Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Lifeless ❯ Maturity ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: mimma

Maturity

He's been getting bigger.

It's strange, after about four decades being stuck at the age he died and then hitting puberty when he's fifty.

It's ridiculous, because it has him waking up with aches in his bones and eating more than he ever has in his life.

Hitsugaya's all arms and legs now, legs longer, reach extended and glory be, he's also a better fighter than ever, extra strength and speed.

The first time he noticed his growth spurt, he just thought, `About bloody time'. Now he can't wait for it to stop.

His captain's coat doesn't fit - he won't get a new one until he's finished growing, because they're expensive to make, and the `genius' is nothing if not practical. His uniform hangs off him, with `room to grow in'. His shoulder's are getting broad, the entire way he's standing's changed, and his voice is breaking, which Masumoto gets a kick out of, since this means her captain now has a tendency to sing soprano. His hands are becoming bigger, his body's doing…things, and his mind wanders in places that make him turn pinker than his vice-captain's shawl.

At times like that, he thinks he hates it, and wishes it never happened,

But then standing up straight enables him to look down on Masumoto and at Zaraki in the throat (that's a helluva spurt), his voice can quiet even 11th division idiots without him having to move, and he doesn't have to fetch a stepstool for anything. Hinamori comes by with a special bento for him everyday (because canteen food is…canteen food. Which says it all) and stays to watch him eat it, and she's all his for the entire lunch hour. He trains her in the evenings (she wants Bankai, and captaincy) and she looks up at him instead of down, no one complains about the `kid' training a fukutaichou, being close to each other does weird things to his senses and he's fairly sure her cheeks aren't just pink from the exercise. During those times, he feels like he's walking on clouds.

He's waiting outside her room for Hinamori, to take her to one of Rukongai's finer eateries as a reward for advancing today (Masumoto caught him dressing up and forced it out of him, after which she ran out screaming like an idiot. Surprisingly, he couldn't bring himself to care about her squeal of “My little captain's becoming a man!”).

She comes out, pretty in pink and blue, and she smiles up at him, and it's the most natural thing in the world to take her hand.

He's all grown up.

-end-