ICE HEART
xxii. heart
❝YOU SHOULD TAKE A BREAK SOMETIMES, LIL' SHIRO.❞

"This is complete and utter karma." Ayame groaned as she began the second stack of the dreaded paperwork that took up the entire space of her desk.

Yesterday, after she had finished the large amount of paperwork at Toshiro's office, the young Captain had arrived back to her barracks to be informed by Squad Five's Third Seat that she had several stacks of paperwork waiting for her regarding her mission to the World of the Living and other important things which needed to be completed as soon as possible.

A gentle knock broke the female out of her thoughts and the blonde gazed up towards the door where the noise came from with her eyes glinted with curiosity, hoping that somebody had come to rescue the female from swimming in paperwork.

"Who is it?" Ayame asked gently.

"Lieutenant Hinamori." A quiet and soft voice squeaked.

Ayame's eyes widened slightly but she soon regained her composure. This was quite a surprise for the blonde as Momo had been purposely avoiding her ever since she had arrived at the Soul Society and became her Captain. The Lieutenant would send the Third Seat to gather her paperwork and take it back to her and the Third Seat would deliver messages to Ayame instead of Momo delivering the messages to Ayame. Momo would avoid anything to do with the Captain, therefore if she knew that Ayame was going somewhere then she wouldn't go that place and would make up a lame excuse so she wouldn't be forced to attend. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she didn't want to be near Ayame.

"Come in." The blonde told her as a slight smile appeared on her face.

The door slid open and Momo stepped inside the room before bowing towards her Captain.

"How are you today, Lieutenant?" Ayame asked her.

"I-I'm fine, thank you, C-Captain. I came to pick up some of my paperwork." She answered, stuttering slightly when she addressed the blonde as Captain.

"Lieutenant Hinamori, you don't have to address me as your Captain if you feel uncomfortable about it." Ayame frowned lightly. "Also, don't worry about the paperwork, I'll do it for you."

Her eyes widened dramatically and she was instantly shaking her hands around.

"No, no! C-Captain! It is my duty as Lieutenant to complete paperwork! I am still capable to do my duties!" She insisted.

The blonde chuckled softly, "Lieutenant Hinamori, I never said that I didn't think you weren't capable of doing your duties. I don't want you to feel stressed, that's all. If you want to complete the paperwork, then be my guest. I was hoping that somebody would rescue me from swimming in these dreaded pieces of paper, but I don't want my squad members feel stressed."

"C-Captain... Thank you." She muttered softly before sitting down at her desk and getting started on a pile of paperwork that occupied her desk.

"It's fine, Lieutenant Hinamori." Ayame smiled gently as she continued on with her work.

Hollow reports in Rukongai sorted by Squad Nine,

Injury reports from Squad Eleven,

"I'm surprised they've even got their paperwork done on time." Ayame thought to herself, before she glanced at the date, "WAIT THIS IS FROM TWO MONTHS AGO!"

"Is something wrong, C-Captain?" Momo asked, probably seeing the annoyed expression that had crossed her face.

"This paperwork from Squad Eleven is two months late." Ayame answered with a sigh.

Momo giggled lightly before speaking, "That's pretty normal with Squad Eleven. I guess that it's kind of lucky that they sent it earlier than usual."

"THIS IS EARLIER THAN USUAL!" The blonde shrieked in surprise while Momo covered her ears to block out the loud noise.

"What's going on in here?" A familiar voice asked.

Ayame snapped my head around to see Izuru, Shuhei and Rangiku standing on the now broken office door with large smiles on their faces.

"Do you see that wooden object that is now broken and on the floor? It's called a door. You should open it instead of breaking it to pieces." The petite woman growled.

Shuhei awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he noticed that they had "accidentally" broken the door down.

"Yeah... Sorry about that, Captain." He smiled sheepishly.

"It's fine, Lieutenant Hisagi. Anyways, what are you all doing here?" She asked with a confused expression.

"Actually, I don't know. Rangiku just came to my office and dragged me here." Izuru replied with a  shrug.

"We're going drinking and you're com-" Rangiku exclaimed.

"No." The petite female interrupted, knowing what she was going to say.

"Buy why~?" She pouted like a child who didn't get what they wanted.

"Because I have a large amount of paperwork to complete, and I'm sure that you do too." Ayame told her, turning her gaze back to the annoying paperwork that she was doing before the loud Lieutenant busted through her door.

"You're sounding like my Captain now. He's so fussy." Rangiku cried.

"Oh, so I'm fussy now?" A familiar, cold voice asked from behind Rangiku, making her freeze completely.

"C-C-Captain..." She stuttered, turning around ever so slowly.

"GET BACK TO WORK!" He yelled at the busty Lieutenant, making her shriek before running towards her barracks.

Momo, Shuhei, Izuru and Ayame sweat dropped while Toshiro stood there with an irk mark on his head.

"Lieutenant Hisagi, Lieutenant Kira, you can return to your normal duties." The blonde told them with a slight smile as they bowed towards her and Toshiro before they flash stepped away.

"I'm sorry for Rangiku's behaviour." Toshiro apologised.

"It's fine, Captain Hitsugaya." She assured him.

"You should take a break sometimes, Lil' Shiro." Momo chuckled lightly at the nickname she had given Toshiro.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Momo? It's Captain Hitsugaya." He moaned.

"Whatever you say, Lil' Shiro." She smirked mischievously.

Ayame smiled lightly as she was happy that Momo was finally recovering from the depression of losing her former Captain and inspiration. It was the first time that she had seen the happy side of her and she hoped that it wasn't the last time that she saw it. Ayame noticed that Toshiro had turned to the blonde as if he was asking her to help him but the female just shook her head and turned her attention back to her paperwork.