Title: I Don't Do 'Sappy'

Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)

I figured that I really should write something for Valentines Day this year and this is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it!

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Sunlight peeked through the crack in the curtains, lighting up the dimmed room. With a rustle of thin sheets and shallower breaths, Karin turned on her side, the brightness in the room having disturbed her. Furrowing her brows, she reached a fisted hand up to rub away the sleep in her eyes, stifling a yawn.

As she took in her surroundings, Karin noticed lazily that her room smelled quite pleasant, somewhat floral. Perhaps Yuzu had tried a new body spray or something. Normally Karin didn't care much for girly things like smelling nice or looking pretty, but that didn't mean that she couldn't appreciate it, especially if her twin enjoyed it so much.

Karin scowled at the curtains. She had actually wanted to sleep a little longer and that penetrating sunlight had disturbed her. Stretching once beneath the thin sheet that she had stretched over her, she gathered herself up and managed to sit up in bed. Her duvet was bunched at her feet and Karin guessed that she'd kicked it there. She exhaled with a huff, blowing a few stray strands of hair from her sticky face. Her whole body was feeling damp and clammy. That morning she had felt horrible, coughing and pale. Yuzu, after measuring her temperature, had squealed and promptly pushed her back into bed to which Karin couldn't do a thing because the world had been spinning too much. In a stern voice, Yuzu had commanded Karin not to move and go to sleep immediately, or else. Not really having much motivation to argue since her brain had felt like it had been turned to mush, Karin fell asleep nearly before Yuzu had finished her rant.

Swinging her legs over the edge of her bed, Karin let her feet touch the floor of her and Yuzu's shared bedroom. Judging by the brightness of the sun outside, it was around noon. Karin looked back at the curtains. She was sure that they had been shut all the way that morning, but since she had been near delirious she just shrugged it off, thinking that she had been imagining things. Either that or Yuzu had adjusted them.

Karin still felt wobbly and her muscles felt so useless that she estimated that, should she have gone swimming just then, she would have sunk faster than a rock. She glowered at her limp limbs. Useless things. Perhaps more rest would get them back into shape. But she was awake now and she could already feel her restless nature getting the better of her. She didn't want to be stuck in bed anymore. She had to be up and doing something. Maybe she'd find some dishes in the sink that Yuzu would be planning on doing when she got home.

Pushing herself up from her bed, Karin wobbled towards her closet, a determined look on her face as she bit her lower lip. She was going to get there and put some clothes on and get out of her pajamas, she didn't care how long it took! If only her legs had a little more strength in them…

Finally, grasping hold of the closet handle, Karin managed to slide the door open and yank a T-shirt and soccer shorts from the shelf. She stripped off her pajama top and just dumped it on the floor, resolving to pick it up later when she wasn't in constant danger of falling over. Pulling her T-Shirt over her head, Karin lifted the pair of shorts, frowning at them. If she couldn't even bend over without losing her balance, much to her own disdain, how was she supposed to stand on one leg and pull on shorts? As another wave of dizziness hit her, Karin just dropped the shorts, deciding to just stay in her pajama pants. It wasn't like anyone was coming to see her anytime soon.

Turning and heading back to the bed, Karin noticed a patch of colour on her desk, placed at the foot of her bed. Narrowing her eyes in the somewhat dim room, she tried to make out what it was. Her eyes widened slightly as she neared it.

It was a plant, set in a plain black pot. The leaves and stems were a dark green and so dense that no patch of soil was even visible through them. The flowers themselves were plain, yet beautiful in their simplicity. And they were a strong red colour. Karin fingered one of them, a slight smile spreading over her face. The plant was really pretty. No doubt Yuzu had gotten it as a gift today. Yuzu always got a lot of gifts on this day of the year. She must have just placed it on the wrong desk… Karin frowned and glanced at the clock. No, Yuzu was still in school. So she couldn't have placed it on her desk.

Karin blinked as she noticed a small envelope beneath the black pot. Glancing at the envelope and finding only her name written on it in a neat, systematic handwriting, she shrugged once and slit it open, a small jolt in her stomach making her somewhat uneasy in anticipation.

The piece of white cardboard inside it was unspectacular in every possible way yet this only helped to confirm her thoughts on exactly who this was from. The message written on the cardboard, in the same neat handwriting, was simple too.

Thank you.

