[Log]Rangiku Matsumoto, Toushirou Hitsugaya
Title: Picking Up Strays
Characters: Rangiku Matsumoto (some_scribbles) & Toushirou Hitsugaya )kellenanne)
Timeline: March 8, 1950
Rating: PG
Summary: Toushirou was just on his way home. It wasn't like handing Rangiku a gift was exactly planned...
Every time it rained, Toushirou found himself out in it. Perhaps that wasn't entirely true, but Toushirou allowed himself the moment of pure selfish pity. While he was technically supposed to be behind the desk most of the time, he often found himself out on the scenes and murderers rarely kept regular hours. He found himself on the street at the oddest times, but he had long ago quit thinking of them as odd times.
He was on his way home for once, after spending nearly all night out on a scene, then a few hours at the office - and thank God for the couch in the breakroom and the coffeepot next to it. He'd been on his way home, coat wrapped tightly around him, taking a shortcut he knew he probably shouldn't, but hey, he was the homicide captain and could hold his own should anyone try anything, and wet and cold and then tripped over something.
If anyone asked, the mud streak across his cheek came from an attempted mugging and certainly not from something that was small and meowing. It was currently purring, wet and uncomfortable (to him, at any rate), under his coat. It was, by this time, almost lunchtime, raining, and hell if Toushirou was going home hungry and with a kitten. He stared down at it and it stared back, purring.
Crazy little gray bundle of wet fur. Honestly, what had he been thinking, picking this thing up?
At least he could drop it off and get lunch all at once. The Double Dip's doors never looked so inviting. He tucked the kitten a little more firmly in his coat - lovely big inside pockets that tiny kittens fit in just perfectly - and slipped inside.
He needed food. A maybe a towel.
Rain, rain, go away, Rangiku thought as she unloaded the dishwasher. It was just enough of a dreary, dismally cold sort of March day to keep her customers to a quiet and unsteady drizzle. Days when she didn’t have enough people to keep her busy but there were still too many people about so she could slack off completely were so annoying.
The bell on her door jangled and she looked up to see one of her favorite customers-scowling, dripping wet, and look more than a bit worse for wear. This was the second time in as many weeks that Captain Toushirou Hitsugaya had walked into her shop looking like something the cat dragged in.
Eager for the distraction-and instinctively concerned as to what had brought him here in such a state; he hadn’t been shot again, had he?-Rangiku grabbed a towel and went out to meet him.
“This seems to be becoming a habit, Captain,” she traced the pattern of his mud streak on her own cheek with one hand and tossed the towel at his head with the other. “A bad one. What happened to you this time?”
Toushirou caught the towel with one hand against his head. Not the most graceful catch but one hand was currently occupied with cradling the kitten in his coat. He was not going to chance its claws coming out; that just wouldn't be right. Not right at all.
He slid onto one of the barstools, adjusting his coat just right, and scrubbing at his cheek with the towel. "Nothing worth noting," he said. It was absolutely nothing at all worth noting.
He was not telling her he tripped over a cat.
Wry skepticism flashed across her face. Sure, ‘nothing worth noting,’ which was exactly why he’d let the towel hit his head. She could understand if he didn’t want to move the arm with the stitches, but there was no reason why he couldn’t move his other arm. He was holding himself so carefully… what was wrong with him?
Her eyes narrowed at the edges as she scanned him again. Well, he didn’t look like he was bleeding, in fact his face was slightly flushed from coming out of the cold into the warmth of the shop. So they were going to do this the hard way. What a surprise.
“Whatever you say, Captain.” Leaning forward, she rubbed at a spot on his cheekbone where he’d missed a spot before drawing back to wrinkle her nose at her thumb and forefinger in distaste. She’d have to wash her hands now. “So what can I get you? And dry your hair, it’s dripping. Unless,” she arched a brow, “your arm is bothering you too much.”
Toushirou had planned on walking right in, dumping the cat on her, and ordering lunch, simply because that would be simplest. This woman, though, made things absolutely difficult and he wasn't sure why. She just found the absolute wrong things to say, ordering him around and insinuating he was incapable of things. And wiping dirt off his cheek.
So now he was not exactly inclined to make this easy. "My arm is fine," he told her, rubbing at his head and glaring at her. Rubbing his cheek? She wasn't his mother. "I need a burger." No banana splits or malts this time; he needed actual food this time. "With coffee." Lots of coffee, with lots of sugar.
After he got his food, he'd hand off the kitten and go home for some much needed sleep.
Rangiku made a tsking noise and tried not to smile at how adorable he looked, rubbing his wet hair with the towel and scowling at her like some kid. It didn’t work, but she felt she deserved points for effort.
“So grouchy, Captain. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that manners can open doors or close them? Maybe you just don’t like getting wet.” Her eyes narrowed in sudden concern. “Your stitches didn’t get wet, did they?”
What was with the smiling at him? So he was trying to dry his hair and not drip on her counter. She could at least be grateful. (Or he could be grateful for the towel, but he was just going to let the kitten speak for him, later, when she wasn't being difficult.)
He gave her a withering glance. "They're not wet." He wasn't that careless.
She couldn’t help but let out a laugh-turned-cough at his glare. When was he going to learn that look only made her want to fluster him further? It was too bad that the counter was between them, it blocked her favorite method.
Really, he made life so much more amusing with his discomfort about her breasts. They were very fine breasts, after all, he should count himself privileged to be smooshed between them so often. But his attitude really did make it too easy.
“All right, all right, keep your shirt on, Captain,” she winked. “After all, twice in one month may be the death of me.”
Ran shoved herself off of the counter and moved towards the kitchen to start on his order. “By the way,” she called over her shoulder, “I had Momo in here the other day. We had a long talk, poor kid.”
