Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach (by Tite Kubo)

Ten Plus Five

Toshiro Hitsugaya is a child prodigy. It's true; how else could he have become the youngest taichou in the entire history of Soul Society? He could reel off the entire history of Soul Society in an insanely short amount of time and perform unspoken kido up to level 70 at full capacity. He's as quick as lightening in the areas zanjutsu, hakuda and hoho. He even efficiently completes his paperwork on time, which is saying rather a lot because he seems to have twice as much compared to the other taichous. Quadrupled because of Matsumoto.

So we've established that Toshiro Hitsugaya is indeed a child prodigy. But even he must have something, anything he's not quite good at. There is one; the fact still remains that he is still a kid, no matter how mature he acts (and this sentence stays between us, unless you want to be an ice sculpture). And of course being what he naturally is, Toshiro Hitsugaya is not very knowledgeable in areas of romance.

But he's a kid; that's expected. So he must have some other weak point right?! Yes, yes he does.

Toshiro Hitsugaya is not very good at thinking outside the box.

"Shiro-chan!"

"..."

"Shiro-chan."

"..."

"Shiro-chan?"

"..."

"Hey! Why are you ignoring me Shiro-chan?!"

"Keh, I guess ignoring you won't make you use my proper title."

Momo just laughed, now knowing that Toshiro was just being difficult again. She went around the desk he was seated at and stood next to him, rocking back and forth on her heels just staring at the work laid out on the surface. Toshiro found it extremely hard to focus on the white sheets in front of him. All he could hear was the creak of the floorboards under Momo's feet.

Creak Creak

He bushed as the creaking noise that occupied his brain morphed into thoughts about Momo. How was that even possible?! She even started to hum a tune too!

Creak Creak

"Lalalala."

Creak Creak

He finally snapped. "Is there anything you wanted Bed Wetter?!"

She stopped rocking and humming and looked down at him. "No, not really." And the rocking and humming began again.

"Oh wait."

She stopped rocking and Toshiro breathed a sigh of relief. "There is one thing I wanted to ask you Hitsugaya-kun."

"What?"

"Well I know Hitsugaya-kun's really smart so he should be able to answer this!"

"Why are you referring to me in third person?"

Momo just shrugged and said "Dunno" before continuing. "Okay, what's ten plus five?"

Toshiro just looked at Momo. Was this some kind of insult to his intelligence?! A vein popped out of his forehead.

"Why are you asking me such a simple question Hinamori?"

"Oh just answer it Shiro-chan," she said, switching back to his pet name.

"It's fifteen," he tersely complied.

Momo crossed her arms in front of her chest in a large X and her eyes turned into sideway V shapes. "Bzp Bzp! Wrong!"

"…What?"

"You're wrong," she simply stated again, this time without the big show of body gestures.

"Do you need a calculator?"

"Nuh uh! Because ten plus five doesn't equal any number silly! I'll be really disappointed if you don't figure it out soon!"

She left the tenth division office with a jovial wave and a bounce in her step.

"Matsumoto, what does ten plus five equal?"

"Huh? I though you were smarter than that taichou."

"I know the answer! It's fifteen!"

"Then why are you ask-Ahh. Did Hinamori-chan ask you that?"

"Yes."

"And you answered fifteen?"

"Did I not make that clear already?"

"And of course you were wrong."

"Which was why I asked you to begin with!"

Matsumoto blinked at her taichou a couple of times from the couch before flopping back down on the soft cushions.

"Figure it out yourself Hitsugaya-taichou of the tenth division. You're smart. Don't keep Hinamori-fukutaichou of the fifth division waiting too long. She'll be disappointed."

Toshiro just glared at her, or rather the back of the couch, and left the room without a word. Matsumoto just sighed in exasperation.

"And I was even nice enough to help you too."

"Younger Shiro-chan! I was just about to pay a visit to my favourite Shiro-chan when I suddenly remembered you would most likely be at fifth division. How very strange indeed that we should meet here."

"Why would I be at fifth division?" Toshiro asked as he silently prayed that he would be able to leave the conversation without an armful of sweets.

"Why? I thought when Hinamori-fukutaichou finally asked you that you would be with her."

"Asked me what?"

"You know, ten plus five."

"Don't you bring that up as well!"

"Ah so she DID ask y-ohh, you said fifteen didn't you?"

Jushiro laughed good humouredly and began rummaging around in his robes. He pulled out his stash of sweets and loaded them into Toshiro's arms.

"Sweets will help you think younger Shiro-chan. But I will give you a hint! Younger Shiro-chan is in tenth division. Hinamori-fukutaichou is in fifth division. No need to thank me."

He left, leaving Toshiro standing there wondering where Jushiro got all his sweets from, how he managed to store it all in his robes and also,

"How do you know about that question?!"

"Hey Hitsugaya-taichou! I hear you couldn't answer Momo's question," Renji bluntly stated.

"Who told you that?"

"Ukitake-taichou."

"And you know the answer?"

"Of course."

Toshiro began to walk out of the door when Byakuya spoke up from his desk, his eyes still on the papers in his hand.

"Hitsugaya-taichou, it would be in your best interest to start living outside your box."

Toshiro mechanically turned his head around and forced out his next word. "What?"

"My point exactly."

The door slammed shut a second later. Byakuya was still working as if nothing happened.

"Abarai. Did you inform Hitsugaya-taichou that Matsumoto-fukutaichou had to divulge the answer to you?"

"The midget doesn't need to know stuff like that."

For the rest of the afternoon Byakuya found himself with a very nice iced fukutaichou.

And so went Toshiro's day, with almost every shinigami he ran into asking him the same thing in one form or another. He was extremely agitated when he returned to his division at the end of the day, with that damn question still stuck in his head! Everyone seemed to know about the dreaded question and the supposedly "correct" answer.

"Stupid people. What else could ten plus five equal?" he grumbled. "And why do they all keep telling me I'm the taichou of the tenth division. It's not like I'd forget, jeeze."

He turned slightly and looked out the window. The front of the fifth division was facing him with the large glossy kanji 5 directly in his view. As he stared at it, he started to remember something else.

Come to think of it, a lot of people told me Momo was the fukutaichou of the fifth division. I don't get enough credit around here. I'm the taichou of the tenth and she's the fukutaichou of the fifth. How dumb do they think I am?

…Wait

I'm in tenth division and she's in fifth division.

"Don't tell me," he said as his continued his train of thought.

I'm in tenth, she's in fifth.

I'm ten, she's five.

Ten plus five.

He made a frustrated noise and sped out of the room.

"I swear Momo, if this isn't it!"

He dashed through the corridors of the fifth division and barged into Momo's room without so much as a single knock. Now they were both very lucky that all she was doing was reorganising her desk.

"Hey! Shiro-chan! Knock before you enter someone's room!" she chastised.

He just walked up to her and kept walking until he had her backed up to the wall. Momo uncomfortably noted the amount of distance between them.

"H-hey! What are you doing Shiro-chan?!" she managed to squeak out.

He put his face very close to hers. His emerald eyes kept her captivated. She could see her own chocolate eyes reflected in those seas of green; she couldn't bring herself to blink. Heat was beginning to rise to her face and if not controlled, it would look like a bucket of red paint was poured on her. What if…what if he figured it out?

"Is this what ten plus five equals?"

He closed the distance with a kiss and Momo smiled. Her body was no longer frozen and she melted into him. Slender arms found their way around Toshiro's neck, their fingers playing with the ends of his hair. Finally, she thought as she returned the kiss, confirming that it was indeed the correct answer.

Owari

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