Strawberry Pumpkin Fields [Bleach Fanfic]

Spooks Story

"I will not participate in something as childish as a costume party." Toshiro felt his cheek twitch as well as his eyebrow and jaw. The young taicho of the tenth division sat at his desk leaning on his arm. The palm of his left hand pressed against his cheek as he looked at Rangiku with a look of utter disgust on his face. The woman in question leaned over his desk with a smile on her face while she held the bag that held the costume she'd managed to finagle for him. "Seriously... I have better things to worry about."

"Come on taicho. Things have been tense around the division. You need to lighten up." The woman's mouth twisted into a rather annoying pout as she tried to guile him into doing what she wanted. "Ever since you were turned into a zombie and brought back to life..."

"Don't talk about that!" Toshiro's eyes widened as he stood up. The desk chair clattered to the ground. His throat tightened as he swallowed. His bright teal eyes darted down to see that his hands were clenched into two balled up fists that were so tight that his knuckles were turning white. He bit the inside of his mouth. "I need to worry about what my division members think of me after failing to the point of dying, being manipulated by the enemy and being brought back to life. The last thing I need is to participate in some childish costume party."

The white haired youth looked up to yell at Rangiku in order to emphasize the fact he wasn't going. His breath stopped short when he saw the red haired fukutaicho step through the doorway of the office. Renji raised a hand. "Happy Halloween Hitsugaya Taicho!"

"Abarai..." Toshiro's voice strained. "I'm not wanting to hear about Halloween."

"Oh come on! I've heard rumor that things have been tense around here and that you need some cheering up after what happened."

"Matsumoto!" The two bright teal eyes of the young taicho turned to look at the woman in question. The look on her face tried to present some kind of sheepish innocence. The boy turned his head back to the red haired Shinigami. "Look. I don't need cheering up with childish nonsense."

"I came to tell you a spooky story since it's Halloween. Spooky stories are far from childish."

"As if you could scare me."

Renji smiled at the challenge the young taicho put forth. "All right. There is this story that goes like this. A friend of a friend of a relative..."

"You don't have a relative." Toshiro glared at the man.

"Taicho... just let him tell the story."

Toshiro sighed and waved his hand for Renji to continue.

"As I was saying... a friend of a friend of a relative of a teacher told me this story." Renji watched the small taicho's face twitch from annoyance. "That's how your supposed to start a spooky story."

"Get on with it." The young taicho looked at the evening sky with a look of boredom..

"This person happened to have a really close relative or friend that they looked up to. One day this person they looked up to died a very tragic death. The person this story is about found themselves very, very sad at this persons death. They wished that this person would come back to see them. Then one day they looked out the window and..." Renji leaned forward to emphasize the next part. "...there was the dead person looking back at him with black eyes!"

"That isn't scary." Toshiro glowered at the red haired Shinigami. "People in Soul Society are already dead. Since we're already ghosts we can't come back as ghosts. We can only come back as..." The young taicho's mind drifted to an answer. "... hey!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean..." Renji raised his hands up into the air. "It honestly was a ghost story... not a zombie story!"

"What ever." Toshiro looked back at the window. His eyes suddenly widened upon seeing something pass by the window. The young taicho thought he saw a familiar face with dark hair. The youth shook his head and swallowed. "There is no way it could be that person. I'm seeing things."

"Looks like I managed to scare you!"

"You did not!" Toshiro snapped as his foot tapped the floor from annoyance and his arms crossed his chest.

"Taicho..." Rangiku's voice suddenly sounded timid.

"Matsumoto... please tell me that story didn't scare you."

"No... I forgot to mention something."

"And what would that happen to be?"

"I forgot to mention the fact the costume party is mandatory."

Toshiro's bright teal eyes blinked a couple of times. "Say what?"

Renji looked at Rangiku. "What costume party? How come I haven't been invited?"

"The party is for the younger Shinigami and younger Quincy." Rangiku smiled at the other fukutaicho.

"I'm not a child." Toshiro's face twisted into a pout.

"As I told you. It's mandatory." The woman leaned forward over the young taicho's desk again.

"Why?"

"Because Ukitake and Kyoraku Taicho know that you won't participate unless you're made to participate." Rangiku shoved the costume into Toshiro's arms. "Here... you don't have to change until later tonight."

A small boney hand reached out to pull the costume out of the bag. Toshiro grimaced at the furry costume. "What exactly is this?"

"A werewolf costume. I thought it was adorable."

Toshiro let out a deep breath. "If she thinks it is adorable... then I'm in trouble. It's likely something horribly embarrassing."