Toushirou gaped at her for a moment before making a concerted effort to shut his mouth. He didn't even know where to start with all that. First she laughed, made some crack about keeping his shirt on, and then just had to mention Momo and Momo's state of mind. For a moment, he wondered just how much she knew; this crazy woman had a knack for getting people to talk and, if he knew Momo, the girl would want to talk it over with someone.
Oh, God, if Rangiku knew, they'd never live it down.
If he said anything about Momo, she'd just take the opportunity to keep poking and he wasn't even going to address the shirt thing. "Burger and coffee," he called back. That was better than addressing anything the woman brought up.
‘Burger and coffee,’ he said. Hmmph, as if she’d forget. She rinsed her hands before placing the burger on the griddle and sinking the fries into the oil so that he could have them nice and hot. She moved to her ‘special’ coffee pot. There were two kinds of coffee drinkers that came into the malt shop, the kind that got served stuff hard and black with enough caffeine to take the lining off the stomach, and the kind which were served the sweet coffee. The captain, for all the apparent contrast, liked his coffee sweet.
She should have known better to think she’d get a response on her first shot. She’d known him for nearly two years now, and silence was still his favored form of response. It just meant that she’d have to do a little more prodding. After all, poor Momo had nearly been crying into her strawberry milkshake, she shouldn’t let him get away with that so easily.
Throwing a few chocolate chips into his coffee-just because-she returned to serve one of her favorite customers. Ran slid the coffee over to him, along with one of the sugar containers on the counter. “Long day?”
Let him think she’d dropped the topic. All the better to bring it up later. And she still hadn’t given up on finding out why he’d come into her shop looking like such a mess.
He pulled the coffee close, breathing in the rich aroma and sighing softly. Coffee was heavensent on some days. There was no doubt of it.
"Long day," he repeated and snorted. "It started yesterday morning." He tried not to move around too much when he picked up the sugar but what he did was enough to dislodge his passenger. Claws dug into his chest and he twitched, arm going right back to support the kitten.
Long day indeed. He was going to have to put down the thing to even get his coffee right.
He should never have tripped over it.
Her eyes narrowed. Just what was wrong with him? He was moving all-wrong and-was that a twitch? Yes. He had definitely just twitched.
Toushirou Hitsugaya, I swear… She could either call him out on it and see how he’d respond to a frontal attack-probably with a glare and another ‘nothing,’ or take a roundabout route. And since he wasn’t bleeding and she was more curious than irritated, the roundabout way would be more fun.
Ran leaned against the counter and crossed her arms under her chest. “I’m sorry to hear that. It looks like it’s been a crazy couple of weeks for everybody. Do you know why Momo was so upset? She was trying to get in touch with you.”
He would have crossed his arms just to mimic her pose. She looked like his grandmother did when she thought he'd done something wrong. Same expression, same body language, same narrowed eyes. He shook his head; he did not need that particular image.
"We talked," he said simply. He was not getting into it. He opened his mouth to say something else; he was going to ask her what her crazy couple of weeks had been about. Might as well try to turn the tables. (Never mind it rarely happened with her, but he still tried.)
Opened his mouth and the thing under his coat meowed.
He winced. That had to look so stupid.
They’d talked. Good. At least that meant Momo wasn’t upset anymore, but she still hadn’t let him hear the end of how stupid it had been to leave the doll hanging. Now, she just needed to think of the best way to bring out the fact that she knew what happened when, suddenly, the strangest noise came from the general direction of the captain’s jacket.
It wasn’t his stomach, she knew what a hungry stomach sounded like, as she’d fallen asleep to that particular symphony many times as a child. Rather, it sounded almost like…
“Captain… did you just… meow?”
Did he just meow? No, he hadn't meowed; the kitten just had impeccable timing. He was beginning to regret picking it up. (He already regretted tripping over it.)
With a put upon sigh, he reached into his jacket. Better to just show her than try to explain. He'd end up trying to explain how he'd found it, and the mud, and the rain and he just wasn't up to it. It took a bit of coaxing - the kitten was firmly attached to his jacket - but he pulled the thing out and set it on the counter in front of Rangiku.
It was looking to be the tiniest little bundle of trouble he'd ever come across.
Rangiku found herself looking straight into a pair of the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. A tiny part of her heart melted as the kitten looked back up at her. It was smaller than her clenched fist, and its fur was sticking up every which way from, she assumed, the way it had dried inside from inside his coat.
The kitten blinked at her, took a prowling step closer before sitting and lifting a paw and beginning to groom itself with its tiny pink tongue.
She lifted her gaze from the cat to meet another pair of blue eyes. What was he… why had he… “Toushirou… why is there a cat on my bar?”
He stared at her evenly, all the while wincing, cringing, and flinching inside. She would ask why and he couldn't tell her why. It was abandoned, in the rain, miserable, and he'd trippd over it. He just could not tell her any of that. She'd probably leap over the bar, gather him up in a smothering hug, and tell him how soft-hearted and kind and generous he was and he wasn't that stupid.
Instead, he faced her evenly and panicked a bit over his answer. "Because I put it there." It wasn't what she was looking for, but it answered the question, in the strictest sense.
Rangiku blinked. ‘Because he put it there?’ Really? That was his answer? Now, that was just needlessly difficult. “Yes. I see that. Why did you put it there?”
The kitten was still grooming itself. It had twisted its head around and was working on the fur on its back and was really… quite adorable… and… unsanitary. It was a good thing she’d already passed the health inspection for this quarter.
Why? He shrugged. "Because it was wet, inside my coat and has claws." Surely that was reason enough. He had to get her mind off the hows and whys of this one.
He waved his hand toward it. "Have a cat." He didn't want it and probably couldn't take care of it even if he did, what with his schedule, and she seemed the type to appreciate small furry things.
