Disclaimer – I don't own Bleach.

Grandma and the General

Things had been so hectic, so crazy with the war effort, that Hitsugaya Toshiro hadn't the time to go and visit his grandmother, out in the rukongai. To tell the truth, he rather missed the old woman, but he couldn't let in to such a childish feeling, not when there were adverse things to be taken care of, during that time period.

There was also the fact that his fukutaicho was, somehow, up to something. Something that he couldn't be too sure of, and that he rather would rather not want to know, other than the fact that whatever she was going to do, wasn't held in his division barracks, and that he didn't have to play nanny, and end up cleaning up after her shenanigans. One would think as a grown woman, she would know better.

He heard a knocking on the doorframe, and he glanced up, to see Matsumoto there, smiling at him. "You have a visitor taicho…"

The small, white haired boy blinked a couple of times, his teal eyes taking in her cool and collected smile. "Let them in…"

"I think that it would be better for you to come here," his fukutaicho cooed. Yes, she cooed, like he was some small child, but then… she did that with a good deal of males. It also meant, this was likely what she had been up too. This caused him to let out a sigh, and walk carefully to the door.

However, as soon as he saw the person standing there, his eyes suddenly went wide, and his usual scowl melted away into a smile. This startled a few of the passing division members, as it was a surprise that their small taicho would show such emotions. However, it became clear on the next words that came out of his mouth. "Granny!"

"How is my Toshiro doing?" the old woman smiled, as her grandson went and wrapped her into a hug. He was, to tell the truth, still shorter then her by quite a bit, coming to just below her shoulders, but this also meant that Hinamori was also still shorter than their grandmother.

"Frustrated with all that has been going on, and the fact I couldn't take a break to visit you," the boy stated, smiling at her. He then turned to his fukutaicho. "Arrigotto Matsumoto, for doing this for me… how did you do it, without me finding out?"

"I got Kenpachi to sign off on her entrance form," the woman smiled. "I love it when you have that look in your eyes, like before you entered the academy, when I first met you."

An innocent look in other words. However, his eyes had narrowed. "Kenpachi… the captain of the eleventh division? You are joking, right Matsumoto?"

"She isn't, actually. I don't know why you would think that, as two of his unit came to my house today. One of them set in to make some much needed repairs to the house, while the other, a very handsome young man, escorted me here," the old woman smiled. However, Hitsugaya had to give his fukutaicho a strange look.

"See… Taicho… eleventh division has a great deal of respect for you. And, when I explained that Ikakku could take a needed vacation, that wasn't deemed useless in the eyes of the rest of his division, as he was doing something useful, and his other hobby, one might say, they had no problem with it. And Yumichika, when he heard that it was your granny, offered to escort her here."

"I see…" the boy muttered. He then turned to his grandmother, a slightly guilty look in his eyes. "I apologize for that, as I should have been making sure that the house was in full repair."

"No need… a lot of it just happened to fall apart the last few months, and you were rather busy," the woman smiled.

"Shall we visit Hinamori?" Toshiro stated, still smiling. "I am sure that she would like to see you too? Or should I have a hell butterfly sent to her, so you don't have to walk."

"I would love to walk there," the old woman smiled, holding onto his arm. "That way, I get to spend some good, quality time, with my grandson…"

Thus, they set out, taking breaks, where they needed to, and around noon, arrived at fifth division. For being an old lady, his grandmother sure had a lot of stamina. However, so did quite a few other old geezers of the gotei thirteen. He led her inside, only to be stopped by one of the members.

"I am sorry, but Hinamori fukutaicho is unavailable. We have inspections today, Hitsugaya taicho," the division member stated, rather nervously. Toshiro's eyes caught site of a few first division members mixed in.

"Ahh… don't worry. We can wait in the garden until she is available," Toshiro gave a small smile at the man. A good deal of fifth division, under Aizen's fake, soft hand, tended to not deal well with his cold personality that he usually showed. "Just let Hinamori know that our grandmother is here and visiting, and to come there when she has a chance."

"Ahh… hai… sir," the man stated, rather taken aback, at the fact that the tenth division taicho's personality was off from what he usually was used to seeing.

Thus, they went to go and sit in the garden, waiting for Hinamori to finish with the inspection. She had to take on the work, of her division captain for this, as there still was no replacement for Aizen. His grandmother sat with him, on one of the reading benches. "So, how is the relationship between you and your sister going?"

"It's going all right," Toshiro stated, not looking the old woman in the eyes.

"Shiro-chan… tell me the truth," the old woman stated. "I am not blind to the fact you two haven't gotten along for some time now."

"It's actually… slowly getting better, though during this whole mess, one might say that first we had to grow further apart," he stated, glancing at the ground, and moving the dirt with his shoe.

"I see…" the woman smiled.

"Obaa…" Toshiro however, found himself interrupted by the fukutaicho of the first division.

"Hitsugaya Taicho… it is impolite to use such familiar speech with an elder that you don't know," the man lectured.

"Baka…" Toshiro stated aloud before he could pull it back.

"I assume that since she is here, she's a guest of Yamamoto, so it would be due to be extra polite," the man sighed, shaking his head at the young ones lack of mannerisms. He was the only fukutaicho who could get away with lecturing another captain, due to being the second of the first division.

"Sasa…" Toshiro's tone was bordering on insolence, however, his grandmother touched his hand.

"Toshiro…" the old woman stated, calming him down. "I apologize for my grandson's behavior."

"Gomenasai, Sasakibe Fukutaicho," Toshiro stood up and made a quick bow.

"No… I also owe you an apology, Hitsugaya Taicho, for my false assumption," the man stated, just as the general came up behind him.

"Good evening Hitsugaya Taicho, Hitsugaya Shizuka," the general made a quick bow to the two of them. "If you don't mind, young Hitsugaya, may I give your grandmother a tour of the fifth division gardens, while you wait for Hinamori fukutaicho to come and meet you?"

"Hai…" Toshiro stated, scratching his head in confusion. As they walked away, something clicked in his mind. Chojiro raised an eyebrow, as he watched the young taicho begin to stammer out. "H… h… h… he knew… ob…ob… obaa-chan's name…"

"Who knew obaa-chan's name, Shiro-chan?" Hinamori asked, suddenly coming up next to them.

"Apparently… General Yamamoto addressed your grandmother as Hitsugaya Shizuka," the fukutaicho of the first stated.

"Ahh…" Hinamori tilted her head at the two, and then a smile brightened on her face. "General Yamamoto and grandmother are old friends!"

"I think they were more than that…" Toshiro thought to himself, still in complete shock.

"Oh… and did you know it is the fourteenth of February?" Hinamori asked him, causing him to turn even greener in the face.

Author's note – I had planned to write this over half a year ago, so… I had forgotten some of how I was going to do it. However, I thought… this fits into the whole, Non-Romantic Valentine fanfic challenge. The goal was a Valentine's fanfic, about Toshiro, without him being paired with anyone. I changed it up just a bit at the end, to make it work. See my forum for more information.