"The next time you say something about my eyebrows, I will personally ensure you are dumped into a lake."

"You lost me at 'the'."

"That was the start of the sentence, idiot."

"Your point?"

You laughed, jabbing Renji in the stomach. He jabbed you back without missing a beat, and you dodged it.

"Ha! Getting rusty, Ren-Ren?" you asked him smugly, sticking your tongue out.

"You wish! It was just luck."

"Ohh, really~? So I got lucky three times in a row?"

"You got lucky only twi-"

You cut him off by jabbing him once again. He swore loudly. You danced around, happy to have bested your ex-mentor-training-guy (you refused to give him a cool sounding title).

Toshiro watched the exchange between you and Renji. His eyebrows furrowed as he searched both of your eyes warily. Finally, an imaginary light bulb lit up and he frowned, pulling you aside.

"Are you and Renji...?"

"Why? Are you jealous of our totally super amazing wonderful perfect beautiful bond?"

Surely even Toshiro is capable of picking up on sarcasm...

"N-No."

You rolled your eyes and flashed him a grin, skipping back over to your pineapple-headed pal.

"Renji, take me for breakfast."

"What? No."

"Come ooooonnnn~!"

You clung onto his arm for dear life, and he attempted to shake you off.

"...Fine! Just stop begging me."

"I didn't beg you."

"You beg me with your eyes. By the way, I'm not paying."

"I have no money, stupid Ren-Ren."

"Yeah, well, too bad, stupid (N/N)."

"Don't copy me!"

"I didn't."

"You did toooo!"

"Pfft. Whatever. What do you want?"

"Dango!"

"For breakfast?!?!"

"Yup!"

You spun around in a circle, your mouth watering as you thought of all the dango you were soon going to ingest.

"Toshy toshy~!" you sung, turning to your Captain. Renji gaped at you, then pulled you away immediately.

"I-I apologise, Hitsugaya Taichou! (L/N) here is-"

"Come for breakfast! Renji's treating us!"

Renji furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, and you watched him curiously. Suddenly something clicked.

"I am not treating tha-"

He froze.

"Y-Yeah... uh... my... treat..."

You pouted, shaking Renji off you and bounding over to Toshiro. He looked indifferent as you clung onto him and rested your chest on his shoulder, but if you looked very closely, you could see a slight redness on the top of his ears.

"I don't have time, (L/N)." he muttered, shaking you off. You studied him closely.

"Do too!" you declared.

"No, I don't," he said flatly.

"Whyy?" you whined, poking him. He gritted his teeth angrily, and you mentally cooed at the sight.

"I have paperwork to do, and-"

"Now, just stop right there, mister!"

He raised an eyebrow expectantly. You thought for a moment.

"Ahh... Umm... I'll do all your paperwork if you come eat dango!"

"You're bribing me?"

"Ding ding dinggg~! We have a winner!"

"You're really annoying today."

"I'll stop if you come eat dango."

"I highly doubt that."

"I'll give you a kiss."

"N-No!"

"You hate me?"

"No."

"You answered too quickly. You hate me."

"I didn't answer too quickly."

"You did!"

Renji glared at you, picked you up, and hung you upside down. He held your shihakusho to your legs so that you wouldn't be flashing to the whole of Seireitei, then began to march off to the dango stall.

"RENJI! Put me the hell down, you asshole! I don't want to go home!"

"Christ, I should just get you a trampoline."

"Why's that?"

"Because you sure do love jumping to conclusions."

You struggled to keep your angry expression, and held your hands over your mouth to prevent laughs from escaping.

"I will end you, Renji."

"You mean you'll try?"

He grinned in response, and you glared. Your hair covered your eyes, so he probably didn't notice anyway. You could feel yourself getting dizzier and dizzer by the minute, and your head pounded.

"Put her down, Lieueutenant Abarai. She looks dizzy."

You peeked up to view your saviour.

"H-Hitsugaya Taichou! Ah, right away..."

You were flipped around quickly, then plopped down onto your feet. You went to take a step, then stumbled a little, but you were caught by Renji.

"Thanks, Toshiro." You shot a glare at Renji, then took several bounds forwards. You immediately realised that your Captain was there, despite his refusal.

