I started on my last chapter of Dreaming. I was so close to finished, but then… I decided I didn't like it. It just wasn't… right… So, I need to start a new one. Heheh, sorry! I'm won't update Paradise until my question is answered. Hmmm…. And yeah…
This idea just came into my head, and it's been bothering me ever since, so here it is! Do pay attention to the way I spell the names. Enjoy!
Summary: He's dead. She knows that, has accepted that dreadful fact, yet… why does she feel like she's seeing him everywhere?
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach!
Prologue
Momo sat silently on her bed, looking out of the window. The outcast of the neighborhood was gloomy and solemn. Her face was stoic; her eyes empty and emotionless. The sounds quietly reverberated around her – the creak of the door, the branches scratching against the window, the drippings of the water from the faucet.
The thought, that time, kept replaying in her head. It didn't happened. It couldn't have happened. There was no reason… it just couldn't.
That time… just over, and over, and over again….
xxx
He wrapped his broad arm around her waist, pulling her tighter. She giggled, beaming up at him. She snuggled closer to him, pulling the blanket up higher. She tugged on her scarf, wrapping it more carefully around her neck.
"Are you cold?" he asked her.
"I'm fine," she smiled. "It's so pretty out here. Aren't you lucky to have your birthday on such a pretty night?"
"But you seem cold," he stated. "It would've been better if we weren't sitting on a roof."
"But you like the roof the best," she protested. "It would only make sense to do so."
"Whatever you say, dearest," he teased. "But if you happen to catch a fever, don't expect me to be there."
"Don't tease me like that," she pouted. "It's not funny. If I happen to die, I will blame it all on you."
"Does that mean I get most of your money?"
"I'm not including you in my will either," she declared.
xxx
She smiled sadly.
"Will she wake up, sensei?" a nervous voice asked from the doorway as she watched her best friend sit there. "Will she be okay?"
"She's fine," he said firmly. "She just needs to adjust to present time."
"She's living in the past," the girl said softly, her long, orange hair getting in the way of her face. "I'm afraid she won't wake up…"
"She will. She'll be fine."
"Should I do anything?"
"Just let her be. She'll wake up on her own according – when the time is right." The doctor looked at his watch. "Time flies by, Inoue-san. I have a meeting to attend to. Please do call me if anything happens, especially if she wakes up."
"Arigato, Kurosaki-sensei."
"Anytime."
xxx
"Ah! Ahahaha! Shiro-kun! Stop tickling me! Ahaha! Ah! The blanket! It blew away!" she gasped out as the blue, ruffled coverlet blew away with the wind. He slowly descended off her.
"I'll go get it," he said, swiftly climbing down the ladder from the roof.
"Hai, hai! Come back safely!"
He waved her off as he quickly dashed to the street where the blue blanket had flown.
xxx
"Momo," the girl said softly. "Do you want anything to eat? You've already started to get pale, and it's only been a few days…"
The young girl broke her train of thoughts and glanced at the older one. "I'm fine," she said unemotionally. She turned to the window once more and began to wander off, lost, in deep thought.
"I'll go make you some food anyway," the older girl hesitated, waiting for an answer. She ignored her, however. Orihime bustled out of the room quietly, leaving the young girl to her contemplations.
Momo sighed quietly, and her tears started to break out. "It's just a dream," she told herself, closing her eyes and flopping onto her bed. "It's just a dream…"
xxx
"Toshiro! Toshiro, stop!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She quickly climbed down the roof. "Toshiro, don't step one foot on that street! You're not looking correctly! There's a car coming! Stop, Toshiro, stop!"
Her fiancée paid no heed to her and quickly ran onto the street, rushing to get the blanket that had flown away with the chilly wind. Momo tugged on her scarf tighter, biting her nails nervously. A habit of hers, it was. "Toshiro, watch out!"
It was then…
xxx
"No! No, no, no, no, no!" she screamed into her pillow in the deepness of the night. Tossing and turning in her bed, she moaned, and she cried. "Stop! Don't go!"
