This is my first attempt at a one shot. Usually all my short stories end up being the beginning of longer stories but I tried my best here. Yeah this fic is meant to stand on its own and I'm proud to say this^^
I also tried to take a more serious tone in this fic, but I'm sure it has more than a few fuzzy moments!
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, but I did do quite a bit of research to come up with this story...
A pair of teal eyes watched hungrily from the shadows as a pair of burly men carried a crate of watermelons into a shabby looking store. He couldn't remember the last time he had a decent meal. His stomach growled in agreement. His eyes followed the men's every step like a panther watching its prey. He needed to get something to eat soon or he would pass out from hunger. He rubbed his stomach, only a few more minutes then he would be eating his own weight in melon. He had already thought up a plan now he just had to put it into action. He had been watching the men pile the crates of watermelons near the back door of the store. When they were done he knew that they went to the front of the store for the owner to pay. He had a total of five or so minutes to grab a melon and hightail it out of there. He had to be quick and stealthy, his life depended on it.
The men unloaded the last crate of watermelons and as he predicted they went to the front of the store to collect their money. He scrambled out of his hiding spot and dashed behind the building. He scanned the alleyway near the back entrance and spotted the stack of crates near the door. He grinned; this was a piece of cake. Though, as he got closer he realised that he hadn't thought through his plan as well as he thought. The men had piled the crates one on top of the other. And they had at least five crates of watermelons stacked. Each crate was at least a foot high all together they made a five foot tall stack. His shoulders slumped in defeat, he was just over three feet, and there was no way that he would be able to reach that high. But he was not going to give up; he was way too hungry to give up.
Now, how was he supposed to get all the way up there? He quickly scanned the rest of the alleyway for something he could use to stand up on. He was painfully aware that his time was ticking away. His eyes landed on and old wooden bucket he quickly picked it up and put it beside the stack of crates. However, even when he stood on it he couldn't reach over the top. He needed something else. He jumped down from the bucket and frantically looked for something else. His heart sank when he realised that there was nothing else in the alley that he could use. What was he going to do now? He paused for a while; he could go inside the store and look for something. No, that was way too risky, but he was so hungry, but if he got caught the store keeper would have no mercy. He had already been caught once stealing from the store and gotten a harsh beating for all his trouble. If he got caught again... he shuddered at the thought of what would happen to him. But still, if he didn't eat soon he was going to die. He thought about it for a short while and concluded that he would rather die quickly at the hands of the storekeeper than die slowly of starvation. Into the store it was.
As quietly as he could he opened the back door and poked his head inside. It was clear. He could hear the store keeper and the fruit men talking in the front of the store. He tiptoed inside making sure that the door didn't slam shut behind him and glanced around the back of the store. There were sacks of rice, boxes of dried foods and baskets full of fresh fruit and vegetable. He could have easily taken stuff from in here, but his eyes were on the big juicy water melons outside. What could he use to stand on though? There was an empty crate in the corner. He could see through the wooden slates, whatever was in it was finished. He crept over to the corner and tried to pull the wooden box towards him. It was much heavier than it looked and scraped against the worn wooden floor. He dropped the box and held his breath hoping that the men hadn't heard anything.
"What was that?"
He swore in his head.
"What was what?"
"That noise."
"You're hearing things. There wasn't any noise."
He let out a relieved breath and gritted his teeth as he dragged the box to the door attempting to pick it up to lessen the noise. He made it to the door and pushed it out making sure that the door didn't slam again. However, with the heavy crate in his hands he couldn't catch it before it shut with a loud bang. He gasped, his eyes going wide. They had to have heard that! He had to move quickly now. He pushed the crate over to the watermelons and stacked the bucket on top of it. He scrambled to the top rejoicing silently when he was able to reach over the top. He grasped the nearest of the fruit in his arms but again he didn't realise how heavy it would be. He would need both arms just to support it and he wouldn't be able to run very far with it either. In bringing the melon to his chest he nearly toppled over into the crate. And plus, he could hear the men's heavy footsteps coming to the back of the store. He took a deep breath and hauled the melon out of the crate just as the door flew open.
