Fireworks and magic

It wasn't like she cared much about it. It was inevitable, only the natural course of time. It had to happen sometime. So she accepted it, like everyone else.

Still there was this stinging inside her chest that won't go away. And it just got worse and worse.

Her denials and acceptances of their relationship came in different phases. First it was the overfriendly friends stage.

"Aww you two look like the best couple." She said without the slightest tremble in her voice. Why would it tremble? It wasn't like it matter to her. This had nothing to do with her.

And then it was the silent observer phase.

"Don't worry. Pretend I'm not here." she said with a smile while trying her hardest to not grit her teeth as she overheard little sweet talks that went between them (mostly from the girl) from sitting only few feet away. She endured it for a whole of 10 minutes before making up an excuse to leave the room.

It was then the phase of avoiding them.

She turned corners every time she saw them together, anywhere, making up silly excused to even bail on her sake drinking sessions.

What had gotten into her? It was the question all of her friends asked and discussed at their drinking evenings when she left early. Then it would lay forgotten in the morning. No one was much worried about her. She was always the happy-go-lucky one amongst them. They knew whatever it was, she would forget about it soon and turn back to normal.

Except him. He worried about her all the time. He knew it was him she depended on unknowingly and it was up to him to sort out anything that might cause her to lose that smile. He just couldn't help it.

"Matsumoto. Where were you at Ukitake Taichou's party last night?" His silvery tresses reflected the sunshine that the seeped through their office window.

"I was there." she concentrated hard on her doodling, trying to look like she was doing some work.

"I didn't see you." The concern on his deep voice was evident. He was a grown up now. He saw more things than he used to. And the recent changes in her personality were too prominent to miss.

"If you weren't too busy tonguing your girlfriend, you might've." she snapped. Finally came the bitterness phase. She had lost the game. Denial and acceptance.

"What was that Matsumoto?" he frowned.

"Nothing." She stood up. She had seen enough last night at the party. Enough to make her want to run away from a party where good company and sake were abundant, her natural habitat.

She didn't want to talk about it. "I'm going to take a break." She walked towards the door.

"Matsumoto wait." He followed her with long strides. "What is going on with you lately?"

"Nothing" she replied irritably and tried to reach for the door.

"Matsumoto!" he grabbed her wrist and pulled her in. He was as tall as her now, if not more. She jerked it out of his grasps like it was on fire.

"What?" she snapped. He saw her scowling at him. It surprised him.

"Is anything bothering you? Tell me."

"Toshiro. There is nothing bothering me." she spun around, slapping his face with her hair and left.

He stood there in silence for a moment before closing his eyes to sense her reiatsu. She was running away fast, and the intensity if her spirit pressure was much higher than normal. There was definitely something bothering her, he was sure about it.

Rangiku landed softly on the bank of the river where he once saved her life. She loves this place. That was one of the moments in her life she can't forget. Remembering it always filled her heart with a content sigh. How can one forget the moment they realised how special they are to another?

His turquoise eyes were ablaze with passion when he cut down the enemy responsible for daring to lay their hands on his lieutenant. She let out a secret smile.

She wanted to be special like that to him all the time.

…

"They broke up?"

Rangiku was suddenly not drunk at all. Her attention shifted towards the gossiping Yumichika who loudly discussed the love lives of random couples around Gotei 13, which was frankly, none of his business.

She turned to look at him as he enthusiastically bitched about the now ex-girlfriend and how he always knew she wasn't going to last.

"Apparently she broke up with him over their lunch this afternoon, with a scene. The whole crowd there was bustling about it for hours." Kurotsuchi Nemu replied robotically from next to him. She doesn't look it, but she was one of the biggest tattletales of Seireitei.

She broke up with him? Rangiku gulped down another cup of sake and wondered what that meant.

"Someone should try and comfort him" Yumichika was looking at Rangiku this time.

She flinched, "why are you looking at me?"

"Well you are his best friend, aren't you?" he retorted. "And at a time like this, best friends should be the one to lend a shoulder, isn't that the rule?" how he manages to act so narky and bitchy at the same time, she didn't know.

"I don't even know where he is." She tried to ignore the sense of guilt that crept up behind her mind. She wanted the girl gone so desperately, she had forgotten about his feelings. Now that they had broken up she felt a little responsible for his pain for wishing it.

"I heard he went back to office and hadn't left it since."

"But it's the weekend." She was worried now.

"I know." Yumichika and Nemu spoke in unison.

Rangiku eye balled them for a second before standing up. "I'm done for the day."

As Yumichika watched Rangiku leave the bar, he muttered to Nemu, "So what you think Kurotsuchi? How long?"

Nemu sipped her sake with the coldest expression known to mankind. A faint sparkle played across her eyes.

…

He was working, writing, scribbling and going through his paperwork at a speed that can match his own shunpo. Only this can distract him from the accusations she was throwing at him.

She thought he's in love with someone else.

He rustled through the piles and watched with horror that only a little of them were left. At this rate he would be done with all of it within the next hour and be left alone with his thoughts, dangerous thoughts, in the darkness of his office.

