Memories: "Just Like Old Times"
By: Ice-Phoenix-chan
The icy weather winter gave had enwrapped Soul Society. He loved winter, it was his favourite season, the snowflakes outside shrouding the landscape with icy beauty, plus, the element of his Zanpakutou was ice which made it several times more powerful. Unlike him, many others disliked winter, especially his gaudy lieutenant, Matsumoto Rangiku, whom the others have famed the "blonde beauty" (1.). She hated the cold weather had already excused herself to her room to rest as he left him with the rest of the paper work. He sighed, his breath turning into a small white cloud which slowly disappeared afterwards. He had finally finished the tedious paper work and was ready for bed. He was dead tired. Today had been a hard day, problem after problem emerged from no where, causing all sorts of trouble for him and having to do reports on many, long and boring situations made his desire to sleep increase ten times more.
As he opened his window to refresh himself, delicate snowflakes that danced in the wind waltzed their way into his room. He rested his arms on the cold window sill and closed his eyes to wait for a cool breeze to refresh him. As promised by winter, a breeze gently washed his face with the frosty snow as they tickled his cheeks.
The white haired boy lost track of time as he spent it gazing at the snow that when he realized the time, it had already been past midnight. He suddenly felt tired from the wearisome day again but energized enough for a fight right now from the refreshing wind. Soon after he shut the window, his weariness took over him and moaned for sleep. Yawning, he blew out his light and nestled in his blankets, which held his warmth hostage. Momentarily, his eyelids began to slowly cover his icy blue-green eyes (2.) and sleep took over his body.
Being the light sleeper he was he was soon awoken by the sound of light footsteps, which lead to a familiar knocking pattern on his door. Hating to be awoken in the middle of the night, (which frequently happens, since he's a light sleeper,) he mentally groaned.
"Who is it?" He asked in a tired voice, though he already knew who it was, just like old times.
"It's me," the voice answered as it always did when they lived in grandma's house. And as always, it sounded heavenly. And just like old times, it knew that he knew who it belonged to even before the owner of the voice knocked. The owner of the voice opened the door, knowing that it was the signal for her to come in.
The white haired boy sat up and faced her. "Waddya want?"
"Do you mind if… I… sleep with you tonight?" She asked, slightly embarrassed since they stopped this practice ever since she left for the Shinigami academy.
(READ ME! A/N: God, please don't think of it that way! I'm not that kind of person to write fics of that! This is like a comfort thing, like how you would sleep with your parents when you were little because you were afraid of the dark or have a nightmare or something! Not that! God, they're young! If Ichigo is supposedly fifteen, what would they be? Ten!)
Somewhat shocked that she asked after they had stopped doing this for many years, he decided to make it like all the other times they had done this.
He put on a smirk and asked "Did you wet your bed again?" just like old times.
"Yes," she said sarcastically, "So may I sleep with you?" Her answer was still the same.
He shift over and nodded, just like old times. And just like old times, she climbed in and they turned away from each other, back to back and closed their eyes, waiting for sleep to come to them again.
"This is just like before we became Shingami, eh?" She asked.
"Mm…." He resignedly answered. Silence filled the room momentarily. "Good night, Bed Wetter Momo, and don't wet my bed," he mocked as he always did.
"I won't and good night, Shiro-chan!" She answered, just like old times, emphasizing "Shiro-chan"
And as he always did, he said "Don't call me Shiro-chan!"
It was true, she had already started the first conversation with him with him starting the good night and ending it with "Don't call me Shiro-chan!" He smiled as old memories flooded into his head. He was secretly happy that she called him "Shiro-chan"; it gave him a sense of closeness to her with his nickname. He was also secretly happy that she was beside him because ever since she had entered the school and meet Aizen, she had only been talking about him. And secretly, his real reason of entering the Shinigami academy was to show her that Aizen wasn't that great after all.
And just like old times, the room was now only filled with the sound of their breathing and the frosty wind outside quietly humming. And just like it always was, he could feel her body's heat resonating against his and her brown hair prickle his neck with the scent of peaches lingering in the air. He didn't know if it was because of her name or what but she always smelled like fresh peaches. The pleasant smell always seemed to lighten the atmosphere around her like an angelic aura that is always around her.
He opened his mouth to start another conversation, just like the old times, but this time, Hinamori beat him to it.
"Shiro-chan," she started off, her tone faintly hinting seriousness to the conversation stopped him from complaining about his nickname.
"Yeah?" He answered.
He heard her taking a deep breath "I…" she exhaled "I… like you," she said.
