Hiya everyone! This is wendelin-gisela speaking...:) This story is a collaboration between myself and the wonderfully talented Namimakura. We are putting our lovely heads together to bring you a fabulous angsty and suspenseful mystery featuring Toushiro and Momo along with other bleach characters. We truly hope that you enjoy this story. So without further ado, The Message...
Summary: When her beloved boyfriend is killed, Momo Hinamori is devastated. She loses all reason to live, but continues on knowing that it would be what he would have wanted her to do. However, she stirs from her numbed state when she begins to witness strange occurrences. Messages are being left for her…messages that can only be from her dead boyfriend. Is he trying to tell her something?
The Message
Prologue: Gone
He's gone.
Momo's mind attempted to wrap around those two words, but she was simply incapable of understanding them.
They repeated over and over, a keening mantra, ever-reverberating through her entire body. She had the odd feeling that her body understood the meaning.
Perhaps that would explain the high-pitched sounds she was emitting. Tears were already slipping down her cheeks as she stared at his body, eyes soullessly staring back. Her body was shaking but her gaze was steady. She simply couldn't break the staring contest between them.
The tears were blurring her vision and she felt pain slicing through her upper left chest.
He's gone.
Momo couldn't seem to grasp the concept even as her body reacted. Warm bodies pressed in closer, arms pulled around her, but still, she stared. Words whispered a warm breath on her neck and in her ear, but she didn't really understand them. The words didn't matter. Nothing beyond looking into his face mattered.
She felt moisture dropping into her hair and a light kiss pressed on top of her head, yet still, she didn't react.
"Momo, look at me."
Hands grabbed her shoulders and turned her around to stare into a brand new pair of eyes.
"How dare you?!," Momo was already screaming as the detached corner of her mind was shattered. The stare had been broken.
"How dare you, how dare you!," she shrieked, barely coherent. She pounded her fists against the person before her, too angry to even recognize who it was.
The pain was lancing through her now, over and over, obliterating, unending agony crashing over her in waves. Stabbing spears sheared through her heart and everything all over hurt.
A strangled, wordless cry of torturous suffering wrenched from low in her throat, aching and tearing. "No! No, no, no, no…." Her voice trailed off into empty nothingness as the weeping finally began.
The words were finally sinking in.
He's gone.
Her Toushirou, her Toushirou, would never stand beside her again. Never smile, never frown, never pierce her very soul with his penetrating green eyes. Never slip his hand in the small of her back to act as her very backbone when she was exhausted. Never kiss her again, never nip at her neck in that special way that only he had been able to do…..
Is this what gone meant?
To never curl up in his arms again just to talk of nothing at all? To never have him whisper endlessly in her ears at night, things that made her moan or giggle, or slap him? To never feel his breath on her skin, or the warm touch of his skin against hers?
Momo didn't like gone. Not if that was what it meant. She screamed, she coaxed, she persuaded, she yelled, she punched, she kicked, she whined, she begged, she hoped, she prayed, she needed her Toushirou back!
All to no avail.
And when she realized that, everything exploded in a hopeless myriad of sheer anguish from which her mind could find no escape. Everything splintered and fractured, leaving her mind as mere refracting fragments of broken mirrors.
Pain. Loss.
Toushirou.
Hurt, ache, loneliness, abandonment.
Toushirou.
Hands grabbing, tossing fists, crunching, snapping, blood. Soulless eyes.
Toushirou.
Emptiness, uselessness, pain, agonizing pain.
Toushirou.
White, white everywhere. Faces running past but none are the ones she wants.
Screaming, sobbing, weeping, sharp pain, snarling.
Toushirou.
White hair, blank eyes and the bliss of sleep.
He's gone.
Authors' Ramblings...
Namimakura: Hmmm... notes about this chappy. it's actually shorter than they'll really be... being a prologue and all. it's probably the least coherent bit of writing because she's so distraught. over time, her mind will straighten itself out, but for now... it'll be rather black times for her i think. i'm not sure if i managed to get this across or not... so i'll explain it just in case. the reason momo gets so upset at having eye contact broken is that it's like an admission that he's dead. as long as she holds the stare, then she's still only taking it in, but as soon as it's broken she has to acknowledge the loss and she doesn't want to. anyways. i hope you all enjoyed it thoroughly! well, as much as one can enjoy such suffering anyway. and i'm wholly grateful towards gisela-chan's awesome encouragement! and she did so add a few words of her own. much love to everyone and i hope to see you next chapter!
Wendelin-Gisela: Wow. That's all I have to say about this wonderful chapter. It was completely and totally written by Namimakura. One of the reasons that we're writing together is because this story balances happiness with angst...and, in my opinion, Namimakura is an awesome angst writer...just awesome. Well, she's an awesome writer all around...:) So the prologue...I think that Nami has done a fabulous job at portraying the deep bond between Momo and Tourshirou...as well as the deep love she has for him. The chapter sort of has this surreal feel to it...as if nothing around her exists just the emptiness and pain she feels at the realization that he's gone. The pain...it is so intense...the mood has been set...and the mystery has definitely begun...;) Fabulous Nami, darlin!!!
Oh, yes, before we go, if you guys would like to find out more about us and/or about our collaboration, just check out our profile...;) Thank you all so much for reading!!! And remember, reviews make us really, really, really happy!!!