Story: Dream Orchard
Characters: Momo Hinamori, Toushiro Hitsugaya
Genre: Drama, Friendship
Summary: Momo Hinamori and Toushiro Hitsugaya are migrant workers attempting to earn enough money to buy their own piece of land and live out their dream.
A/N: This story is loosely based on 'Of Mice and Men'. It won't be entirely consistent with the book, but it has the same general idea.
I do not own Bleach
Dream Orchard
Chapter One
"Momo, wait up!"
"What? You're the one who is walking so slowly Toushiro!"
"No I'm not! You walk too fast!"
"Well if you weren't so short we wouldn't have this problem!"
Momo Hinamori and Toushiro Hitsugaya walked along the side of a dirt road, heading for their next place of employment. Momo and Toushiro had once lived in the nation of Rukongai. They grew up as next door neighbors and were best friends. Thus it was only natural that they worked together when they grew up. Unfortunately, a horrible drought destroyed the hard earned crops of Rukongai, and they were forced to flee in favor of Seireitei.
Seireitei was a much wealthier neighbor of Rukongai, and to the simple grain-farming inhabitants of Rukongai, the advertisements of lush green lands full of work opportunities at fruit orchards and vineyards seemed too good to be true. Unfortunately for them, it was. Seireitei certainly was nice and green with streams and no drought, but it was not the paradise it had been advertised as. The rich lived in big cities, from where they coordinated all of their banking, shipping, and agriculture businesses from the comfort of offices. Meanwhile, the laborers were toiling to produce the goods demanded by the upper class, often making barely enough money to survive on.
Nevertheless, Momo and Toushiro kept working, knowing they had no other choice. If they wanted to survive, they would need to work. But there was one bright area of this in that they had eachother and were not alone like most other workers. Toushiro actively protected Momo. Momo was an intelligent girl, but that was not really obvious to the casual observer, as she was often carefree and overly innocent, resulting in people questioning her mental competence. On top of that, she had occasional neurotic tendencies, usually when something unexpected happened or when reacting to something that brings about strong emotion in her. When this happened, she would become prone to bouts of anxiety and, in some cases, lashing out at whatever was troubling her. Toushiro protected her, calming her when this happened and ensuring she would not get in trouble with the law.
Momo and Toushiro walked along the dirt road until it was dark before stopping and making camp along a nearby river. They started a small fire and Toushiro took a can of beans from his bag.
"Oh boy! Beans!" Momo said happily. Toushiro rolled his eyes.
"Just don't eat all of them this time, okay Momo?" Toushiro said. Momo blushed and giggled.
"Hey, I don't always eat them all!" Momo said in mock indignity.
"No but you usually do," Toushiro said. Momo crossed her arms and pouted.
"Aw, that's not very nice Shiro," she said. Toushiro growled under his breath.
"For the last time, don't call me Shiro," he said irritably. That nickname was a curse, both because of the stupidity of it and the indignation that a part of him really liked it when she called him that.
"I'll call you whatever I like, SHIRO," she said, making sure to say his nickname with extra emphasis. Toushiro rolled his eyes and divided the beans between them. Toushiro had barely begun his when Momo had gobbled hers up.
"Mmmm, those were good beans! Can I have some of yours Shiro?" she asked.
"No, you had your share and I have mine. And don't call me Shiro."
"Aw, come on! I'm still hungry! What if I collapse from starvation?" Momo said.
"Hopefully you'll stop calling me Shiro," Toushiro grumbled. Momo pouted.
"That's not very nice of you. I think I'll have to punish you," she said. Momo tackled him and began tickling him, forcing him into submission.
"Momo stop it!" Toushiro said among his tickled laughs.
"Just a minute Shiro!" Momo said. After a minute more, she stopped. "Okay, I'm done."
Toushiro turned back to his beans only to find that they had all been eaten up. He turned to look at Momo, who merely smiled at him.
"Momo, what am I going to do with you?" he said exhaustedly. Momo giggled.
"I think we should go to bed soon so that tomorrow we'll have lots of energy," Momo said, changing the subject. Toushiro sighed.
"Yeah, I guess you're right…" He unfurled the large, tattered sleeping bag that they used and placed it on the ground. He put out the fire while Momo made herself comfortable in the sleeping bag. After he was done, Toushiro got into the sleeping bag as well.
Momo quickly latched onto him in a big hug. She had told him in the past that hugging him while she went to sleep eased her fears and anxieties. Toushiro was somewhat indignant at being treated like a teddy bear, but he wanted to help Momo in any way that he could. Besides, he sort of liked being hugged like this by Momo.
"Toushiro, tell me our story," Momo whispered to him as they fell asleep.
"Again? I've told you it a hundred times already!" Toushiro said. Momo giggled into his shoulder as she hugged him.
"I know, but it makes such a great bedtime story, plus it's all gonna happen someday, so that makes it extra good!" she said. Toushiro sighed and began to tell her their story.
"Okay, most migrant workers are alone, but we're different. We have eachother. Someday after a lot of work we'll take the money we've earned and by our own piece of land. We'll grow apples and blueberries and of course, lots of yummy peaches," Toushiro said. Momo smiled.
"Tell me the part about the cuddly animals Shiro," she said.
"I'm getting there. We're going to work on that farm together, and when we get home we'll be kept company by a big funny dog that we'll play fetch with, some nice soft cats that will nuzzle up against us, and some fluffy little bunnies that you can cuddle all you like."
Soon, Momo was fast asleep, a smile on her lips. Toushiro smiled too as he thought of their dream, soon falling asleep himself.
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