Karin almost wanted to laugh as she imagined him sitting hunched over at his desk in frustration as he struggled to write even that. She shook her head and was about to slip the card back into the envelope when she spotted more writing in the bottom corner. This bit was written in pencil. Her pencil, she assumed, since it was lying on her desk beside the plant.

Get better soon.

That part looked more hurried and rushed. Karin smirked and glanced back at the crack in the curtains. Perhaps Yuzu hadn't been the one to open them after all.

Closing the envelope again, Karin looked at the pot plant. Red. She felt her cheeks flush slightly at that and was glad that nobody was there to see her right now. Karin reached down towards one of her desk drawers and pulled it open, taking out a small box and staring at it for a moment before nodding once and taking a breath, pulling out a piece of white cardboard of her own.

If he could gather up his guts to do this, then so could she.

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Toushirou clenched his teeth as he passed yet another couple in the hallway. All around him, the atmosphere was charged with gooey lovey-dovey stuff. He increased his pace minimally, making sure not to show any form of expression other than his permanent frown as he left yet another happy couple in his wake. Didn't these people have anything else to do other than hug and kiss all the time? And why, oh why, did they keep sending one another mushy looks that made everyone else in the vicinity decidedly uncomfortable and caused them to retreat to their own little corners? Toushirou just wanted to get back to the safety of his office. Quickly!

Normally when this day rolled by once a year he didn't come out of his office at all, preferring to bury himself behind mounds of paperwork and try to ignore the delighted squeals of yet another girl getting chocolates or a card or whatever the heck she wanted. Toushirou clenched his teeth a little tighter together as he thought of something. Actually, the only reason he had even left his office this year was because he, for the first time in his afterlife, had actually participated in the sickly sweet festivities.

And why? Because the 14th of February was basically the only day that he could really manage to gather up his courage for it.

An overjoyed yelp sounded two corridors down and in an adjoining lunch room he heard someone say, "Happy Valentines Day, Sweetie-Pie." Ugh. Toushirou wanted to gag and he once more increased his pace a little. Not too much though, he couldn't be seen running. But nonetheless he wanted to get into his office fast. Not only because the atmosphere around him was so overly extravagantly cheerful, but also because the constant flow of gifts and exchanges were making him feel rather down. He'd glimpsed a few of the gifts that had been exchanged and, looking back on what he'd gotten for her now, Toushirou couldn't help but think that his present was rather… lacking.

When looking around, everyone else seemed to have put so much thought and effort into their presents that it was slightly intimidating. Not that Toushirou hadn't broken his head over his own gift and lost many hours of sleep tossing in indecision on whether he should even go through with it or not, but when he looked at his end-result in comparison to some of his subordinate's, he couldn't help but think that they just didn't match up.

Heck, even his card was pathetic! White cardboard? What had he been thinking? It had just seemed the most natural choice to him and he hadn't thought that she'd like an extravagant card in the first place, but couldn't he have written something better? Some of the cards exchanged between his squad members were scribbled full to the yin-yang. He'd written two words. And even that had been a stretch for him! He'd faced Hollows and Arrancar and deadly Shinigami, so why couldn't he just write what was going on in his head and get it over with? Toushirou clenched his teeth and fists as his office door came into sight. He hadn't even had the guts to sign his name.

Reaching for the door, Toushirou almost wanted to sigh at being back in his safe office where he wouldn't have to stare into the glaring examples of what he probably should have done.

He slammed the door open and came to a dead stop in the doorway.

Colour.

Everywhere.

Within the hour that he had been gone, his office had gone from the safe haven that it usually was to the worst collection of Valentines Gifts throughout his entire Division! Bunches of flowers littered every available surface, cards were strewn about the floor and empty, opened or still wrapped boxes were scattered haphazardly around his entire office. He stared for a moment before giddy laughter coming from amidst the chaos told him exactly what he needed to know.

He pushed his way through the mess, coming to stand behind the couch and glare at the person currently sprawled out over the cushions. "Matsumoto…" he growled, dangerously low.

Completely oblivious to her captain's murderous tone, she grinned up at him happily, swinging a little bottle of sake above her head. "Taicho, you want some?" She slurred.

Toushirou was nearly at boiling point. "You're not seriously drunk?"

"Nah… just high on sake and lots and lots of chocolate." She giggled again and Toushirou had to clench his teeth in frustration.

"Get up, now Matsumoto. And clear out all of this stuff from my office."

