The Glass Zanpaktou: A Bleach Cinderella

Author's Note:Yay! An update within a week! *throws confetti* Happy American Thanksgiving! I hope evryone had fun and a good time! And if not, the weekend is still available :) This chappie takes place right after the last one and includes...much more stuff ;P Thanks to Reader-Favs and all those who favourited and added this story to their alerts :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach...I think it's obvious none of us will ever do *cries* T^T

Without furthur adieu, this is Chapter 7! Enjoy ^_^

The boy carefully opened the latch with one hand as he steadied the bowl of miso soup in his other. He had gone to the kitchen to make soup in case the girl woke up and was hungry. But, in all truth, Toshiro just wanted to get out of that room—especially with her in it. It worked as he easily put all those feelings in the back of his mind.

Toshiro looked up into the room and sighed when he saw the girl asleep. He wasn't exactly ready to have her running away again—not without proper precautions. Toshiro sat down next to her and gingerly removed the wet clothe from her forehead (at the same time making sure there was no contact).

Her complexion was now closer to its natural color compared to the sickly, pale it was before. Taking that as a good sign, Toshiro braced himself and nudged her. She groaned at first, but after Toshiro nudged her more she grabbed his hand. He blushed as she turned to face him and held his hand close, against her chest. Toshiro gritted his teeth as he struggled to pull his hand away. But, the girl had a death grip as she didn't budge. Again and again he tried to pull away, even resorting to pinching her hand but the girl just wouldn't let go.

Why did she have to use his hand as a teddy bear?

In response, she pulled him closer, making him tumble down next to her. His eyes widened as he was in closer proximity than ever before and he could feel her breath fawn his face. She still had that stupid, silly smile on but all Toshiro could do was grimace. His heart wasn't helping the situation as it was thumping like a caged bird.

Taking deep breaths he steadied his heart and suppressed the heat from his face. Having enough of this Toshiro decided it was now or never to wake this girl up.

"Hey, wake up."

She murmured softly before burying himself deep under the covers. Toshiro rolled his eyes at shook her shoulder with his other hand.

"Oi, I'm not a pillow."

Her eyebrows furrowed but she slowly opened one eye, as if testing her surroundings. Toshiro stared at her as she looked at him through sleep infected eyes. "Shiro?" she murmured softly.

Toshiro raised his eyebrow at her. "What?"

Immediately her eyes opened, all effects of sleep gone, and she gasped. She stared at Toshiro with an open mouth like a fish for a few seconds before she must have realized how close together they were.

"Do you always leave open your mouth?" Toshiro couldn't help but say that. Her expression was priceless.

She blushed and averted her eyes away from his. Her face was so red, she could put cherries to shame. Maybe it was the fever again?

"You can let go of my hand," said Toshiro. "I'm not a pillow to cuddle with."

The girl eyes froze in shock and she looked down at Toshiro's hand by her chest. She yelped and pushed Toshiro away, toppling herself off the futon.

Toshiro grimaced as he hit the floor. He bit back a curse and slowly eased himself against the wall. He turned to glare at the girl but his eyes softened as he saw her state.

The girl was huddled with the blanket and her chocolate eyes were panic stricken. She clutched her chest and breathed heavily as she stuttered. "W-what's h-happening? W-where am I?" She shook her head furiously and bit her lip as she tried to recollect her thoughts. Her gaze settled on the boy in front of her and immediately her eyes widened in mortification. "W-why are you here?" The girl slowly back against the opposite wall, her frightened eyes never straying from Toshiro. She shivered as she hugged onto her legs.

"What are you going to do with me?" Her voice faltered at the end.

Toshiro stared at her, waiting for her to calm down before he pushed any further. But, it seemed to have the opposite effect as he could slowly see her eyebrows furrow down and those chocolate eyes glare at him. A heated blush crossed her face as she asked, "Why are you staring at me?"

"Are you done with your questions?" he coolly replied, ignoring her previous question.

She apprehensively nodded before he continued. "I brought you to my place after you fainted. That's why I'm here."