And it didn't get much smaller or furrier than that kitten.
She must have heard him wrong. He couldn’t honestly have just said-this was Captain Toushirou Hitsugaya, wasn’t it? Why would he think she wanted a cat? Did she look like she had time to take care of a pet? And… she just… had no point of reference for ever-he was giving her a cat?
Her brows furrowed and she refused to look down at the ball of fur in front of her, instead meeting Toushirou’s gaze.
“…What?”
Toushirou rolled his eyes. What, she said. He handed her a gift and she just looked at him blankly and said 'what?' She wasn't even looking at the kitten. Wasn't it cute? Even he admitted it was cute; surely that meant it really was cute. He hadn't even got to his coffee yet and she was asking too many questions.
With another sigh - he did that a lot around her - he picked up the kitten in both hands and held it in her line of vision. "Kitten. Yours." Part of him wanted to ask if it was cute or if his version of cute was really just messed up.
And there were the eyes again. All big and blue and somehow intelligent; watching. Waiting. Rangiku tore her gaze away from the kitten and back to Toushirou. She just did not understand this man sometimes. He’d come in here just like he always had, she’d started to tease him, just like she always did, and he’d been smuggling in a kitten? Why? Why now?
“Let me get this straight. You came in here to give me a kitten?”
That question left him just a little flummoxed. What was she thinking he'd say? That he just happened to discover a kitten under his jacket as he came in the door? Of course he came in to give her the kitten - and get lunch. And the coffee that was going to be cold by the time he got to it, if she kept staring at him like he'd brought her a tarantula or something.
"And get lunch," he said slowly. She ran a restaurant; lunch shouldn't be a problem. He looked at her, then at the kitten, and then back to her. Was it not a cute kitten? He would stumble over the only not-cute kitten in Manhattan and think it was good enough to give to Rangiku. It needed a home, she had a home that she was even occasionally in.
Seemed like a good match.
‘And get lunch.’ Really. The man was impossible. She should just tell Momo to drop him and look for someone with more common sense than God had gifted to little green apples. Exasperated, Ran let her gaze fall upon the kitten he was still holding up to her, sandwiched between his hands.
The kitten was grey, with a dingy white underbelly from being in the streets. Its paws were splayed out, revealing bright pink padding that matched its tiny pink nose. And the eyes were so big and soulful… she was reaching for the cat before she knew what she was doing.
It was small enough to fit on one hand, and it dug tiny claws into her palm as she moved it closer to frown down at it. Reaching over with her other hand, Rangiku tentatively stroked the area just above its ear with one fingertip. The kitten turned its head to follow the track of her finger and leaned forward to lap at the side of her finger with its sandpaper tongue.
Her thumb cautiously found the area along its neck between its head and foreleg and began running back and forth. She could feel the pulse, the fragile beat of life in this small bag of bones and fur. It rumbled a purr and flipped over onto its side, exposing its belly for attention. Rangiku ran her knuckles down the matted and tangled fur, before bringing her hand back to take one of its front paws between her fingers. Tiny claws flexed in and out, and the cat reached to latch onto her finger with its mouth, sucking insistently.
“Poor thing,” Ran said in a voice she scarcely recognized as her own. “It must be hungry.”
She flickered full eyes back to Toushirou and extended her hands, and kitten, back to him. “Hold onto her for me. I’m going to get her something to eat.”
It must be a cute kitten, if her tone was anything to go by. Part of him was relieved as he took the kitten back; at least he didn't have a warped sense of cute.
The rest of him dearly wanted to call her back. The kitten must be hungry? The kitten? He stared at it balefully.
What about his food? He knew he should have waited until he had food before handing off the kitten.
Stepping back into the kitchen, Rangiku automatically saw to the Captain’s food, flipping the burger and shaking the container of fries as her mind struggled to catch up with the facts it had been presented.
Toushirou had got her a cat.
Toushirou had got her a cat. Toushirou had got her a cat.
A cat!
A kitten, if one was to be precise. A tiny little ball of grey and white fluff and big eyes and a cute pink nose…
Rangiku groaned. She was doomed. There was no way she could escape taking that thing home, not when it had been a present from the captain and they both looked up at her with those eyes…
She found a bowl with one hand and grabbed some milk from the refrigerator. Pouring the milk into the bowl, Rangiku felt the beginnings of a smile twitch up the corner of her lips. He’d got her a cat.
Pulling the burger off the grill, Rangiku put together the captain’s meal to his unique specifications and carried both the plate and the bowl out to her bar. “There you go, Captain,” she slid the bowl onto the bar first. “This is for the kitten. And this is for you.”
She paused, waiting for him to respond before she would begin her assault.
He never would have guessed the milk was for the kitten and the burger was for him had she not pointed it out. She was the recipient of a rather withering glance just for that comment. "Thank you," he said, knowing full well he didn't sound all that grateful. He set the kitten in front of the bowl and pulled his plate closer.
God, food. How long had it been? He picked up a fry and practically shoved it in his mouth; it was hot, almost too hot to eat but he really didn't care. He added sugar to his coffee - he'd been wanting to do that for awhile - and took a long sip.
Coffee was heaven. That's all there was to it.
The kitten had prowled over to the bowl as soon as Toushirou had released it. It prowled around the rim for a moment before placing tiny paws on the rim of the bowl and lifting itself up so it could drink.
It was really almost offensively cute.
She turned her attention back Toushirou, the corners of her lips twitching upwards. “You know, Captain, you didn’t really have to get me a thank you present. You could have just said thanks. Or sent flowers. This was really very nice of you.”
Toushirou blinked up at her. A thank you present? What would this be a thank you for? He blinked a few more times, nonplussed. Did she really think he would thank her for teasing him mercilessly, not listening to a single thing he said, dumping his banana split...