"But taicho-"

"Now." Even in her somewhat inebriated state Matsumoto was able to sense that she couldn't push him much further without him totally snapping at her. Normally, she didn't care much either way if he lost his temper with her or not, but this particular day had always gotten him into a grumpy mood and today seemed to be even worse. She had her suspicions as to why, but she sure wasn't going to risk her neck to find out!

So instead she put on a pout, jutting out her bottom lip and crossing her arms huffily. "Moh, taicho, you're no fun."

"I don't care. Now get some of those love-sick idiots out there to help you carry all of this junk outside where I can't see it!" And with that he stomped to his desk, pulling a sheet of paperwork towards him and hoping to just get lost in his regular everyday activity. Unfortunately, the constant sound of footsteps clomping through his office removing Matsumoto's stash of Valentine's Gifts was making that a little hard to do. Finally though, after every last thing had been carried out of his office and the room looked more or less back to its usual self, aside from a few scattered flower petals that had fallen from some of the bouquets, everything was quiet. Toushirou decided to ignore the evidence and carry on with his paperwork, distracting himself from the twisting anxiety in the pit of his stomach that had threatened to set in from the moment he had placed that plant on Karin's desk.

He had thought about what to possibly get her for ages. Finally he'd remembered that she loved being outdoors and had also told him once in passing that plants were incredible things. He had thought of a bouquet then but pushed that idea off quickly. He'd seen Matsumoto's bouquets. They lasted for a few days and then wilted, becoming limp and ugly. He didn't want that.

So the result had been a trip to his Granny and getting one of her own cultivated plants put into a pot. There was no real name for the flower since she had crossed plants again and again to get it. Ever since both he and his sister Momo had left to become Shinigami, she'd taken up gardening as a hobby and found that she enjoyed it. When he'd left with the plant, Toushirou had never been so glad that his Granny had decided to take up that pastime.

Matsumoto had found her way back into the office by now, flopping down onto the couch and not even bothering to try and do paperwork. Toushirou didn't reprimand her and simply continued since he didn't want a hash job done of it either.

A knock on the office door made both Toushirou and Matsumoto look up. "Yes, what is it?" Toushirou demanded somewhat gruffly.

From outside, a voice spoke up, slightly muted by the door in between. "Excuse me, there is a delivery here."

With an excited squeal, Matsumoto jumped from the couch and ran to the door, sliding it open for the delivery man to enter. It had been a while ago that the Seireitei news led by Hisagi had started a package delivery system and it had been raking in tons. Hisagi had gotten the idea from a visit to the world of the living and opened it a few weeks later. They were especially busy over the holidays or special occasions.

Toushirou returned to his paperwork, deciding to ignore Matsumoto and her deranged antics at yet another gift for her.

"Really?" She bounced to a stop. "Who is it from?"

The messenger looked a little uncomfortable. "Um, actually, it's addressed to Hitsugaya-taicho." Toushirou's brush froze over his paper.

It took Matsumoto all of one second to register this before she squealed loudly, yelling, "Taicho! You got a Valentine's Day gift! Somebody likes you!" Toushirou tried his hardest not to blush at that, instead clenching his hands tighter and causing the brush to shake and a drop of ink to splatter on his nearly completed page. He scowled.

Matsumoto, seeing that her captain wasn't getting up, took the delivery from the Shinigami and signed for it shortly, waving him goodbye as he closed the door again. Happy, she bounced over to Toushirou's desk and set the delivery down.

Toushirou glanced at the small, unimposing package lying on his desk with trepidation. The little box seemed to be taking up a lot of space.

"Well, go on. Open it taicho!"

Toushirou frowned up at his fukutaicho. "No. Not with you around. Go away." Matsumoto sighed once at her taicho before going off to sulk, her head held high as she strode towards the door. She understood that her taicho wasn't going to open the gift with her there to watch him, but that didn't mean that she was happy about it. She was just too curious. So she decided to slink off to the 8th Division. Perhaps Kyouraku would be better company.

Toushirou waited until his office door shut again and Matsumoto's footsteps had retreated before he dared to look back at the small parcel. Gulping once and trying to squash the feeling of rising hope inside his chest, he pulled it towards himself, grasping hold of the string and beginning to unwrap it. It seemed like the brown paper crinkled especially loudly and each rip was deafening.

