*Disclaimer*

I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, because it's the work of Kubo-sensei. Now for the story...

"L'il Shiro!" the raven-haired girl called across to her childhood friend. The said "l'il shiro" was reference to Hitsugaya Toshiro, a white-haired boy who didn't half like being called l'il. That was why now, Hitsugaya was turning around to confront Hinamori Momo, the girl beside him, with a glare.
"What, Momo?" He sounded irritated – although inside of him, every moment he was having with her made him happy to have her back. For school vacation recently, she had returned from training at Seireitei High School, where she aimed to become a teacher. Hitsugaya, on the other hand, was given the task to look after his gran, who picked him up as an orphan and raised him together with Hinamori Momo. Though it almost seemed as if it was always gran who had looked after him.
"They were selling watermelons by the Fountain of Shinigami…" As a response to Hitsugaya's questioning tilt of the head, she added: "you know… the one nearest the school?"
He frowned again.
"I didn't know you'd call it that…"
"Hm…?"
"Nothing."

Hitsugaya pursed his lips. He was a little upset that she would forget their special name for the fountain so quickly. The pair used to venture up to the school, dreaming of the day (for the most part, Hitsugaya was an uninterested, and Hinamori the most enthusiastic, dreamer) they'd go to school together. Though, Hitsugaya wasn't fond of the idea of becoming anything at all in the future.
I mean, why should I care? He thought. It's enough that I look after my gran… I can help her earn money with the needlework and stuff…

The two children would also eat ice-cream by that fountain, one that they nicknamed Ice Dragon. It was there that they had made up nicknames for each other.
At first, Hinamori hadn't been very inventive.
"How's Toshie for a name?"
"What, short for Toshiro? That sucks."
"Yeah, I know," Momo had said, with an expression of sheepish but dumb happiness playing around her face. "But it's quite a cute name if you think about it, Hitsugaya."
"S…shut up, Hinamori." Hitsugaya had blushed. "I…I'll call you betwetter."
"Hey, gran said I won't wet the bed anymore, though!" she had pouted, indignant and defiant. Hitsugaya had scoffed at the expression, and had earned a small smile from her.
"Well, you can call me that as long as you let me name you something normal. I mean… I'm not that creative with things like that and…"
"Fine. Do whatever you want."
He had earned another thin smile.

Momo. He thought presently. What's she to me? If Momo becomes a teacher, what would I be doing? I don't want to have to let go of her. Not now. No, that's not right. It's not ever...

"L. 'il . Shi. ro!" Hinamori was uttering each syllable with emphasised tone as well as gently hitting Hitsugaya on the head. Immediately, Hitsugaya woke up from his dream. Recently, the daydreams had become an occasional habit. Hitsugaya wondered if the boring silence he had to put up with when he was without the girl was the source.
"Yeah, Momo?" Hitsugaya said dazedly.
"Don't 'yeah, Momo' me. You've been spacing out for a while now!" Hitsugaya was about to glare at her by the scolding tone of her voice, but his potential anger was quenched when he saw the concern in her eyes. "Is… something the matter?"
"No, of course not!" He replied quickly. Then he grabbed her hands tightly in a fluent motion – out of habit – and led her back home through the pavement. On the way, Hinamori's hands clutched to his unconsciously, causing their fingers to intertwine with each other. Hitsugaya blushed. He walked across stones that scratched his bare feet, but barely noticed it because of the feeling of warm blood rushing through his body from the hand that was clinging to him for dear life. It was like a warm candle burning up all the doubts from his mind. That's when he thought: if I can't be with her forever, then I'll protect her until the day I die at least.

And that was for chapter 1. I hope it wasn't too bad for my first go, because I love HitsuHina to bits and I am aspiring to write a good story about them! Thanks for reading and please review~!