Time froze for a second, then everything went chaotic. The boy slipped from his perch on top of the bucket and the watermelon slipped out of his arms. As quickly as he could he picked it up again and scrambled out of the alleyway. The store owner was yelling himself red and took off after him.
"You little brat! I though you learnt your lesson the last time! When I catch you, you're dead!"
It was extremely difficult to run with the heavy fruit and he found himself stumbling over his own feet. He ran pell-mell through the streets of the small village brushing past people's legs and ducking under carts and donkeys. His heart was pounding in his chest and his legs felt like they were going to fall off. And the store keeper w as still on his tail.
"Get back here boy!"
He ducked around a corner and kept on running. He needed to find a hiding spot and soon. He wasn't going to last much longer like this. Soon he found himself running out of the main part of the town and next to a river. It was a straight dirt road lined on one side by the steep river bank. He cursed; there would be no hiding spots now. He risked a glanced over his shoulder and saw that the man was catching up. His eyes flashed angrily and the boy knew that if he was caught he would not live to tell the tale. The man grabbed at the back of his ragged yukata. He ducked trying to evade the beefy arms. But the heavy melon made him lose his balance and the rough ground came up to meet him. He threw his arms out to stop his face from hitting the dirt and he must have twisted in a weird way because instead of falling straight down he fell to the side and felt the cold river waters sweeping over him.
The man growled from the shore. "I hope you drown in there, you little freak!"
He landed in the river with a loud splash. Frothy bubbles tickled his body as he was swept under the water. The water hit him like a hammer and the watermelon was ripped from his grasp. He tried to grab at it but it disappeared in the blink of an eye. He had gone through all of that trouble just to get the stupid melon and now he wasn't even going to get to eat it. He didn't have much time to dwell on it, though. The water's icy fingers pried his mouth open and forced themselves down his throat. His body was gripped by the current and pulled deeper down into the green-blue depths.
He was fighting to keep his head above the water as the current swept him further and further away from the storekeeper. He was thankful for that much, but now he had to concentrate on not drowning. He was tossed this way and that and was pushed into countless rocks. He was bowled over by the water and forced under by the sheer pressure of the current. He gagged as he inhaled water, and coughed violently only to swallow even more. But even through all of this he refused to panic. In his mind he tried to come up with a way to get out of the river. The current was too strong for him to try to swim out and his strength was beginning to wane. He had been going on little more than a half a loaf of bread for two days. He tried to manoeuvre himself closer to the shore but small waves kept on crashing over his head and forcing themselves into his lungs through his nose. He coughed and spluttered, hoping that some way he would be able to grab onto anything that would stop the river from brining him any further from the village. A few minutes later, however, he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness; he was just too tired to keep on struggling. Black crept up in the corner of his eyes and it was like all the energy was just zapped from his body. Every time he breathed in more water he felt himself slipping further and further down a void. Eventually all he saw was black.
...
His eyes fluttered open. The first thing he saw was a pair of large brown eyes less than five centimetres in front of his face. He jumped back and let out a startled yelp before choking on his own voice.
The brown eyes smiled at him but moved back and he saw that they were attached to a young girl with brown pig-tails. It was then he realised that he was in a house and wearing a yutaka that wasn't his. He frowned, who was this girl anyway, and why was she smiling at him?
"Hi, I'm Hinamori Momo! What's your name?" The girl sang. She was way to bubbly for his liking. When he didn't answer and continued to gaze around the room she sat down on the futon next to him. "What were you doing in the river? When Granny and I found you were almost dead."
He shrunk away from her, eyeing her like she was crazy. She had helped him? Usually people shouted at him to go away and threw things at him. He thought all people were the same.
"Hmm, don't talk much, do you?" She cocked her head. "Anyway Granny's making dinner. She said that you looked like you haven't eaten in weeks."
And they were making him food? Something wasn't right here. Did they want something from him? What was going on? Why were they being so, dear he say it, nice? People were never nice to him. They called him names, they-
His stomach growled loudly. He blushed and folded his arms over his belly. He never did get to eat the watermelon.
The girl laughed, "You're hungry. Come on, I think Granny should be done with dinner by now." With that she pulled him out of the futon and dragged him to the door. "Granny, look he woke up!"