The woman was crazy. Sure, she'd stitched him up and gave him whiskey and watched out for him and this was not a thank you gift.
But honestly, if she thought it a thank you gift, he was not going to shoot that one down. He wasn't sure what was better: a thank you gift or a just because it was tripped over and needed a home gift. "You're welcome," he said, taking a sip of his coffee and then stuffing a french fry into this mouth.
Food was a good thing; it kept him from saying too much.
Rangiku smiled. Perfect. “Really, flowers would have been fine. But since you were kind enough to get me such a… thoughtful present, I’ll help you pick out the rest of it. After all, I know you wouldn’t have thought to give me a cat without buying me the collar, and the food and-whatever else the cat needs.”
She dropped his gaze to look at the little ball of fluff which was making good progress on the milk in the bowl. “After all, it can’t drink milk forever. And what with you giving it to me and all,” her grin took on a positively wicked slant and she lifted her gaze to his again, “that makes you kind of like her uncle.”
Oh. Oh damn. Toushirou's eyes widened before he caught himself and tried to hide his sudden sinking feeling behind a long draught of coffee. He hadn't thought of that and thanks to his own short-sightedness he was suddenly looking at not going home and napping.
How did she do that?
He eyed the cat, telling himself that being a cat's uncle was better than being a monkey's and cursing the very day that had started this mess. (That was sometime yesterday, he was pretty sure, unless he was mixing up nights and mornings again. That only happened, though, after three days of no sleep. He was almost certain he was only on one, as of yet.)
He shrugged. If she was going to trap him, he was going to be trapped gracefully. "I don't do flowers," he said and picked up his burger.
He was going to enjoy this lunch. Slowly. And with a lot more coffee.
“You should,” Rangiku murmured as she reached down to smooth down some of the kitten’s fur. It had finished all the milk it could reach and was now practically in the bowl, trying to get at the last of it. “You owe Momo at least that after letting the poor girl worry about you so long. She was probably already beside herself, what with her shooting you, and all.”
Rangiku tipped the bowl just enough so that the kitten could lap up the rest of the milk without any difficulty as she cast the captain a glance underneath her lashes. Just because he’d gotten her a cat didn’t mean she was going to melt on him.
A cat. She had a cat. He'd gotten her a cat. She still couldn't quite believe it.
What on earth was she going to call it?
He choked on a french fry. He watched Rangiku tip the bowl for the kitten and just... stopped. His mind just halted.
She knew? How did... Never mind. He didn't want to know how she knew. But the point was that she knew. And she... Wait, what? He owed Momo flowers for her shooting him? She shot him... and he needed to buy her flowers.
How did that work? He stared at Rangiku. "She shot me," he said slowly, "and I'm the one who needs to apologize."
Oh, his expression was priceless. That was something she was going to have to remember and save up for a rainy day. Rangiku glanced down at the cat when he started speaking. She’d say this for the captain-his recovery time had gotten better. He was already past shock and into misunderstanding.
Ran gave him an exasperated look. “You don’t have to apologize for her shooting you, you idiot. You need to apologize for worrying her. We’re women. We do that.”
The kitten made a small noise and Rangiku ran her hand over the top of its head absently. “You were hurt. And you didn’t let her know you were OK. How do you think that made her feel, especially since she was the one that hurt you? She came in here looking like death itself! And how could I tell her I’d seen you when you were obviously trying to avoid her? When I wasn’t supposed to even know what happened? And speaking of which-” Ran stopped petting the kitten and planted both her hands on the bar, leaning forward and speaking very quietly directly in his face.
“Why didn’t you tell me who shot you in the first place? I would have understood why you’d come to me. Do you know how scared I was for you? You idiot!”
He blinked at her. Over and over, just blinking and not quite understanding what she had to say. People worrying? Over him? But he'd been fine. A little hungover the next day, but fine.
He and Momo didn't have anything to go over. He was fine, he took care of things, she knew he was alive. What else did she need? Honestly, yes, he had avoided her, but he was pretty sure there'd been some reason to.
Bullets went a long toward making him a little gun-shy.
Slowly, he reached for his coffee, barely flicking his gaze from Rangiku's face to do so. He pulled the cup close; he couldn't take a drink, what with her face practically in his. "You figured it out, didn't you?" He'd come to her, she's figured it out - somehow - and still helped him out.
He didn't see where he'd gone wrong. His gaze fell to the kitten for a moment. Damn thing; it needed to do something cute or something. He could use the distraction.
Rangiku’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. I did. No thanks to you. Do we really need to go through the definition of communication again?”
At that precise moment, the kitten fell into the bowl and started mewling loudly. Which was probably a good thing, because they’d had this conversation many times before.
The kitten was pawing pathetically on the edges of the bowl, and Ran’s heart melted again. She reached into the bowl with both hands and picked it up, cradling it gently as it started to clean itself. “Thank you,” she said softly.
No. No they did not need to go through the definition of communication again. They'd been there and done that quite enough, thank you very much. He opened his mouth to answer and was (thankfully) thwarted by the kitten.
He'd take that save.
She picked up the kitten and he watched, relieved she at least seemed to like the thing. And then she thanked him, which he wasn't sure he'd expected. He half-shrugged and sipped at his coffee. It had needed a home and Rangiku could have used the company, whether she admitted it or not.
Win-win situation for everyone involved.
Rangiku gently brushed back the fur between the kitten’s ears. It paused in its motions to look up at her and meow softly, stretching out and digging tiny claws into the fleshy part of her palm.
She hissed and lifted the claws out of her palm, shaking her head down at those big, innocent eyes. “Well, I’ll let you finish up your lunch, Captain.” She turned to walk towards the bathroom-might as well get the cat cleaned up before the went-before turning her head over her shoulder and giving Toushirou an evil smile. “Then we’re going shopping.”