Shocked, he was about to answer 'What!' but he stopped himself, it sounded too harsh. Thoughts swamped his mind, concerning two topics, 'Is she playing with me?' and 'I thought she liked Aizen!' Why was she telling him now? Was this the purpose of sleeping with him? Wait! Why did he doubt it? Didn't he love her too? He didn't want to be hurt, he had tried telling her that he like her before but the topic of the conversation was turned to Aizen. He hated that man, he was jealous of him, he wished that he was the one that Hinamori worshipped, he wished that he was the one Hinamori always bragged about, he wished that he was the one Hinamori liked… or so he thought. He didn't want to have his heart broken. He knew he was selfish but he couldn't stand having his heart broken, not by her. He had liked her ever since they had meet, he didn't want to ruin their relationship by having unacquainted feelings for her.
To play it safe, he casually answered "I like you too," and pretended not to know what she really meant.
"No," she said, "Shiro-chan… aishiteru… I love you,"
He couldn't believe his ears. No way. 'I thought she like Aizen!' He didn't know what to answer, how to feel, how to react. He had made her say it to him. Twice! He mentally slapped himself on the forehead 'Good job, Genius,' He said to himself 'You made a woman confess her love to you, not the other way around, smooth, Hitsugaya, smooth...' Just like old times, their conversation ended with him not replying, pretending to sleep. He knew that she knew that he wasn't sleeping. He also knew that she was waiting for an answer and he had to give it to her.
And just like old times, Hinamori woke up to leave his room before anyone else woke up but this time, Hitsugaya was up before her, all covered in snow. Hinamori giggled at the snow that given his hair an even brighter hue and helped him brush off some of the snow.
"You look even more like an old man," she joked.
He ignored her comment and held up something in his frost bitten hands, which looked like boutique of roses coved in snow.
"There aren't roses in the winter," she said to him.
"They aren't real roses," he said, starring into her hazel eyes (3.).
She gasped. "Don't tell m-"
Knowing what she was going to say, he half nodded, half shrugged, as the answer.
"Y-you made roses out of ice for me? But it's so cold outside! Plus, it's-"
"You know me, I don't mind the cold," he casually said, pretending he didn't really care. "Roses are symbols of--" He said The Word so quietly that she could only hear the last part of it "So I had to give them to you… and since its winter, I-" He stopped himself. What in the world was he saying? He turned away, blushing.
The redness of his cheeks added to the tint of his hands giving the boutique an even prettier shade of pink. She quickly took the frozen icicles of roses from his injured hands and laid them down.
She gingerly grabbed his hands and scrutinized the "You're hands-"
He looked down at his hands and remembered his frost bites and quickly pulled them away, his face even more crimson than before. "It's nothing," He said, turning away again, trying to hide his flushing cheeks.
"But-"
"I said, it's nothing!"
She smiled; she was too touched to mock him and his "manliness" pride that she and the other girls always laughed about.
"Arigatou," She said and quickly pecked him on his cherry red cheeks. She picked up the roses he gave her and started to leave.
"Hinamori…" He stopped her.
"Hmm?" She turned to face him. Again, he wasn't looking directly into her eyes.
"Daisuki…" He kissed her cheek, his face even more scarlet than before. Feeling the redness on his face, and wondered how much redder he could get.
She blushed, "Me too," she said, "me too…" She felt his arms wrap around her and smiled as she wrapped her arms around him in return.
This time, Hinamori stayed in his room in that embrace…
(READ ME: Please do not read the part under this if you don't want to ruin the moment the following is to add a little humor to the fic)
In Hinamori's POV
…That is, until Matsumoto-san came to wake up Shiro-chan and started laughing at us. After, she threatened to tell everyone but Shiro-chan black mailed her with a deep dark secret of hers… Hmm… I wonder what it is…
Fin
Notes:
(1.) "his gaudy lieutenant, Matsumoto Rangiku, whom the others have famed the "blonde beauty"
As you probably have guessed, I made that up and I know what you're gonna say, "Matsumoto doesn't have blonde hair" I know. In the anime, her hair is more of an "orange", which can also be interpreted as "strawberry blonde" okay? Okay! Oh, and the 'gaudy' part? I have a feeling some guys are gonna pound me soon… but this is a HitsugayaXHinamori fic so I can't have Hitsugaya liking her, can I?
(2.) "icy blue-green eyes"
Ya, I know that in the anime, he has green eyes (I'm an anime-r for this series... maybe I should start reading the manga… it's so good! XD) but do you usually hear someone say "icy green eyes"? It's usually "icy blue eyes" so I kinda used "blue-green" instead. Plus, he looks better with blue eyes anyway ;)
(3.) "starring into her hazel eyes"
Okay, okay, Hinamori doesn't have hazel eyes, I know but she would look pretty with hazel eyes! -gets killed for changing so many things-
O.o how did I get winter into this thing? It's July! ...anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it!