An old woman was putting out a small pit fire a few yards away. She looked up and smiled. "That's good. There is some rice in a pot inside, why don't you two get started, I'll be there shortly."
"Okay!" She dragged him back inside and produced two bowls from a small cupboard. Just like the old woman had said there was a pot of rice hanging over an indoor fireplace. The girl stretched up on her tiptoes to get it down. And when she uncovered it the small house was filled with the warming smell of rice. The boy's mouth began to water and his stomach gurgled in anticipation. She spooned out a considerable amount of rice and passed the bowl to him. His eyes nearly fell out of their sockets, he had never seen this much food so close to him before, and there was nothing stopping him from eating it either. But no, she wouldn't just be giving him food like this. There had to be something wrong with it. There had to be some sort of catch. They were probably working with the storekeeper and wanted to get rid of him. His stomach growled again, and he eyed the bowl of rice hungrily. The girl pushed the bowl closer to him.
"Come on, eat. I know you're hungry." She scooped some rice from her own bowl into her mouth and smiled at him. "Like this, eat."
Slowly he took a small bit of the rice. It was warm and tasty and reminded him just how hungry he really was. The bowl was emptied in less than two minutes.
"Wow." The girl blinked, still only halfway through her own bowl. "Would you like some more?"
He nodded slowly and she re-filled his bowl. He ate this one more slowly.
"So, where are you from?" She asked him in between mouthfuls.
He shrugged in response.
"While you were sleeping, Granny went around town asking if anyone knew who you were. 'Cause if I went missing like you did and was found in a river Granny would be really scared for me. Do you have a mommy or daddy like Granny?"
He blinked up at her. "No."
She seemed shocked at first to hear him speak but then she processed what he had said. "But then who takes care of you?"
He went back to eating his rice. The girl sighed. Soon his second bowl was finished and now that he was finally full he felt himself nodding off again.
The girl must have noticed because she took the bowl from him. "Are you tired? Don't worry you can sleep here. I'll just tell Granny when she comes back. Here, you can use the futon again."
She led him back to the futon and made him lie down. As soon as his head hit the pillow he was shipped off to dreamland.
...
He woke up the next day to the smell of something good cooking. The brown haired girl from yesterday was chatting animatedly to an older woman with grey hair pulled back into a bun.
"And then Ah-chan told me that I had been playing the entire game the wrong way! I didn't know that that was a rule, and now the game seems even more fun. Can I go over to play with them today, Granny?"
"Of Course, but don't you want to see to our new guest first?"
"Oh!" She jumped up and turned to him, "He's awake! Hi, there Shiro-chan, I was wondering when you were going to wake up."
Shiro-chan? Just what the hell was she calling him? "That's not my name." He mumbled.
"Well, I didn't know your name so; I just called you shiro because of your hair."
Here it comes. He told himself. She was going to call him a freak because of it. The insults never come though.
"Come over here, child." The old woman patted the ground next to her. "And you can properly introduce yourself."
He stumbled over to her and sat down in between them nervously. A bowl of rice and boiled vegetables was placed into his hands.
"So can you tell us your name?"
"Hitsugaya Toushiro." He mumbled.
...
Toushiro had been living with Momo and the old woman, better known as Granny, for three days. Granny was the kindest person he had ever known and he couldn't help but form a liking towards the little brown haired girl. For once in his short life he felt like he was a normal person and not some sort of freak. He and Momo had fallen into a comfortable pattern of arguing, she was idealistic while he was a realist. And he really enjoyed the frequent hugs from Granny. He had pushed all the unpleasant memories from his 'past' life to the back of his mind and was thoroughly enjoying the comfort of being normal.
...
It was around midday and he was helping Granny to wash and peel some vegetables on the porch outside the house. Momo was running around the garden and picking flowers.
"Hey Shiro-chan, come play with me!" She called waving a hand full of small yellow flowers at him.
He scrunched up his face in annoyance.
"Go on, Toushiro, you've worked hard enough here. Go have some fun."
"I don't want to." He shook his head and went back to scrubbing a potato.
The old woman sighed. "You never want to play, why is that?"
He shrugged, "I don't feel like it."