Characters: Rangiku Matsumoto (some_scribbles) & Toushirou Hitsugaya )kellenanne)
Timeline: March 8, 1950
Rating: PG
Summary: Toushirou was just on his way home. It wasn't like handing Rangiku a gift was exactly planned...
Every time it rained, Toushirou found himself out in it. Perhaps that wasn't entirely true, but Toushirou allowed himself the moment of pure selfish pity. While he was technically supposed to be behind the desk most of the time, he often found himself out on the scenes and murderers rarely kept regular hours. He found himself on the street at the oddest times, but he had long ago quit thinking of them as odd times.
He was on his way home for once, after spending nearly all night out on a scene, then a few hours at the office - and thank God for the couch in the breakroom and the coffeepot next to it. He'd been on his way home, coat wrapped tightly around him, taking a shortcut he knew he probably shouldn't, but hey, he was the homicide captain and could hold his own should anyone try anything, and wet and cold and then tripped over something.
If anyone asked, the mud streak across his cheek came from an attempted mugging and certainly not from something that was small and meowing. It was currently purring, wet and uncomfortable (to him, at any rate), under his coat. It was, by this time, almost lunchtime, raining, and hell if Toushirou was going home hungry and with a kitten. He stared down at it and it stared back, purring.
Crazy little gray bundle of wet fur. Honestly, what had he been thinking, picking this thing up?
At least he could drop it off and get lunch all at once. The Double Dip's doors never looked so inviting. He tucked the kitten a little more firmly in his coat - lovely big inside pockets that tiny kittens fit in just perfectly - and slipped inside.
He needed food. A maybe a towel.
Rain, rain, go away, Rangiku thought as she unloaded the dishwasher. It was just enough of a dreary, dismally cold sort of March day to keep her customers to a quiet and unsteady drizzle. Days when she didn’t have enough people to keep her busy but there were still too many people about so she could slack off completely were so annoying.
The bell on her door jangled and she looked up to see one of her favorite customers-scowling, dripping wet, and look more than a bit worse for wear. This was the second time in as many weeks that Captain Toushirou Hitsugaya had walked into her shop looking like something the cat dragged in.
Eager for the distraction-and instinctively concerned as to what had brought him here in such a state; he hadn’t been shot again, had he?-Rangiku grabbed a towel and went out to meet him.
“This seems to be becoming a habit, Captain,” she traced the pattern of his mud streak on her own cheek with one hand and tossed the towel at his head with the other. “A bad one. What happened to you this time?”
Toushirou caught the towel with one hand against his head. Not the most graceful catch but one hand was currently occupied with cradling the kitten in his coat. He was not going to chance its claws coming out; that just wouldn't be right. Not right at all.
He slid onto one of the barstools, adjusting his coat just right, and scrubbing at his cheek with the towel. "Nothing worth noting," he said. It was absolutely nothing at all worth noting.
He was not telling her he tripped over a cat.
Wry skepticism flashed across her face. Sure, ‘nothing worth noting,’ which was exactly why he’d let the towel hit his head. She could understand if he didn’t want to move the arm with the stitches, but there was no reason why he couldn’t move his other arm. He was holding himself so carefully… what was wrong with him?
Her eyes narrowed at the edges as she scanned him again. Well, he didn’t look like he was bleeding, in fact his face was slightly flushed from coming out of the cold into the warmth of the shop. So they were going to do this the hard way. What a surprise.
“Whatever you say, Captain.” Leaning forward, she rubbed at a spot on his cheekbone where he’d missed a spot before drawing back to wrinkle her nose at her thumb and forefinger in distaste. She’d have to wash her hands now. “So what can I get you? And dry your hair, it’s dripping. Unless,” she arched a brow, “your arm is bothering you too much.”
Toushirou had planned on walking right in, dumping the cat on her, and ordering lunch, simply because that would be simplest. This woman, though, made things absolutely difficult and he wasn't sure why. She just found the absolute wrong things to say, ordering him around and insinuating he was incapable of things. And wiping dirt off his cheek.
So now he was not exactly inclined to make this easy. "My arm is fine," he told her, rubbing at his head and glaring at her. Rubbing his cheek? She wasn't his mother. "I need a burger." No banana splits or malts this time; he needed actual food this time. "With coffee." Lots of coffee, with lots of sugar.
After he got his food, he'd hand off the kitten and go home for some much needed sleep.
Rangiku made a tsking noise and tried not to smile at how adorable he looked, rubbing his wet hair with the towel and scowling at her like some kid. It didn’t work, but she felt she deserved points for effort.
“So grouchy, Captain. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that manners can open doors or close them? Maybe you just don’t like getting wet.” Her eyes narrowed in sudden concern. “Your stitches didn’t get wet, did they?”
What was with the smiling at him? So he was trying to dry his hair and not drip on her counter. She could at least be grateful. (Or he could be grateful for the towel, but he was just going to let the kitten speak for him, later, when she wasn't being difficult.)
He gave her a withering glance. "They're not wet." He wasn't that careless.
She couldn’t help but let out a laugh-turned-cough at his glare. When was he going to learn that look only made her want to fluster him further? It was too bad that the counter was between them, it blocked her favorite method.
Really, he made life so much more amusing with his discomfort about her breasts. They were very fine breasts, after all, he should count himself privileged to be smooshed between them so often. But his attitude really did make it too easy.
“All right, all right, keep your shirt on, Captain,” she winked. “After all, twice in one month may be the death of me.”
Ran shoved herself off of the counter and moved towards the kitchen to start on his order. “By the way,” she called over her shoulder, “I had Momo in here the other day. We had a long talk, poor kid.”