"Oh! You changed your mind?"

He looked lost for words.

"I-I... if... if it's quick."

You smiled widely, then ran towards the dango stall as fast as possible. Renji and Toshiro caught up immediately, making you pout, and you studied the menu carefully. You were practically bouncing with excitement as you pondered what you wanted. You made up your mind, then looked up to view the people running the stall. A young man rushed over to you.

"Hello, may I take your order?"

You nodded happily.

"Yep! Could I get... hum... three Hanami dango, Onna dango, a Chadango, Bocchan dango, three Anko dango... Kuri dango... mmm! Five watermelon dango! Wait, one more for Toshiro... what do you want, Ren-Ren?"

Everyone stared at you, gobsmacked. You shifted impatiently, crossing your arms.

"Well?"

"(Y/N)! THAT IS WAY TOO MUCH DANGO! ARE YOU INSANE?! I'M NOT MADE OF MONEY!"

You stared at your red-headed friend with a condescending look on your face.

"What are you talking about? It's not that much. Besides, breakfast is the most important of the eight meals of the day!"

"WHAT?! THERE'S THREE DAMN MEALS A DAY! AND IT'S NOT THAT MUCH?! THAT AMOUNT WILL SEND ME BROKE!"

You considered what he said for a moment, looking thoroughly confused. The stall owners conspired among themselves, probably considering themselves very lucky to have a customer ordering that amount.

"Three meals? What? Umm... there's breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, after-dinner snack, night-time snack, and midnight snack!"

You gave him a cheesy grin, and he looked like he was about to murder you as the employees began to prepare your dango.

"You still haven't told me what you want."

"Shut the hell up. I'm taking some of yours. There's no way a tiny girl like you could eat all that."

"We'll see..."

As if on cue, the paper bags in which the dango lay were shoved into your arms. Renji, looking livid, slammed the money down onto the counter, grabbed a bag of dango, and stomped over to the seating area, dragging you with him. You were oblivious to the fact that you were being dragged, and slid all three dango off one of your sticks into your mouth. You chewed it for a while, savouring the flavour, then swallowed it, looking content. Toshiro awkwardly sat down onto a seat next to you as Renji muttered about money and stupid, short, hungry girls.

"Tage dis wun," you ordered Toshiro, your mouth full. You held out one of the watermelon dango sticks, and he studied it suspiciously. If that dango was alive, it would have already frozen after being on the receiving end of his icy glare.

"Iddz watermewon!" you managed to explain to him as you stuffed more dango into your mouth. You swallowed quickly, then placed it into his hand. You could have sworn you saw a look of longing in his eyes as he eyed the dango, but it quickly disappeared.

"I-It's not like I want to eat it or anything..." he muttered, reassuring himself more than you as he took a tiny bite.

Great, now he's turned tsundere?

"Okay, as long as you eat it."

You lunged to grab another stick of dango, but your hands were met only with empty bags.

"NO MORE?!" you practically shouted, standing up quickly. You grabbed Renji by the shoulders, and shook him hard, ignoring all protests.

"What happened to it all?! Ren-Ren?!"

"YOU ATE IT ALL!"

"Oh, right."

"'Oh, right!'" he mimicked you, making his voice high and squeaky.

"I do not sound like that!" you huffed, waiting for your Captain.

"Let's go, Taichou!"

He stood up reluctantly, leaving the dango stall and beginning to walk back to his office. Renji suddenly pulled you back when you were about to follow.

"What is it now?"

"What happened?"

"I ate the dango, remember?"

"No, you and Hitsugaya Taichou."

You burst out laughing all of a sudden, realising how stupid your dango assumption had been.

"Nothing really. He said sorry."

He furrowed his eyebrows.

"That's all?"

"Well, we kissed, but it didn't mean anything. At least, I don't think he wanted it to."

If Renji had been drinking, he definitely would have spat his drink all over you.

"You what? Wait, it didn't mean anything? How can a kiss not mean anything?!"

You shrugged.

"Jesus Christ, I don't think I'll ever understand you," he muttered, poking you and shaking his head.

"Good, I wouldn't want you to. Bye bye~!"

"Good riddance..." he muttered, but you didn't miss the smile on his face.

~