Strawberry Pumpkin Fields [Bleach Fanfic]

Jack-o-Lanturn

Ichigo and Toshiro arrived at the room to find only a few lights on. The teen flipped on the switch while Toshiro stepped into the room. Ryunosuke was the only occupant of the room and his chin was still on the table. The young taicho turned his head to the teen with the dye job. "What's the point?"

"Ryunosuke's still here."

"Yes. But..."

"Come on Toshiro. So everyone bagged out. You need to learn to have some fun." Ichigo's mouth twisted up. "Or you end up in a situation like I did where if I had picked my own I wouldn't be in the mess I am now."

"Fine." The small taicho walked over to the table and pulled out a chair. His eyes drifted over to the pumpkins that others had carved. Ryunosuke's smashed pumpkin was still there. "I'm sorry about your pumpkin."

"It's all right. It wasn't your fault Hitsugaya Taicho."

Toshiro's bright teal eyes drifted over to the pumpkin and the carving instruments and he began to worry his lip. One of Ichigo's very orange eyebrows went up. "Do you want to try Toshiro?"

"It's not as if..." Toshiro stopped himself from saying, "...I want to try something so childish." He took a deep breath. "Does it have to be a face?"

Ryunosuke sat up while letting out a groan. "No. Carving pumpkins aren't easy though."

"I saw your friend butcher hers." Toshiro looked over to the pumpkin again.

Ichigo walked over and picked up a pumpkin and placed it in front of the boy. "You've got to cut off the top first and then clean out the inside completely."

The young taicho removed the glove part of his costume and handed it to Ichigo. The boy brought over the carving tools and the bucket for the pumpkin 'guts'. Cutting off the top was the easy part. Reaching in to remove the slimy substance caused a shiver to run down his spine. "This is enjoyable?"

"It's fun." Ryunosuke piped up. Despite being a bit tipsy the boy stood up and began to help Toshiro remove the pumpkin 'guts'.

"You don't have to."

"Shino says you don't like other Shinigami your age, but that doesn't seem to be the case. You're actually quite nice."

Toshiro blinked a couple of times and went back to digging out the guts. When they finished they wiped their hands on paper towels. He took the pencil and drew the design he wanted onto the pumpkin. Ichigo leaned over from the chair. "That's complex."

Ryunosuke blinked a couple of times. "Are you going to be able to carve that?"

The young taicho didn't answer the question and instead went to work carving the detailed dragon out from the pumpkin. Ichigo let out a whistle as he watched Toshiro work. "You're quite good at this."

"Yeah..."

"Not really. Hinamori's the one whose good at this kind of thing."

"I don't really like her."

"Why not?" Toshiro looked at Ryunosuke as his eyes widened.

"I don't know. She's friendly enough and gets along with Shino... but... she really just doesn't... she's kind of scary. It feels kind of too good to be true."

"She..." Before the young taicho could say that Hinamori Momo drove him nuts a sound came from the door way.

"Puppy doggie!"