He was not in love with his lieutenant. That was impossible. He couldn't be. It was true that she is one of the, actually, probably the most, beautiful woman in seireitei. But beauty was hardly a factor in this.

It was true that he had known her for almost as long as he had known himself. He owes everything he was to her, if she didn't pick him up that day he could've killed his grandmother. Worst of all, he would've never become a shinigami.

And not to mention she was his best friend. They had stuck together through thick and thin. Where he goes, she follows. Even though he needed to pick up her slack in the office, he never once minded.

It was only natural for him to not lose his patience when she lazed around or gossiped about things that barely mattered to him. Frankly he always felt the need to be there when she had some useless secret to tell. But that didn't mean that he loved her.

Before he had a girlfriend, they would always spend their weekends together, sometimes even hung out after work. It was as if they were an old married couple, talking about everything and nothing, work related and non work related things. If he loved her he would want to touch her when they were alone. He would want to hold her close and kiss her or…

He frowned deeply.

"Toshiro" he startled up straight on his chair and his eyes fell on hers. She was definitely the most beautiful woman in seireitei.

"Matsumoto. Why are in the office? It's Saturday."

"I could ask you the same thing." She padded across the room and found the pile of paperwork he completed. "You'd finished all that?"

He ran his finger through his hair.

"Toshiro. I've heard." She hesitantly spoke. "I'm sorry you broke up with…"

"Matsumoto." He interrupted. "I don't want to talk about it."

Her eyes widen and he noticed she looked a little hurt. "I'm sorry. I will leave you be." She slowly walked back towards the door. He suddenly felt a little guilty. It had been a while since they spent some time together.

"But…" she turned to look at him from the door. "If you change your mind I have a huge stash of sake at my place. It could help you forget about your troubles."

He thought for a second before realising that at the moment, he wanted nothing more.

…

"You always looked happy with her." she admitted.

He thought for a second. Happy?

"Maybe you should say sorry for whatever reason she had to break up with you." her dusty blue eyes observed him as he sat on the carpet with his slouched back against the couch, looking thoughtful if not downright gloomy.

"Have you ever seen me happy? Really happy?" he was still on that topic.

She tried to picture his happy face. "Of course I have."

"How do I look?"

She took in a deep breath. "Your eyes would sparkle and look extra green. I always thought you look younger when you're happy."

"And I looked like that when I was with her?"

This time she thought about it then shook her head affirmatively. "You did, sometimes."

"It means I love her." he looked up at the ceiling. "And I am not in love with…" then he turned to look at her.

Rangiku was watching his face intently. "With whom?"

"Someone else." He muttered. "She thought I love someone else."

Rangiku's eyes widen. Another one? "Who is it?"

He wouldn't answer.

"You're not going to tell me?"

His eyes were watching her constantly. "How would I know if I love this other person?"

"You don't know whether you love this other girl or not?" she asked.

"I can't tell. I'm too close to her." he admitted.

Close to her? Who could he be too close to? Momo? Her thoughts wondered off.

"I wonder…" he was lost in his own thoughts too. "Matsumoto. Come here."

"What?" she was sitting across from him, resting her back against the other piece of couch in her living room.

"Fine I'll come."

He sprang up on his four limbs and crawled in front of her then sat down cross legged. She looked at him questioningly. "What now?"

"Now this."

Before she could yell in surprise he grabbed her back of her head and pulled her in for a kiss.

She was out of breathe when they pulled apart. His eyes were confused as he gazed at her. She was at lost for words.

"What was… that…" she was back in her position and rubbing her lips with her finger, red in the face.

He frowned at her. "Why are you red? It was only a kiss on the lips."

"Why would you kiss me if it didn't mean anything?" This time it was her turn to be irritated.

"I wanted to know if it felt different. I wanted to know if I am in… love with you."

She forgot to breathe. "What?"

He sat motionless with eyes that never left hers.

"You… thought you're in love with me?"

"She did. I wanted to know if it was true."

She looked away. She never thought kissing him would turn out like this. This felt forced, there was no magic, no fireworks.

This wasn't right.

"This is not how you kiss a person you're in love with." She muttered. She admitted the realisation made her unusually sad. "You're not in love with me. So I guess you're safe."

She stood up then picked up the empty bottles from the floor and headed towards her kitchen.

"Matsumoto" his voice was too close as she jumped and turned around from her position at the kitchen sink. He was too close.

"How do you kiss a person you're in love with?"

"I don't know…" she was stuttering as he leaned close to her. Her back pressed down against the edge of the sink, she couldn't reverse any further.

His hands grabbed her waist and pulled her towards him. The look in his eyes had changed. She was suddenly looking at a different person.

"What are you doing…" she stopped as his face halted only millimetres away from hers.

"Shh…" his voice was suddenly deep, velvety. It ran a shiver through her spine.

"Toshi…" she ran out of breath as he claimed her lips again.

There they were, the fireworks and the magic, she felt it. His lips gently tasted hers like it was some kind of exotic delicacy. He savoured every single friction between their lips in a motion so slow that she wanted to scream.

Her response was intense. She pushed against him with her whole body and with her hands pulled his head into a position before letting her instinct take over.

