Disclaimer – I don't own Bleach. Written for my challenge forums, non-romantic fanfic challenge. Explanation at the bottom! :)

Takes place, sometime before the betrayal…

Hating Dried Persimmons

Where did this horrible, life scaring day begin? Of course, it began with the fact, he had no clue what day it was, or why there even was such a holiday. Ever since he had joined the academy, he hadn't seen the point of why people choose to celebrate such a day. He knew it was for romantic reasons, and he had yet to figure out why anyone besides a select few, wanted to give him chocolates.

Matsumoto gave them to him because she thought he was adorable, and this was her way of saying so, without stating it to his face. Momo gave him that chocolate sweet because of the fact that he happened to have grown up with her. Granny ended up giving it to him… never. She had never, thankfully, heard of such a day.

Then there was Yachiru. She gave it to him for a very specific, non-romantic reason. If he had remembered what day it was, he wouldn't have even dared to try and deliver that letter to the eleventh division, just to insure it actually got into someone's hand, whether capable or not. This way, they couldn't say it hadn't gotten to them.

The site that met his eyes, was a pink haired little girl, running around with red heart tinsel draped around her neck. She had a bag with her, that was pink, and had a heart on it. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

"Oh… so it's that day again…" came his first response, as he watched her running around, handing out chocolate to the men of her division. She suddenly spotted him, and remembered something, a tad bit late.

"Aniki!" the small girl chirped, suddenly running at him, and making a leap onto his back. "Good morning! Have you gotten any Valentines yet?"

"Ehh… no," he stated truthfully.

"Ahh… but boobie-chan says you're popular," Yachiru stated, taking a piece of chocolate and taking a bite out of it.

"I don't see…" before he could add the why, he found the half eaten piece of chocolate shoved into his mouth. "Oh god! When is she going to stop doing this every year!"

"You might as well just eat it," Yumichika sighed, walking up to them, which caused Yachiru to pull out another piece of candy, while Toshiro reluctantly chewed his. She unwrapped it, and placed a kiss on it, and then shoved it into Yumichika's mouth.

Toshiro swallowed. "Does she always do something different with each person?"

"Only those she has some sort of relationship with… and thinks of as family," the man stated.

"Yes… Yumi-chan is a great mommy!" Yachiru deftly said, as the fifth seat suddenly turned pale and red in the face. She suddenly spotted a cue ball. "And he's the bad big brother!"

At that, she had launched herself off, of Toshiro's back, causing him to gasp in a bit of pain. "Ehh…"

"She shoves a bunch into Kenpachi's mouth, to see how many he can fit each year," the feminine man sighed. A sudden yelling was heard.

"What the hell are you doing! How dare you stick that slobbery thing into my mouth!" Ikakku suddenly yelled, trying to get the little pest off of his back. Only, instead of getting her off, it was likely causing her to latch on tighter, and to giggle at the fun she was happening.

"I wouldn't be able to hide out here today," Toshiro stated, letting out a sigh. "Please!"

"Ehh… please…" Yumichika suddenly looked at him. "Whatever for?"

"This place is least likely to be… covered in pink and mushy stuff…" the small taicho iterated. However, he suddenly found a hell butterfly flying towards him, and he let out a sigh.

"Looks like you won't be able too..." Yumichika stated. "Such a beautiful day is possibly lost on you at this point… give or take some time, you'll get it."

"Hai, hai…" the boy muttered. There was a note there, that said that Ukitake taicho needed a particular paper sent to him. That certain paper was back in the office, and thus he had to go back and get it. Of course, he could wait until later, and continue to hide out here, but that would have been completely irresponsible, and unprofessional of him, to say the least.

He walked back to his office, and opened the door, only to suddenly have his two teal eyes twitch in utter shock, and his jaw drop a bit. His cheeks flushed red, and he tried to yell at his fukutaicho, like he usually did, however, he found this to be quite problematic, as he happened to have walked in on something that he would rather have not.

Ichimaru Gin and Rangiku were sitting at his desk, kissing each other, long and hard. IT seemed that neither one of them had noticed him come in and there was a bag of dried persimmons on his desk, and a box of those chocolates Rangiku liked. Suddenly Gin pushed Rangiku away a bit. "Hold on Ran-chan…"

"Oh… uhh… Taicho… I am so sorry… I would have… if I thought about it, I wouldn't have used your desk… it's my fault this time," Rangiku got up and went to sit at her own desk, a guilty look on her face.

"You would have used yours? The couch? The office floor?" Toshiro's complete body was shaking. "This is the office!"

"So?" a voice came from behind him, causing him to jump out of his skin, as Ichimaru had moved without him even noticing, causing him to let out a yelp. He then suddenly found two skinny fingers, sticking something into his mouth. "Here… try this… actually enjoy yourself today."

It took only a few minutes for him to realize what had been placed in his mouth, and he didn't dare chew, or swallow. His reflex was to spit it out. The corner of Matsudo's mouth twitched. "Ahh… Gin… taicho doesn't liked dried persimmons."

"Ehh… why not…"

"Ahh… I am not sure why…" Matsumoto sighed, getting up and going and speaking to the man, and picking a piece from the bag that Gin held in his hand, popping it into his mouth. "Here…" And the next thing Toshiro knew, they were kissing again.

That, and the unchewed piece he had been given went down the wrong pipe, as his face paled at watching the two. Yes… there was an obvious reason he had come to hate dried persimmons. He thought this as Gin wrapped his arms around his chest and heaved, causing the piece to go flying. Yes… definitely a reason.

Author's note – The goal of the non-romantic fanfic challenge, isn't to write a valentines fanfic without romance, but to write a fanfic with Toshiro as the center character to the story, and for him NOT to be in any even hinted pairing.