Toushirou gaped at her for a moment before making a concerted effort to shut his mouth. He didn't even know where to start with all that. First she laughed, made some crack about keeping his shirt on, and then just had to mention Momo and Momo's state of mind. For a moment, he wondered just how much she knew; this crazy woman had a knack for getting people to talk and, if he knew Momo, the girl would want to talk it over with someone.
Oh, God, if Rangiku knew, they'd never live it down.
If he said anything about Momo, she'd just take the opportunity to keep poking and he wasn't even going to address the shirt thing. "Burger and coffee," he called back. That was better than addressing anything the woman brought up.
‘Burger and coffee,’ he said. Hmmph, as if she’d forget. She rinsed her hands before placing the burger on the griddle and sinking the fries into the oil so that he could have them nice and hot. She moved to her ‘special’ coffee pot. There were two kinds of coffee drinkers that came into the malt shop, the kind that got served stuff hard and black with enough caffeine to take the lining off the stomach, and the kind which were served the sweet coffee. The captain, for all the apparent contrast, liked his coffee sweet.
She should have known better to think she’d get a response on her first shot. She’d known him for nearly two years now, and silence was still his favored form of response. It just meant that she’d have to do a little more prodding. After all, poor Momo had nearly been crying into her strawberry milkshake, she shouldn’t let him get away with that so easily.
Throwing a few chocolate chips into his coffee-just because-she returned to serve one of her favorite customers. Ran slid the coffee over to him, along with one of the sugar containers on the counter. “Long day?”
Let him think she’d dropped the topic. All the better to bring it up later. And she still hadn’t given up on finding out why he’d come into her shop looking like such a mess.
He pulled the coffee close, breathing in the rich aroma and sighing softly. Coffee was heavensent on some days. There was no doubt of it.
"Long day," he repeated and snorted. "It started yesterday morning." He tried not to move around too much when he picked up the sugar but what he did was enough to dislodge his passenger. Claws dug into his chest and he twitched, arm going right back to support the kitten.
Long day indeed. He was going to have to put down the thing to even get his coffee right.
He should never have tripped over it.
Her eyes narrowed. Just what was wrong with him? He was moving all-wrong and-was that a twitch? Yes. He had definitely just twitched.
Toushirou Hitsugaya, I swear… She could either call him out on it and see how he’d respond to a frontal attack-probably with a glare and another ‘nothing,’ or take a roundabout route. And since he wasn’t bleeding and she was more curious than irritated, the roundabout way would be more fun.
Ran leaned against the counter and crossed her arms under her chest. “I’m sorry to hear that. It looks like it’s been a crazy couple of weeks for everybody. Do you know why Momo was so upset? She was trying to get in touch with you.”
He would have crossed his arms just to mimic her pose. She looked like his grandmother did when she thought he'd done something wrong. Same expression, same body language, same narrowed eyes. He shook his head; he did not need that particular image.
"We talked," he said simply. He was not getting into it. He opened his mouth to say something else; he was going to ask her what her crazy couple of weeks had been about. Might as well try to turn the tables. (Never mind it rarely happened with her, but he still tried.)
Opened his mouth and the thing under his coat meowed.
He winced. That had to look so stupid.
They’d talked. Good. At least that meant Momo wasn’t upset anymore, but she still hadn’t let him hear the end of how stupid it had been to leave the doll hanging. Now, she just needed to think of the best way to bring out the fact that she knew what happened when, suddenly, the strangest noise came from the general direction of the captain’s jacket.
It wasn’t his stomach, she knew what a hungry stomach sounded like, as she’d fallen asleep to that particular symphony many times as a child. Rather, it sounded almost like…
“Captain… did you just… meow?”
Did he just meow? No, he hadn't meowed; the kitten just had impeccable timing. He was beginning to regret picking it up. (He already regretted tripping over it.)
With a put upon sigh, he reached into his jacket. Better to just show her than try to explain. He'd end up trying to explain how he'd found it, and the mud, and the rain and he just wasn't up to it. It took a bit of coaxing - the kitten was firmly attached to his jacket - but he pulled the thing out and set it on the counter in front of Rangiku.
It was looking to be the tiniest little bundle of trouble he'd ever come across.
Rangiku found herself looking straight into a pair of the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. A tiny part of her heart melted as the kitten looked back up at her. It was smaller than her clenched fist, and its fur was sticking up every which way from, she assumed, the way it had dried inside from inside his coat.
The kitten blinked at her, took a prowling step closer before sitting and lifting a paw and beginning to groom itself with its tiny pink tongue.
She lifted her gaze from the cat to meet another pair of blue eyes. What was he… why had he… “Toushirou… why is there a cat on my bar?”
He stared at her evenly, all the while wincing, cringing, and flinching inside. She would ask why and he couldn't tell her why. It was abandoned, in the rain, miserable, and he'd trippd over it. He just could not tell her any of that. She'd probably leap over the bar, gather him up in a smothering hug, and tell him how soft-hearted and kind and generous he was and he wasn't that stupid.
Instead, he faced her evenly and panicked a bit over his answer. "Because I put it there." It wasn't what she was looking for, but it answered the question, in the strictest sense.
Rangiku blinked. ‘Because he put it there?’ Really? That was his answer? Now, that was just needlessly difficult. “Yes. I see that. Why did you put it there?”
The kitten was still grooming itself. It had twisted its head around and was working on the fur on its back and was really… quite adorable… and… unsanitary. It was a good thing she’d already passed the health inspection for this quarter.
Why? He shrugged. "Because it was wet, inside my coat and has claws." Surely that was reason enough. He had to get her mind off the hows and whys of this one.
He waved his hand toward it. "Have a cat." He didn't want it and probably couldn't take care of it even if he did, what with his schedule, and she seemed the type to appreciate small furry things.
And it didn't get much smaller or furrier than that kitten.