"Shhh, Momo. It's just a dream," Orihime assured her, soothing Momo's hair down.
Her scream pierced the silent night. She shrieked, and she screamed, and she cried; there was no stopping her, and Orihime let her be.
Momo woke up with a sudden jolt. Beads of sweat dripped form her forehead. Her eyes, puffy and red and watery. Her hands were trembling as her whole body. She leaned into Orihime's hug. "Please…" she choked out, "tell me it was just a dream. Everything was just a dream…. I'm living in a dream…"
xxx
She stared in horror as she looked at the surge of blood, spewing on the street. "Oh my God… Oh… Oh…" she managed to choke out. Running as if she was in danger, she dashed towards the limp body on the street. "Toshiro!"
"Toshiro!" she screamed upon arriving at the scene. "Somebody call an ambulance! Please, oh please! Please don't die on me, Toshiro! We're about to get married… It's your birthday for Pete's sake! I don't care if we have to postpone the wedding to another three years or if we have to pay 200,000 yen for the treatment… please… just don't die on me…"
xxx
"He can't be…" she repeated.
"I'm sorry, Momo. But it's been like that for a few days already…"
"He's not dead! He can't be dead!" she screamed, pushing Orihime away. "It's just a dream… It's just a dream! I'm living in a nightmare!"
"Momo…" Orihime started softly, reaching out to touch her friend.
"No! Don't touch me! Just leave me alone!" Momo screamed icily. "He's not dead! I won't believe he's dead… He can't be… He promised… This is just a nightmare…. Wake me up, Orihime! Please wake me up!"
"I wish I could, Momo… I really wish I could…"
xxx
"Sensei! Is he okay? Please tell me he's okay!" Momo sobbed, her dried tears making it hard to move her face. Her puffy eyes were itchy, but she ignored everything. She just wanted him to be okay… to be alive….
The doctor looked at her with sad, tender, Oh-I'm-so-sorry eyes. Momo knew those eyes. Oh, how she feared them. They were the same eyes she had seen for weeks, months, when her mother died. "No…." she whispered. "No… He's not… He can't be…"
"I'm sorry, Hinamori-san," he said despondently, "but he is…."
"You're lying… You're lying!"
"He's dead, Hinamori-san. I can't do anything. He's dead."
"You wretched bastard!" she screamed, making everyone's head turned towards her way. "You're lying! You're not trying hard enough! You couldn't save him… You couldn't save him! You're useless!"
"I tried, Hinamori-san. I did, but there was nothing I could do… He suffered from too much blood loss."
"No," she sobbed. "This can't be happening… He's… dead… No…" Her knees let go of her, sending her to the floor. "He's dead. Oh my God, he's dead… He can't be dead…"
xxx
"He's… gone…?" she trembled. "He's dead…"
"Yes, Momo," Orihime smiled glumly. "He's dead. You've woken up. I'm so glad." She let Momo burst out into a series of fresh, new tears. Momo buried her head into her hands and let her best friend hug her. "It's okay, Momo. He's gone to a happy place now. I'm sure he doesn't want you to act like this… I'm glad you've finally accepted the fact though."
And she realized if she hadn't woken up, she would have kept living the scene of when he died over and over, and she knew that would be devastating. Momo cried until there were no more tears to cry. She cried until the words dissolved into her.
He died…
He died…
He's dead. And she accepted the fact.
So here's the prologue. You must be wondering what's up with the italicizing, why isn't the past italicized instead of the present, etc. etc. Umm, well, the past is the non-italicized, and the present is the italicized. It's because Momo's living in the past at this moment, and she thinks the past is the present, and the present is just a dream. And then she wakes up when she realizes that he's dead, and he's not coming back, and he will just die over and over again, and that's unitalicized because she's not dreaming anymore. Hope it's not too confusing... -.-;
So hope you enjoyed it! (It's really short; I'm sorry… it's a prologue… Just something simple…)
Xoxo MimiMichie