"Your house…?" she inquired. Taking his silence as a response her cheeks reddened. "Do you mean…alone with you?"

Toshiro shrugged indifferently, trying to ignore what she suggested. They were alone after all in the night. It didn't faze him as much, but she seemed to tighten her hold around her blanket.

"How did I faint?"

Images resurface of what happened earlier—it made his blood boil. He hated the look of fear in Suri's eyes as she hid under the girl. They way Omeada looked down on them with evil intent in his knife made the anger rush through him all over again. Again Toshiro felt like beating the crap out of him until he saw red.

"It's nothing," Toshiro replied curtly. He didn't want to talk about something like that anymore.

She looked at him with a confused look, not entirely believing that answer. After a moment of silence she said, "What happened to that merchant? Did I stop him?"

"No, you didn't stop him." Toshiro glared at her. "Instead you practically threw yourself at him to kill. Do you know how stupid that was of you?" He edged towards her so that he was halfway across the small room.

"Were you trying to get yourself killed?" he sneered at her.

The girl grimaced under his cold glare but stood her ground as she leered back at him. "Of course not! Why would I do that?" she cried indignantly.

Toshiro snorted. She seemed like the type of girl to not know what kind of trouble she was getting into. The girl crossed her hands with a huff. She's also the stubborn type, too, Toshiro thought.

"I wanted to protect Suri!" she exclaimed. "I just didn't want her to get hurt because of me!" She looked down at her sheets in her hands as she whispered, "No innocent person should get hurt because of me…"

She looked back up at Toshiro, her eyes filled with worried. "Please tell me she's okay," she pleaded. Toshiro could see the concern in her face and he could tell that this girl cared a lot about Suri.

"She's fine," replied Toshiro and instantly the girl relaxed. She smiled to herself and Toshiro felt that tingly feeling inside him again. It coursed through his veins to the tips of his fingers.

Why was he feeling this way?

Slowly, he started to feel drawn again to the girl as if some mysterious force was pulling him. This time it was gnawing at him from the pit of his stomach and it grew stronger as he looked on at her. In the pale moonlight, it seemed to make everything glow about the girl. He crawled forward, bit by bit, his eyes still focused on the girl's chocolate brown ones as she smiled to herself. It was if he couldn't help himself.

All of a sudden, she gasped as she realized something, stopping Toshiro in his tracks as his hand was about to reach out to her. The girl looked up at him with mortified eyes as she asked, "Wait, why am I not wearing an outer robe?"

When she saw Toshiro's hand towards her, she screamed and grabbed the closest thing toward her. Toshiro's mind finally registered what was going to happen again but he couldn't stop her as she threw the black box at him. Instinctively he ducked and stepped forward. In one movement, Toshiro grabbed the girl's wrists and brought them down to the ground in front of him so that he was staring straight into her chocolate brown eyes.

"Can we please not repeat this again?" he gritted through his teeth as he remembered what happened. She stared at him with wide open eyes before she gulped. Her cheeks tinted red; confusion and fear contorted through her face.

He slowly let go of her wrists but she remained still, continuously looking at his eyes. Under her gaze, Toshiro felt his face warm up and snapped, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

The girl seemed to realize what she was doing and blushed, shaking her head and looking down. "Oh, I'm sorry," she whispered. "You just have such…mesmerizing eyes. It reminds me of…" she softly trailed off.

Toshiro could feel his cheeks burn. What the—? The girl seemed to realize what she just said and her eyes widened. She quickly turned to look at him and violently shook her hands in front of herself. "N-no, no—that's not what I meant! I mean, your eyes look familiar, like I saw them before! Not that they aren't beautiful, they are—!" She stopped abruptly as the full intent of what she said hit her. She gaped at him for a second before turning her head to the side, a cherry blush spreading over her cheeks. "Please ignore what just happened."

The silence stretched on as Toshiro took everything in. It was one of the first times that anyone ever complimented his eyes. People always looked away from them, probably thinking that they were an abnormality, but…mesmerizing…beautiful? That was a first. She actually liked his eyes?

