.:AC:.

…

Hitsugaya was a patient man. After all, despite the fact that he was the shortest of the Gotei 13—all right, he was shorter than just about all of the shinigami—he was a child genius. And that meant that he was very mature for his age and had an abundance of patience.

But despite his patience and his famously icy temper, he was close to turning into a volcano and spewing lava like the Abarai Renji was prone to do. He was stalking the ubiquitous hallways of Soul Society, and he was being followed by about half the shinigami in his division, as well as a couple higher ranking officers of other divisions. Even Shunsui had dragged himself out of his drunken stupor and was stumbling around behind him, half supported by his dutiful vice, Nanao.

A vein twitched on Hitsugaya's forehead, and his hand instinctively touched the hilt of Hyourinmaru. Whipping around, he growled, "All right! What the hell are you doing!"

The massive crowd suddenly busied themselves with admiring the late summer scenery, making numerous remarks about how unusually hot it was this time of year. Hitsugaya turned to Matsumoto, who had been following him so close that he could feel her…um…assets…touch his robes as they walked, and glared at her with an arched eyebrow.

"What? We aren't doing anything. We just have business in this area," drawled his vice captain.

"Yeah…we're just enjoyin' the nice weather…" slurred Shunsui.

Hmph. Yes. It was so likely that thirty shinigami, five vice-captains, and two captains were all coincidentally heading toward the fourth division building that expressly took care of ink and parchment supplies.

As his annoyance mounted, he knew that the air around him was dropping another ten degrees. It was a side effect of having the most powerful ice-water element soulcutter, and usually, such a plummet in temperature would cause even the most powerful Hollows to blanch. However, strangely enough, the crowd suddenly seemed very content. A few even sighed and closed their eyes, leaning towards Hitsugaya. He was unnerved, but turned and decided to ignore them. Perhaps radiating a hostile aura would work.

But the flock of shinigami was persistent. As Hitsugaya stalked, his mood darkened continuously.A familiar wash of spirit power washed over him, and he smiled and looked up to see Hinamori. Stopping politely to greet her, he suddenly felt someone crash into his back and his mood suddenly froze over.

Whirling, Hitsugaya grabbed the person by the collar even as he tried to back away. "What the hell do you think you're doing!" he yelled into Hanatarou's terrified face.

"Ummm…w-w-well…w-w-w-e're n-not d-doing…I m-mean, I s-sincerely apologize for my clumsiness, Captain!" cried Hanatarou, shaking badly, his knees giving out beneath him. He would have collapsed if Hitsugaya had not been gripping the front of his robes so tightly. "P-please spare me!" he whimpered and covered his face.

Hitsugaya sweatdropped. A sudden giggle reminded him of Hinamori's presence behind him. Turning his head, he saw her trying to cover her mouth with her sleeve, her cheeks pink. Then she couldn't hold it in anymore, and she burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. "What!" yelled Hitsugaya. He let unclenched his fist and Hanatarou crashed to the ground, his support removed.

"I'll tell you—haha—" and she grabbed his hand, pulling him to a nearby deserted corridor. He felt a slight flush on his face from the contact, and a chorus of "aww, they're so cute" s followed them. Growling and preparing to unsheathe his sword—dammit, he didn't care about protocol—he, however, stopped abruptly as Hinamori turned to him, her eyes alight with amusement.

The blush came back full force as she leaned close to him, and then started whispering in his here. "They all follow you because, well, you're very cool."

Confusion crossed his face. "What?" He said loudly. Yes, he did think of himself as very amazing and actually quite dashing, but such high-ranking shinigami would not follow him around just for that.

She giggled. "You're cool, as in your temperature. Wherever you go, you create a big bubble of cool air, and since it's been so hot recently…"

Hitsugaya was stunned. No, floored. He was the child genius, one of the most powerful shinigami ever, and a frigging CAPTAIN for goodness sake. "They use me for AIR CONDITIONING!" he screamed, outraged.

Even as he watched, Shunsui and Kenpachi rounded the corner and nodded. "Glad that your genius brain finally got it," rumbled Kenpachi. Yachiru grinned on his shoulder and yelled, "Yep! Hitsu-chan is awesome when it's hot!"

And they laughed as Hitsugaya slumped, his pride utterly shattered. A dark cloud of depression was literally hovering over his head, raining small drops of water on his stiffly gelled hair. Taking pity on him, Hinamori lightly hugged him and said, "It's okay, Shiro-chan, I never see you as just…air conditioning."

And despite his threats and now explosive temper, Captain Hitsugaya of the 10th Division was extremely popular for the rest of the month. Even as the list of casualties due to his fraying sanity lengthened, more and more shinigami insisted on swarming around him, and have done so even to this day.

.fin.

AN: Ahh…I wrote this some time ago when I was totally obsessed about Bleach. It's not that great, but I didn't know how to fix it up, so here it is. Actually, my friend and I had a very long argument about the existence of the bubble. I said that it must be very nice for his division during long hot summers, and he said that Hitsugaya's way too well-disciplined to waste energy projecting a bubble of cold temperature. Ah well…he liked this fic though.

I hope you enjoyed reading it; if you did enjoy it, then please click that lovely button below and give me a review! Thanks!