Finally, the paper was all off, revealing a simple box underneath that he easily opened by removing only one piece of tape.

He held his breath as he pulled back the lid.

Lying inside, was a silvery object attached to a black cord. Pressing his dry lips more tightly together, he lifted the object up to hold it in front of his face. It was a rectangular, smooth, double sided silver pendant attached to the black cord and with a simple clasp on both ends of it to fasten behind the neck. Studying it more closely, Toushirou could see, on the one side, a feint engraving. The lines were abstract and loosely arranged, but he was, with very little imagination, able to make out an ice flower glinting on the metal. He stared at it for a moment, taking it in before his mouth tugged into a slight smile.

Inside the box was one other object; a piece of white cardboard. Pulling it out, Toushirou smiled in mirth at the message.

Thanks to you too, Toushirou.

He shook his head. That girl… he could imagine her smirk as she wrote that, jubilant at having seen through him so easily. She hadn't even needed to sign her name on the card. She just knew that he'd know that she sent it. Even without the message he would have known who that gift was from. Only Karin would think that he'd wear something like that.

Pulling the ends around his neck, he managed to clasp them together securely and slipping the silver engraved metal under his uniform. He was glad that she'd remembered to make the cord long enough for him to hide it whilst wearing it. In a way, he didn't want to show anyone what she had gotten him. It was a secret. Private.

He had to smile at that thought. He wondered what she would do with her pot plant and if she would tell anyone.

Returning to his paperwork, Toushirou tried to fix up the form that he had dripped ink onto. Unlike most of his subordinates who had exchanged Valentines gifts, he didn't really feel like a huge milestone had been crossed. He still hadn't in any way admitted that he liked her or that he got comfortably nervous with her around and she hadn't either, though Toushirou really couldn't tell at all what she thought of him. Knowing his luck, probably a good friend. Toushirou gripped the pendant through his uniform.

It didn't matter if she only thought of him as a friend. He'd gladly take that.

It didn't matter because, even if he had to suffer through a few of these nerve wracking days, over who knew how many years, he was going to get up his courage one day. But until then he'd settle for keeping her close to him, because he sure wasn't going to risk losing her.

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OMAKE:

"Ah, Rangiku-san! I was wondering when you'd show up!" Kyouraku grinned and held up a bottle of sake, shaking it slightly.

"My taicho kicked me out, otherwise I would have come even later." Matsumoto sat down and huffily snatched the bottle of sake from Kyouraku. The others in the room were slightly taken aback at her snappy attitude.

"Um, Matsumoto-san." Kira began and she shot him a sharp look. "What happened?"

"Yeah, normally you're one of the first ones there at these things." Kiyone mentioned, lifting her own dish of sake.

Sighing once to calm herself down, Matsumoto took a swig of sake. "My taicho sure has some nerve, kicking me out like that. Seriously, just how wrong is that? You can't kick your beloved fukutaicho out of her own office, even if that office is shared, and especially not when his life is finally starting to get interesting!"

Kyouraku latched onto that, sensing gossip. "Interesting?"

"He got aValentine'sDay gift." Matsumoto explained, downing the rest of the sake bottle. Shocked and excited exclamations were thrown around the room. Hisagi was looking ecstatic, a notepad and pen all ready to write down this juicy piece of news for the paper. "Really? Who was it from?"

"Don't look so excited, Hisagi. Your delivery system is the one that got the present to him so why don't you go check the sender's name?" Matsumoto shrugged. "Besides, he chased me out before he even touched the parcel! The nerve… and I was just curious!"

Kyouraku smiled. "Ah… our little Shiro's growing up."

Kira frowned, putting a finger to his chin and looking down. "I wonder who it was." He trailed off, trying to piece everything together.

Beside him, Momo was thinking hard too, running through the lists in her head.

Hisagi sighed. "At any rate, I will find out who sent him that package."

"Oh, I know who it was from." Matsumoto reached for the next bottle of sake. "It's what she sent him that I wanna know!"

The rest of the evening was spent coming up with several more ridiculous stories with Matsumoto refusing to tell them who sent him that gift.

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There, done. Please tell me what you think of this, I love feedback!

When I wrote this I was unaware of the Japanese Valentines Day customs with 'Red Day' and 'White Day' so let's just pretend that they're following the Western Tradition, okay? Perhaps next time I'll go with the Japanese customs, they sound really interesting.

Please review. No, seriously. Review.