That thought seemed to cause that warm, tingly feeling to spread all over. Damn the feeling, it was starting to make him uneasy.

The girl seemed troubled and in an inner fight with herself for slipping up. Toshiro couldn't help but let out a smirk. She was apologizing for a…compliment?

Deciding to let it pass considering it'd be better for both of them he said, "I didn't do anything to you."

She turned and looked at him with a puzzled look.

"Excuse me?"

Had she forgotten already?

"Your robe?" he hinted.

"Oh!" She flushed again. Why was this girl blushing so much?

He crossed his arms as he looked at her. "You woke up once but before I could say anything you had…some urge to grab the pail of water and throw it everywhere." He raised his eyebrow in question at her but she only looked down in embarrassment. "That's how you got wet and why I took off your outer robe."

She was quiet for a moment before she muttered something inaudible.

"What?" Toshiro asked. Again she whispered it, but Toshiro still couldn't make out anything. "Speak louder—you're too quiet."

That seemed to make the girl more flustered as she quickly exclaimed, "I said, did you see anything!"

Instantly the color rushed to his face. "N-no! W-why would I see anything?" he spluttered. He immediately turned his head to the side, not wanting her to see his face in case it was red. "I-it's not like I want to see anything! It was just to make sure you wouldn't become worse," he said indignantly.

She seemed surprised at his words and stared at him. Again, a silence stretched between them, neither not knowing what to say. The girl bit her lip as she looked down. Toshiro could see that she was having trouble saying something. Getting tired of this already, he moved to get the soup from the other side.

"Wait."

He slowly turned around and looked at her. Her chocolate eyes held a determination in them. "Why did you take care of me? You could have left me by myself."

Toshiro silently pondered his words. In truth, he didn't actually know himself. But, he knew something for sure; leaving her alone wasn't an option.

"I owed you a favor," he curtly responded. He looked over to her and noticed that this made her quiet .She slightly lowered her head, her bangs overcastting her eyes. "I see."

Toshiro didn't know what was wrong with her but he didn't like it. "Also…I knew that I couldn't leave you by yourself," he added. "I'm not a cold hearted jerk. I know when a person needs help. Plus, Suri wouldn't want you to be sick either." He shrugged as if it was a casual thing they were talking about.

The girl seemed surprised and shocked at his response. Toshiro didn't think it was really that big of a deal; she helped him, he helped her. Also, she protected Suri which is all the more reason to take care of her.

"Even though…you don't know who I am…you still helped me?" She asked slowly, confused and wary.

Toshiro snorted. "You're making this into a bigger deal than it actually is. You were sick and I helped you. It's not like a saved your life."

"But you did," she insisted. "You protected me from the merchant and saved Suri and me."

Toshiro stayed quiet as he mulled over what she said. He did save her but it was just in the heat of the moment, the adrenaline rush. "Again, it's not that big a deal. That fat, greedy pig had it coming to him," he explained with a tired tone.

"It is!" she exclaimed. Her eyes were wide with frustration. "You just don't help anyone! It's not right, it's not practical. You can't just help a stranger!"

"But I helped you," he stated. "And, you're not just anyone—you're different."

She slumped back down, a perplexed and deflated look. It was as if she couldn't believe what he had said.

"What if…what if I wasn't a random girl that helped you…what if I was…the princess? Would you still treat me the same because you're obliged to or of your free will?"

Now it was his turn to be shocked.

"What?"

She gulped and said with more confidence, "I am the princess of Seireitei, Hinamori Momo."

Everything seemed to turn quiet at that exact moment; the wind's howls outside ceased into a quiet buzz. The moonlight seemed to shine upon him as the intent of what she said hit him.

She…was…the princess? The most 'beautiful,' and 'awesome' princess that Suri was prattling about was the girl that ran away from him crying? The same girl who was Suri's Nee-chan?

Things clicked inside his head like the cogs in a clock. If she was the princess it would explain why Suri was so infatuated with her well being. It would also explain why she was being chased after by Omeada.