The fireworks were hot and burned her mouth and the magic replaced all her senses with his presence. His lips and tongue were the only things that existed that instant.

They were breathless when it finally ended. It had to, to let them breathe. She kept her eyes closed as she gasped for air and felt his nose and cheeks caressing down the skin of her jaws then towards her neck. His hold around her waist was only becoming stronger.

"Matsumoto…"

She dreaded his words. She didn't want to know what he might say. She felt the urge to stop him from talking.

"Shh…" she shushed him this time and he looked into her eyes. She felt his fingers were digging into the side of her body. He was not planning to let her go.

"My bedroom is…" that was she could manage before he picked her up in his hands and moments later she was on her bed, hair sprawling everywhere, waiting for him.

He took his time caressing every inch of her exposed skin with his lips and hands. Just when she thought she was going to have to yell at him to start doing something, he reached for her belt. And then, it was once again driving her crazy with his slowness to the verge of screaming until they were finally together. He was slow, excruciatingly gentle and relentlessly persistent. The anticipation that he built in her kept crushing her down into pieces and every time she wondered if this was a dream. A very very realistic, earth shattering, mind blowing dream.

She didn't care. She was special. She unquestioningly took everything he had to give her as if it was her right.

"Matsumoto" he whispered in her ears as she laid, scatterbrained, utterly spent, trying to catch her breathe. "Are you okay?"

Was she okay? She was okay. She was more than okay. She was excellent.

He, on the other hand, was fine. He was so fine she wanted to have another go at it, just as soon as her breathe catches up.

"UmmHmm" she managed to utter some sound. He nuzzled the side of her face and lightly bit her earlobes. The closeness was overwhelmingly comforting.

"Thank you." He muttered after a while.

Thank you?

"Thank you?" she came back down on earth. "Thank you?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"What was it? A service, I've provided you?" she scowled this time.

Stop it Rangiku. Stop ruining the moment.

But she couldn't stop herself.

"Matsumoto…" he was suddenly guilty and confused. She pushed him off her and rolled on her stomach wrapping the sheet around her.

"What is it that you're thanking me for? For helping you figure out that this isn't how you make love to a person you are in love with?"

"No that's not it" he stuttered in confusion.

"Well I'm glad I could help." She sprang up from her bed and ran towards her bathroom clutching her clothes.

She sank down on the floor in silence and wondered about what just happened. This was painful. Too painful. Her chest was heavy with sorrow.

She wanted to be special to him. Like the other girl was. She wanted to be the one he thought about after waking up in the morning and before going to bed every night. She wanted to be in his arms and see him looking at her with eyes that were extra green and sparkly.

Like they were a moment ago, when they made love.

She looked up from her palms with a sudden realisation.

His eyes, they always give away what he was feeling. His eyes were exactly like that when she woke from her life threatening injury. Tonight was the second time she saw him look like that.

She was wrong before.

His eyes never looked like that when he was with his now ex-girlfriend. They were definitely sparkly and greener but not with this intensity.

She needed to tell him that before he goes back to her again. She needed to stop him.

She opened the door to her bathroom and halted.

He was still there, in her bedroom. Dressed and ready to leave but still waiting for her.

"Matsumoto. Please listen to me… "

He couldn't finish before she jumped and wrapped her arms around him. "Don't go Toshiro. I've never seen you happier than you were tonight. Stay with me."

His arms pulled her closer. "I wasn't planning to go. Thank you Matsumoto. For giving me the answer to the question I was seeking for a long time."

"What question?"

"The question of why my life felt so empty all the time. Matsumoto I had taken everything from you. Your friendship, your loyalty, your devotion, your care, your affection and the last thing you gave me was your love. That was what I was missing. I needed all of you to be complete. Please be mine."

She smiled on his neck. "She was right. You really are in love with me. And it makes me happier than anything I've ever felt. So please be mine too Toshiro. "

There they were again, the fireworks that sparkled in his eyes. They were in the blood of her veins that warmed up the coldest part of her heart with joy.

"I love you." she muttered.

"I love you too" he replied.

The magic that was always there between them slowly took form and filled the ordinary bedroom into a magical realm where only two of them existed.

…

Yumichika reached his hand out to Nemu as they both watched the couple who couldn't keep their eyes off each other the whole night across the table at the pub.

Matsumoto Rangiku and Hitsugaya Toshiro were too far down the road into each other's eyes that they barely noticed Kurotsuchi Nemu who wordlessly produced a 5 dollar bill from her pocket to pass it to Ayasegawa Yumichika, who muttered, "I knew it. One night, that's how long it would take."

Nemu's face remained unchanged. She was still learning behaviours of couple's in love to start betting on them. She thought hopefully that next time she'll win her bet as her eyes observed Hisagi Shuhei and Hinamori Momo awkwardly apologising at the other end of the pub after a not so unintentional spilling of liquids on each other.

Next to her Yumichika's eyes sparkled in excitement.

The end

It was a birthday present for myself. Albeit a little late (it was yesterday… oldage and slowness cometh). Thus the extra sugariness should be forgiven. HitsuMatsu is so adorable. 3 *high on cupcakes*

And Merry Christmas to all who celebrates it.