that needed his attention. He had forgotten that being a Captain can be so boring. There was way much more paperwork involved that he didn't remember ever doing. He swore they were giving the divisions more on purpose.

"But I already finished all the paperwork," Momo told him, pointing to stack of signed documents that were on the table nearby. "Those are the only ones left and all they need is your final signature and then to be dropped off." Her words caused him and the other two to freeze up.

"You finished up all the work by yourself." He looked at his Lieutenant like she was crazy. There had been at least two stacks in the room, one for each other them to sort through. Both were very detailed and needed to be read through carefully before being filled out. It had thought it would take them the rest of the day to finish both stacks but apparently he was wrong.

"Well your meeting ran longer than you thought and when I took my lunch break and you still hadn't returned I figured I would finish them for you." She said, hands cupped together in a shy manner. She had thought she was doing a good deed but now she wasn't so sure.

It took Shinji a moment to process all this in his head before jumping to his feet and throwing one arm around her shoulders. "Good job," he patted her head and pulled her in close. "Now this is what I call the perfect Captain-Lieutenant relationship."

Meanwhile the two officers of Squad Ten were still there and staring at the two, Hitsugaya looking even more annoyed. He sent a glare over to Rangiku who seemed shock to be receiving a sudden glare before shifting his gaze back to the two hugging officers. He growled when he saw Momo blushing at the attention and his hands balled into fists. Shinji noticed this and grinned. "Now that's not a pretty face you're making there, Captain Hitsugaya. Don't tell me you want Momo as your Lieutenant?" his grin only widened in size when he saw the younger captain blush. "Well too bad cause you can't have her." He spun them around so that his back was facing them and turned his head around to stick out his tongue.

Hitsugaya glared at this, his body now starting to tremble from the anger his felt. "You bastard..." he growled, tempted to pull of his sword and freeze that stupid grin right off his face.

Shinji however was having too much fun messing with the young white-haired Captain to notice his anger or menacing glare. "Since we're done with work for the rest of the day how about we spend some time in the real world for some relaxation."

"The real world?" Momo was stunned to hear this. She had yet to visit the human world and was very curious about it. She's heard so many stories from Rangiku and Renji that she really wanted to visit the place and experience all the things everyone else has.

"Well I for one think that sounds like a great idea," Rangiku added in, a wide grin on her face as she spoke. "In fact I think we should do the same and take the rest of the day off. Don't you think so too, Captain?"

Hitsugaya shifted his glare right back to her and held back the urge to growl but instead frowned instead. "In case you forgot there are piles of work that still need our attention. Perhaps if you actually did your share of the work maybe we could join them but I don't see that happen within this century." He knew his words were cold but they were true. He hated doing paperwork just as everyone else did but he had no choice because there seemed to a never ending supply of them to do. Maybe if Rangiku would help out every now and then perhaps he could take a day off but he doubted that would ever happen. "Maybe if Momo was my Lieutenant." He snuck a quick glance at his childhood friend and frowned that her Captain's arm was still around her shoulder.

"Now that was just mean." Rangiku pouted, hand on her hip as she turned her back to him. She was not pleased with the way he was speaking to her today.

"Man, you guys argue like an old married couple." Shinji commented, cleaning his ear out with his pinky finger. He said the comment in a bored tone but it seems to have had an effect on some. Namely Hitsugaya whose face was now light pink and his glare resembling that of an angry dragon.

"Just what the hell kind of nonsense are you spewing!?" he growled, embarrassed that he would even suggest such a thing. There were enough rumors about him and his Lieutenant and he denied each and every one of them. He didn't need a new one spreading. There were many rumors about Captains and Lieutenants of the same division getting together, that was a common thing but he didn't need a new story starting when he just dismissed the other ones.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Rangiku turned back to stare at him, a glare on her face this time. "Are you saying there is something wrong with me? A kid like you would be lucky to marry a gorgeous woman like me."

"Just shut up. This argument is pointless. And who are you calling a kid!" Hitsugaya was getting tired of all this. All he wanted was to get back to his office, finish the work he needed to do and relax for the rest of the night.

Shinji was very amused. He didn't know one simple sentence would cause such an entertaining scene to happen. He went to say another comment but stopped when he noticed the strange expression that was on his Lieutenant. Her face was calm with a soft smile but he saw a look in her eyes that said otherwise. "Well as amusing as this all is we've better get going while the sun is still up. You two can let yourselves out. See ya." He waved off the two officers of the tenth division before using Shunpo and rushing the two of them out of there before yet another argument started up.

Hitsugaya watched them go and scoffed at Shinji's actions. He didn't know why but the man just seemed to like to annoy him and get him angry. "Come on, we've got work to do." He walked towards the door in a calmly fashion, trying to hide his annoyance.

Rangiku saw through his facade right away. "You know Captain Hirako is a good guy. He's not going to do anything to her."

He stopped at the door, hand on the door handle to lock the office up for them. Momo had given a spare key to the office a long time ago and he always kept it on him. "I know that." He locked the door and headed for his office.

"So why do you always seem to be so on edge whenever the two of them go off somewhere?" she didn't understand her Captain sometimes. In the beginning everyone understood why he was keeping a close eye on the new Captain of Squad Five. After everything that happened no one wanted to see Momo go through the pain she had to go through before. But after a while it became clear that Shinji Hirako was a good man, even Momo had accepted him with open arms. So why he was still giving the guy such a hard time didn't make sense to her. A sudden thought crossed her mind, making her point at her Captain in realization."Don't tell me you're jealous!" she grinned when she saw him tense up.

"Like hell I am. Who in their right mind would be jealous of that weirdo." He said, keeping his gaze straight ahead and trying to keep his tone normal. He didn't like what she was suggesting and it was only making him more agitated.

"If you say so," she was very amused with her Captain and his behavior. Now everything about his recent behavior made sense to her. "Just so you know, Momo told me that she doesn't have any of those types of feelings for her new Captain. She certainly respects him and cares for him but nowhere near in a romantic sense."

Hitsugaya didn't reply right away. Instead he let the words sink in and understand there meaning. "I see," he cleared his throat. "That's good to know. I don't want her to make the same mistake she made with Aizen."

"Yeah right," she saw right through him and wasn't falling for his act. She stayed silent for a moment, watching him walk back towards the office of their division. It's been many years since she's known her Captain and while it took a while to get to know the young boy she understands many things about them. One of them being his feelings for his childhood friend. While he tried keeping it quiet from the rest of the world, and for the most part he was succeeding, but he couldn't keep those kinds of secrets from her. It certainly helped that during his naps in the office he would sometimes talk in his sleep about certain subjects. A wide grin spread out onto her face and she had to hold back her laughter as she spoke up again. "Momo may not have any feelings of love for her Captain but that doesn't mean that she doesn't for somebody else. She even told me so herself that there's somebody she likes."

Hitsugaya nearly fell flat on his face when he heard that. His body was frozen and eyes slightly grew in size. He gulped, trying to calm his mind down. He could hear his Lieutenant trying to contain her laughter her from behind him. "Is that so..." he bite down on his lower lip, trying to stay calm and not ask the million questions that were swirling around in his head.

Rangiku wanted to burst out laughing. She knew his reaction would be funny but she didn't think it would be this funny. "That's correct," using Shunpo she jumped onto the rooftop and waved to her Captain. "Now you better hurry up if you want to finish all the work that we have." And with that said she ran off to her division, laughing the whole way.

Hitsugaya watched her go and let out a low growl before shouting out. "Matsumoto!"