But…the princess?

He turned away from her and pushed the bowl of soup towards her. He didn't even want to look at her now. It was too much to take in.

"Eat it—it'll help you."

"D-do you not believe me?" she asked.

He ignored her and turned his back on her. Right now, he needed to think things through. He heard her sigh before picking up a spoon.

How could she be so casual about this? It's not something you tell a person everyday. Toshiro couldn't believe it. All along, when he yelled at her, pushed her against the wall, made her cry, carried her, and held her…he was doing all of that to the princess? And worse was that she probably hated his guts for making her cry and run away.

Toshiro cursed silently. This wasn't good at all—not good at all. If she reports to the guards, Suri and Jii-san could be in trouble because of him. They would probably be taken away and put into jail. Suri shouldn't have to deal with miseries of jail, no she shouldn't. She was only eight, damn it!

All of this was making Toshiro's mind and heart race while the royal princess was quietly eating her soup.

If anything bad were to happen to Suri and Jii-san, Toshiro would blame himself entirely. He couldn't stand to see someone innocent hurt because of a stupid, shitty mistake that he did. He looked over his shoulder at the girl behind him.

She was smiling at eating the soup quickly with gusto. If Toshiro didn't know that she was a princess, he would have probably smirked at her. It was like she never had miso soup before. But it probably was true; royalty didn't need to dine on commoner's food.

She looked up at him and smiled, "That was delicious!" It was as if she forgot everything that happened before. A drop of soup slid down from her mouth.

"You have…a little something…" Toshiro awkwardly pointed out. How do you tell a princess that there's soup dripping down her face?

She looked at him questioningly before realizing what he meant. She swapped at her chin furiously trying to erase any of the evidence.

Before he knew it, he let out a small laugh. The girl looked at him with surprise before she smiled herself. "It was so good that I suppose I forgot my manners."

He only nodded as she went to finish the last of it.

She wasn't a stuck up noble, he knew that. She certainly didn't act like one—sometimes. But, Toshiro knew that this girl was…different. What kind of princess would cry when someone yelled at her? She could've ordered his head off but instead she ran away. Also, what kind of princess throws herself in front of the enemy? It was as if she didn't care what happened to her at all…

She definitely was a weird princess…but, he didn't mind that.

"I would still take care of you." Toshiro said stopping the girl from slurping down her soup.

She tilted her head and looked at him with confused chocolate eyes. "Pardon me?"

He turned around and started to straighten the bedding, his back towards her. "I wouldn't care for titles. You needed help and I helped you—even if you're the princess."

Toshiro didn't hear anything after that. He went over to his black box and started picking the things scattered from the floor. He picked up the pendant from the ground as it shone in the moonlight. The pendant had been a gift from his mother, only a distant fuzzy memory. Ukitake had told him to always keep it but Toshiro didn't need anyone to tell him that. It was his only connection to his past family.

He gathered all the objects and put them in the black wooden box, making sure it was locked properly. All of his most valuable items were there; just enough for him to know that he was something more than just a servant or outcast

Toshiro looked back at the girl. She seemed to be in deep thought and wasn't paying attention to anything. He walked in front of her and waved his hand in front of her face.

"Hey."

She jumped and looked up with startled eyes. When she realized it was Toshiro her cheeks instantly reddened.

Raising an eyebrow he said, "Are you feeling any better?"

She quickly nodded, shaking her head more than once.

"Well, if you are, than you can go back to your palace."

Her eyes widened, as if she just remembered something. She looked at Toshiro hesitantly. "Well…what if…I do not really know…how to get back…" Momo nervously trailed off.

He looked at her with disbelief. "You don't know how to get back? You're the princess of this kingdom? Shouldn't you know the kingdom by heart?"

She shook her head slowly, embarrassed.

"Unbelievable." Toshiro scoffed. She was just like Suri.

He sighed and threw a blanket at her. "Get some sleep. In the morning I'll take you back."

She grasped the blanket, contemplating. "Where will you sleep then?" she asked with a worried tone.

