A.N.: Please give this story a chance. The end could be worth it. Thanks!
On A Rainy Day
Dark, gray clouds filled the sky, covering the dim sun, sending heavy rain down towards the misty, wet earth.
Toushiro Hitsugaya jumped high and low, from tree to ground, sprinting forward, deeper into the open, foggy forest.
"Matsumoto!" he called, worry in his cry.
He was determined to find her.
The speed in his legs increased. She had been gone, missing for too long. He jumped to the highest tree in the area, kneeling low on the branch to balance his weight. His eyes searched for any signs of her. The only movements, was the falling rain, and the wind brushing in the trees.
"Where are you..." he murmured to himself wanting her voice, her cheerful angelic voice to respond.
His scowl softened with his melancholic eyes lowering in guilt before he closed them to listen to all the sounds of nature.
Rain splattering on his white hair… Howling wind whipping through his robes... The growl of the thunder from miles away… all the sounds made in the silent moments that past. None from...
The one he desired to hear.
He grunted, standing full height and jumping off the branch, landing gracefully on the soft earth again, and resumed to his search. After a few long leaps. He slipped on the slippery soil, and lost his footing.
"Damn…" he cursed himself, slowly sitting up.
He looked at his surroundings. Near and far, still no sign of her. Was she hiding her reiatsu? He stood up, ignoring his now muddy robes. Just before he set out again, he caught eye of a very familiar cloth. He ran towards it, stopping when the fabric was mere inches away from his feet.
'This. This is,' he picked it up gently, "Hers…" he finished breathlessly.
He held in his hand, a long, pink scarf. Its silky threads mustered with dirt and dried mud. It was damp, and sagged all the way down to his ankles. He clenched it with both hands gently, like it was about to break by just a little tug. He knew she was close by.
He could feel it.
He began to walk east, the direction where he found the scarf. Eyes locked forward. He couldn't sense her reiatsu, but somehow, he knew that he was getting closer. Then he stopped.
There she was.
Her back pressed against the trunk of a large sakura tree, most of its blooming pink blossoms gone, the rest of them hovering to the ground. Her head low. Locks of dripping strawberry colored hair covering her face from the right angle he was at. Her arms hugging her curled up knees, fingers loosely clinging on to her ankles.
His breathing slowed, his worries disappearing. He started walking towards her. Each step he took, the more relieved he felt. Until his invisible shadow was cast upon her.
"Matsumoto…" he cooed.
For a few moments, she made no movement. Oh how much he wanted her to give him at least a flinch of response, she was still.
Like a statue.
And he continued to stand there, waiting. Forever if he must.
Finally… she slowly lifted her head.
Cherry blossoms aloft her long, rich, soaked hair. Strands covering the smooth gleaming skin of her heart-shaped face.
That showed no emotion.
But not her lips, her sensational, pink lips trembling, and exhaling visible vapor due to the cold air.
And her eyes, her glowing eyes that shined like an angel's.
They told him everything.
Sadness…
Despair…
Anger…
Hatred…
Confusion…
Hopelessness...
Loneliness…
All this time, she was keeping something locked in her withering soul. And for the very first time…
He saw her…
A fallen angel.
A dead end.
A damsel in distress.
A weak link.
A beautiful disaster.
She was absorbed in the shadows, and was now one with darkness.
It nearly torn his heart.
"Captain…" she whispered. Her cheerful tone completely gone, "I'm sorry…" she lowered her head, hiding her face. "I'm so sorry…" she repeated, her voice starting to crack.
The rain continued to pour. They were both silent, Hitsugaya clenching the scarf at his side. He glanced at it, and then understood.
He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "You idiot." He started bluntly.
He knew that Matsumoto was surprised by his reaction, but he continued.
"I have never met anyone as annoying, lazy, stupid, drunk, cheerful, energetic, fun, positive, beautiful, loyal, unexpected, and strong-willed as you. You've always respected me for my status, even when I'm just a short, kid that people look down on. You've accepted me for who I am, and dealt with my stubborn, bratty attitude. You've watched my back and worried about me when others wouldn't care if I died in their hands."
He clenched the scarf even tighter. It was hard for him to admit the truth, but he knew that Matsumoto was listening, because it was part of dealing with him.
"And," he continued, saving the hardest confession he kept for so long. "You've always stood beside me. No matter how hard or impossible times were… you never turned your back, nor left me behind." He then sighed, finally letting it out.
He lowered his head, looking at the scarf for a distraction from his embarrassment. "So what I'm just trying to say is that…" he paused, loosening his grip on the cloth.
"Whatever burden you have locked inside, whatever you're keeping from letting out, running and hiding away from…" he took the scarf in both hands, knelt down to her level, and wrapped the long pink fabric around her neck. "…share that load with me."
The muddled scarf was now around Matsumoto's neck. She still made no movement, only a small grunt of astonishment.
"It's my turn to watch your back. Not because you're my lieutenant or because I have to. I will accept you no matter what, because you mean more to me than just my lieutenant, and because I want to."
He placed his hands firmly on her shoulders. She slowly raised her head.
She looked at him.
Her expression read 'shocked' all over. His eyes looked at hers with determination.
"Rangiku Matsumoto…" he cooed once again, his face softening with a gentle smile curving up his lips. "May I, Toushiro Hitsugaya, stay by your side until the end of eternity, and carry a share of your problems until we solve them, together?"
At that moment, her emotionless face brightened…
With a genuine smile.
Her eyes no longer saddened.
She reached out and grabbed him. He toppled on her feet, but then landed on her lips, her sensational, warm, passionate lips, that no longer quivered from cold or shame. He closed his eyes, surrendering his own lips to hers.
This was her answer.
They stayed in that same position, ignoring the rain that heavily fell.
It was no longer the cries of help that Matsumoto kept inside all this time.
It was the water that washed the darkness in her now blooming heart, and it was her tears of joy saying…
She was not alone anymore.
Because he finally found her…
On that rainy day.
~End~
Is this a dream?
If it is
Please don't wake me from this high
I'd become
Comfortably numb
Until you opened up my eyes
To what it's like
When everything's right
Oh, I can't believe
You found me
When no one else was looking
How did you know just where I would be?
Yeah you broke through all of my confusion
The ups and the downs and you still didn't leave
I guess that you saw what nobody could see
You found me
You found me…
So, here we are
That's pretty far
When you think of where we've been
No going back
I'm fading out
All that has faded me within
You're by my side
Now everything's fine
I can believe
You found me
When no one else was looking
How did you know just where I would be?
Yeah you broke through all of my confusion
The ups and the downs and you still didn't leave
I guess that you saw what nobody could see
You found me
You found me…
I was hiding
Till you came along
And showed me where I belong
You found me when no one else was looking
How did you know?
How did you know?
You found me
When no one else was looking
How did you know just where I would be?
Yeah you broke through all of my confusion
The ups and the downs and you still didn't leave
I guess that you saw what nobody could see
You found me
You found me
You broke through all of my confusion
The ups and the downs and you still didn't leave
I guess that you saw what nobody could see
The good and the bad and the things in between
You found me
You found me…
ENDING THEME: "You Found Me" Kelly Clarkson
~Supreme