She must have heard him wrong. He couldn’t honestly have just said-this was Captain Toushirou Hitsugaya, wasn’t it? Why would he think she wanted a cat? Did she look like she had time to take care of a pet? And… she just… had no point of reference for ever-he was giving her a cat?
Her brows furrowed and she refused to look down at the ball of fur in front of her, instead meeting Toushirou’s gaze.
“…What?”
Toushirou rolled his eyes. What, she said. He handed her a gift and she just looked at him blankly and said 'what?' She wasn't even looking at the kitten. Wasn't it cute? Even he admitted it was cute; surely that meant it really was cute. He hadn't even got to his coffee yet and she was asking too many questions.
With another sigh - he did that a lot around her - he picked up the kitten in both hands and held it in her line of vision. "Kitten. Yours." Part of him wanted to ask if it was cute or if his version of cute was really just messed up.
And there were the eyes again. All big and blue and somehow intelligent; watching. Waiting. Rangiku tore her gaze away from the kitten and back to Toushirou. She just did not understand this man sometimes. He’d come in here just like he always had, she’d started to tease him, just like she always did, and he’d been smuggling in a kitten? Why? Why now?
“Let me get this straight. You came in here to give me a kitten?”
That question left him just a little flummoxed. What was she thinking he'd say? That he just happened to discover a kitten under his jacket as he came in the door? Of course he came in to give her the kitten - and get lunch. And the coffee that was going to be cold by the time he got to it, if she kept staring at him like he'd brought her a tarantula or something.
"And get lunch," he said slowly. She ran a restaurant; lunch shouldn't be a problem. He looked at her, then at the kitten, and then back to her. Was it not a cute kitten? He would stumble over the only not-cute kitten in Manhattan and think it was good enough to give to Rangiku. It needed a home, she had a home that she was even occasionally in.
Seemed like a good match.
‘And get lunch.’ Really. The man was impossible. She should just tell Momo to drop him and look for someone with more common sense than God had gifted to little green apples. Exasperated, Ran let her gaze fall upon the kitten he was still holding up to her, sandwiched between his hands.
The kitten was grey, with a dingy white underbelly from being in the streets. Its paws were splayed out, revealing bright pink padding that matched its tiny pink nose. And the eyes were so big and soulful… she was reaching for the cat before she knew what she was doing.
It was small enough to fit on one hand, and it dug tiny claws into her palm as she moved it closer to frown down at it. Reaching over with her other hand, Rangiku tentatively stroked the area just above its ear with one fingertip. The kitten turned its head to follow the track of her finger and leaned forward to lap at the side of her finger with its sandpaper tongue.
Her thumb cautiously found the area along its neck between its head and foreleg and began running back and forth. She could feel the pulse, the fragile beat of life in this small bag of bones and fur. It rumbled a purr and flipped over onto its side, exposing its belly for attention. Rangiku ran her knuckles down the matted and tangled fur, before bringing her hand back to take one of its front paws between her fingers. Tiny claws flexed in and out, and the cat reached to latch onto her finger with its mouth, sucking insistently.
“Poor thing,” Ran said in a voice she scarcely recognized as her own. “It must be hungry.”
She flickered full eyes back to Toushirou and extended her hands, and kitten, back to him. “Hold onto her for me. I’m going to get her something to eat.”
It must be a cute kitten, if her tone was anything to go by. Part of him was relieved as he took the kitten back; at least he didn't have a warped sense of cute.
The rest of him dearly wanted to call her back. The kitten must be hungry? The kitten? He stared at it balefully.
What about his food? He knew he should have waited until he had food before handing off the kitten.
Stepping back into the kitchen, Rangiku automatically saw to the Captain’s food, flipping the burger and shaking the container of fries as her mind struggled to catch up with the facts it had been presented.
Toushirou had got her a cat.
Toushirou had got her a cat. Toushirou had got her a cat.
A cat!
A kitten, if one was to be precise. A tiny little ball of grey and white fluff and big eyes and a cute pink nose…
Rangiku groaned. She was doomed. There was no way she could escape taking that thing home, not when it had been a present from the captain and they both looked up at her with those eyes…
She found a bowl with one hand and grabbed some milk from the refrigerator. Pouring the milk into the bowl, Rangiku felt the beginnings of a smile twitch up the corner of her lips. He’d got her a cat.
Pulling the burger off the grill, Rangiku put together the captain’s meal to his unique specifications and carried both the plate and the bowl out to her bar. “There you go, Captain,” she slid the bowl onto the bar first. “This is for the kitten. And this is for you.”
She paused, waiting for him to respond before she would begin her assault.
He never would have guessed the milk was for the kitten and the burger was for him had she not pointed it out. She was the recipient of a rather withering glance just for that comment. "Thank you," he said, knowing full well he didn't sound all that grateful. He set the kitten in front of the bowl and pulled his plate closer.
God, food. How long had it been? He picked up a fry and practically shoved it in his mouth; it was hot, almost too hot to eat but he really didn't care. He added sugar to his coffee - he'd been wanting to do that for awhile - and took a long sip.
Coffee was heaven. That's all there was to it.
The kitten had prowled over to the bowl as soon as Toushirou had released it. It prowled around the rim for a moment before placing tiny paws on the rim of the bowl and lifting itself up so it could drink.
It was really almost offensively cute.
She turned her attention back Toushirou, the corners of her lips twitching upwards. “You know, Captain, you didn’t really have to get me a thank you present. You could have just said thanks. Or sent flowers. This was really very nice of you.”
Toushirou blinked up at her. A thank you present? What would this be a thank you for? He blinked a few more times, nonplussed. Did she really think he would thank her for teasing him mercilessly, not listening to a single thing he said, dumping his banana split...