"On the floor," he replied.

She gasped. "You shouldn't sleep on the floor! You will get sick!" she raised her voice. "You should sleep on the futon!"

Toshiro sighed in exhaustion; he was really tired of arguing. "You need to sleep on the futon—I don't."

The princess shook her head. "But, I already caused enough trouble. The least I could do is let you sleep comfortably!" She held out the blanket to him, a stubborn look in her eyes.

"Will you listen? I am not going to sleep on the futon, you can," he said with an aggravated tone.

"Why can't you?" she asked indignantly.

"Because you can't sleep on the floor-you're just recovering," he explained wearily. Why was she arguing? Aren't princesses supposed to want everything—not argue about it? This wasn't helping his tired mood at all…

"Well, why can't we sleep together?" she asked as if it was a casual thing. Toshiro snapped his head at her but she seemed unfazed.

Toshiro turned red and his heart started to accelerate.

"T-that's not an option."

She stubbornly pouted at him. "Yes we can! It can fit us both!" She crossed her arms and stared at Toshiro with determination. "You are going to sleep on the futon whether you like it or not—that is an order!"

Toshiro glared at her. "I'm not going to do it just because you're the princess you know."

She sighed and her eyes softened. She looked through her dark lashes at him. "Would please do it for me then—the girl that helped you?" she asked softly.

He looked at her for a while and he could see that she was trying to persuade him with her chocolate eyes. The princess pouted at him and that feeling surged through him like a wave of warm water. Slowly, slowly he felt himself giving in to the idea…

He was tired as hell and he had more than his fair share of events of the day. He could really use some good sleep on a futon—not the floor. And, it wasn't like they were going to do anything…just sleep, that's it.

Toshiro sighed in defeat. Only this one time would he cave in…

"Man, you are stubborn."

She smiled at him, as if she won a game, while he settled on his side on the futon. He turned until he felt comfortable. He closed his eyes and he could feel the sheets stir and her lie down next to him. He was well aware of everything about her; her soft hair ticking his back and her shoulders touching his. She turned and he could feel her fists against his back. He closed his eyes, trying to will himself to fall into slumber albeit the princess next to him.

"What's your name?" she whispered shattering his sleep spell.

"Why are you asking me that?" he asked, a bit annoyed that she disturbed his sleep.

"Well, I never knew your name; all I know is that you're Suri's Nii-san. I should atleast know the name of the person who saved my life," she softly said.

"I didn't save your life," he muttered.

"You did," she murmured. Toshiro could feel her fists clutch the back of his yukata. "I don't know what would have happened if you didn't come…"

She trailed off and Toshiro continued to stare out into the darkness. He waited for her to finish her sentence but she remained quiet. Toshiro could feel her soft breath blow at his back, heating up all of his body.

He carefully turned his body so that he was facing the girl. Her eyes were closed and her body rose up and down slowly. The unknown feeling came back again, igniting sparks and making his heart pick up.

The princess was sleeping next to him—not just any other girl. But, if she hadn't told him that, he would have mistaken her for just a random, strange girl; a random, strange girl who takes care of people's ankles and protects little girl. A warm current swept through him as he stared at her.

No, this can't happen, he shook his head.

Toshiro pushed the tingly feeling into the back of his mind as he brushed the bangs away from her forehead.

But she wasn't a normal girl. And after tonight, he had to make sure she never saw him again and erase his existence from her memories…it would be better for everyone…

"My name is…Yuki," he answered.

Only the night heard.

Author's Note: There are definitley some conflicted feelings for Toshiro—an annoying tingly feeling, a new discovery. Quite overwhelming indeed for a social outcast...Things will get better, hopefully ;) I like this chapter because we see some interaction between Toshiro and Momo in Toshiro's P.O.V. So it's a bit different than Momo considering background and feelings~

Why 'Yuki'? You'll find out soon enough :) Next chappie to come in either a week or two. On Metal Wings We'll Fly-in the making and halfway/ three-quaters done.

Plz review! I like to hear your feedback ^_^ PCE