The woman was crazy. Sure, she'd stitched him up and gave him whiskey and watched out for him and this was not a thank you gift.
But honestly, if she thought it a thank you gift, he was not going to shoot that one down. He wasn't sure what was better: a thank you gift or a just because it was tripped over and needed a home gift. "You're welcome," he said, taking a sip of his coffee and then stuffing a french fry into this mouth.
Food was a good thing; it kept him from saying too much.
Rangiku smiled. Perfect. “Really, flowers would have been fine. But since you were kind enough to get me such a… thoughtful present, I’ll help you pick out the rest of it. After all, I know you wouldn’t have thought to give me a cat without buying me the collar, and the food and-whatever else the cat needs.”
She dropped his gaze to look at the little ball of fluff which was making good progress on the milk in the bowl. “After all, it can’t drink milk forever. And what with you giving it to me and all,” her grin took on a positively wicked slant and she lifted her gaze to his again, “that makes you kind of like her uncle.”
Oh. Oh damn. Toushirou's eyes widened before he caught himself and tried to hide his sudden sinking feeling behind a long draught of coffee. He hadn't thought of that and thanks to his own short-sightedness he was suddenly looking at not going home and napping.
How did she do that?
He eyed the cat, telling himself that being a cat's uncle was better than being a monkey's and cursing the very day that had started this mess. (That was sometime yesterday, he was pretty sure, unless he was mixing up nights and mornings again. That only happened, though, after three days of no sleep. He was almost certain he was only on one, as of yet.)
He shrugged. If she was going to trap him, he was going to be trapped gracefully. "I don't do flowers," he said and picked up his burger.
He was going to enjoy this lunch. Slowly. And with a lot more coffee.
“You should,” Rangiku murmured as she reached down to smooth down some of the kitten’s fur. It had finished all the milk it could reach and was now practically in the bowl, trying to get at the last of it. “You owe Momo at least that after letting the poor girl worry about you so long. She was probably already beside herself, what with her shooting you, and all.”
Rangiku tipped the bowl just enough so that the kitten could lap up the rest of the milk without any difficulty as she cast the captain a glance underneath her lashes. Just because he’d gotten her a cat didn’t mean she was going to melt on him.
A cat. She had a cat. He'd gotten her a cat. She still couldn't quite believe it.
What on earth was she going to call it?
He choked on a french fry. He watched Rangiku tip the bowl for the kitten and just... stopped. His mind just halted.
She knew? How did... Never mind. He didn't want to know how she knew. But the point was that she knew. And she... Wait, what? He owed Momo flowers for her shooting him? She shot him... and he needed to buy her flowers.
How did that work? He stared at Rangiku. "She shot me," he said slowly, "and I'm the one who needs to apologize."
Oh, his expression was priceless. That was something she was going to have to remember and save up for a rainy day. Rangiku glanced down at the cat when he started speaking. She’d say this for the captain-his recovery time had gotten better. He was already past shock and into misunderstanding.
Ran gave him an exasperated look. “You don’t have to apologize for her shooting you, you idiot. You need to apologize for worrying her. We’re women. We do that.”
The kitten made a small noise and Rangiku ran her hand over the top of its head absently. “You were hurt. And you didn’t let her know you were OK. How do you think that made her feel, especially since she was the one that hurt you? She came in here looking like death itself! And how could I tell her I’d seen you when you were obviously trying to avoid her? When I wasn’t supposed to even know what happened? And speaking of which-” Ran stopped petting the kitten and planted both her hands on the bar, leaning forward and speaking very quietly directly in his face.
“Why didn’t you tell me who shot you in the first place? I would have understood why you’d come to me. Do you know how scared I was for you? You idiot!”
He blinked at her. Over and over, just blinking and not quite understanding what she had to say. People worrying? Over him? But he'd been fine. A little hungover the next day, but fine.
He and Momo didn't have anything to go over. He was fine, he took care of things, she knew he was alive. What else did she need? Honestly, yes, he had avoided her, but he was pretty sure there'd been some reason to.
Bullets went a long toward making him a little gun-shy.
Slowly, he reached for his coffee, barely flicking his gaze from Rangiku's face to do so. He pulled the cup close; he couldn't take a drink, what with her face practically in his. "You figured it out, didn't you?" He'd come to her, she's figured it out - somehow - and still helped him out.
He didn't see where he'd gone wrong. His gaze fell to the kitten for a moment. Damn thing; it needed to do something cute or something. He could use the distraction.
Rangiku’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. I did. No thanks to you. Do we really need to go through the definition of communication again?”
At that precise moment, the kitten fell into the bowl and started mewling loudly. Which was probably a good thing, because they’d had this conversation many times before.
The kitten was pawing pathetically on the edges of the bowl, and Ran’s heart melted again. She reached into the bowl with both hands and picked it up, cradling it gently as it started to clean itself. “Thank you,” she said softly.
No. No they did not need to go through the definition of communication again. They'd been there and done that quite enough, thank you very much. He opened his mouth to answer and was (thankfully) thwarted by the kitten.
He'd take that save.
She picked up the kitten and he watched, relieved she at least seemed to like the thing. And then she thanked him, which he wasn't sure he'd expected. He half-shrugged and sipped at his coffee. It had needed a home and Rangiku could have used the company, whether she admitted it or not.
Win-win situation for everyone involved.
Rangiku gently brushed back the fur between the kitten’s ears. It paused in its motions to look up at her and meow softly, stretching out and digging tiny claws into the fleshy part of her palm.
She hissed and lifted the claws out of her palm, shaking her head down at those big, innocent eyes. “Well, I’ll let you finish up your lunch, Captain.” She turned to walk towards the bathroom-might as well get the cat cleaned up before the went-before turning her head over her shoulder and giving Toushirou an evil smile. “Then we’re going shopping.”