Granny frowned slightly and put down her knife and potato. "Toushiro-"
"Look, she's even got friends. She doesn't need me." He pointed as a girl and boy about Momo's age came up the path to the house.
"Hi Ah-chan, hi Te-chan!" Momo called running over to the two children.
"Why don't you go play with them?" Granny wondered aloud plucking the potato from Toushiro's hands.
He violently shook his head. "I don't want to."
"I want you to." She smiled and patted his head.
"Shiro-chan, come play with us!" Momo called back to him.
Toushiro glanced over to her. She seemed happy enough but Tatsukichi and Ayumi looked weary when she called him over, frightened even. He ducked behind Granny. Why did everyone look at him that way? The old woman sighed and pulled him out from behind her.
"Go on, they're not going to hurt you."
He shook his head. She didn't understand that people just didn't like him. He had told her about what happened before she had found him in that river, how others had chased him away like he was a stray dog.
Just then Momo came running up to them. "Granny, Ah-chan and Te-chan said that there was a huge top spinning competition going on in the village now, Can I go please?"
"Of course." The small girl jumped up and down, "But, Momo, can you bring Toushiro with you? He needs to make some friends."
Toushiro's eyes widened. He didn't want to go. Everyone was going to make fun of him. He grabbed onto Granny's sleeve and hid behind her again.
"Come on, Shiro-chan it's going to be fun."
He shook his head. "No."
Minutes later he found himself being dragged along the path in the direction of a large group of children. He struggled against Momo's grip but she was over a foot taller and much bigger than him. It was needless to say that all his struggling was futile. Ayumi and Tatsukichi walked ahead occasionally glancing worriedly back at Momo. He knew that they thought that he was going to do something to her. When she had announced that he was coming with them, they both had exchanged uneasy glances. After a moment he gave up trying to free himself and morosely toddled behind them.
"Come on, Shiro-chan, you're going to make lots of friends. They're tonnes of kids you're age around the village." Momo tried to comfort him.
As they neared the crowd Toushiro looked on doubtfully. They squeezed into the crowd and watched as two boys spun brightly coloured wooden tops on the ground the others gathered around and cheered. Toushiro found himself mesmerised by the spinning colours. It actually looked kind of fun. The winner was the person whose top spun for the longest. His fingers itched to try it. He stood watching the tops spin for a long time until he realised that Momo was no longer next to him. Immediately he began to panic. If Momo wasn't there the people would... he shook his head and turned around to search for the girl. But as he spun a large boy suddenly took a step forward to get a better view and Toushiro bumped into him.
"Oh sorry..." The words died on the other boy's mouth. His eyes widened and he took a step back. "Get away from me." His voice was so soft that Toushiro had to strain to hear it. The next part however, was not. "You freak! Get away!"
He was used to the words but he still couldn't help but be shocked. The entire crowd turned silent and stared at him. He heard whispers rise up from the onlookers and he wanted to do nothing more than disappear. 'look at his hair', 'he looks just like an old man, that's not normal', 'he has to be a demon or something', ' he's planning on hurting somebody, I know'. Everyone was staring at him like he was some sort of monster. The older children pushed their younger counterparts behind them. Toushiro felt his shoulders slump. This was exactly why he didn't want to come with Momo.
One of the braver children came up to him with a hardened look on his face. "Go away, we don't want you here." He stated folding his arms across his chest.
Toushiro felt his lower lip begin to tremble and without a second thought he pushed through the crowd and ran away. Minutes later was running up the dirt path to Granny's house. The old woman was washing clothes in a small wooden bucket. She looked up when she heard his footsteps on the ground.
"Toushiro?"
He was about to run straight past her but she grabbed him and pulled him into her lap.
"Toushiro, what's wrong?"
He shook his head and tried to free himself from her grip, but she refused to let go.
"What happened, where's Momo?"
"She's with her friends." He muttered. His voice shook as he tried to hold back tears.
"And why aren't you with here?"
He hung his head, "They don't want me there."
He heard her sigh and she slowly stood up with him in her arms. "You're going to tell me exactly what happened, okay Toushiro. And then we can have some tea."
She brought him inside and set him down in a corner while she put some water to boil.
"So..."
He took a deep breath. "They told me to go away."
"Why?"
He shrugged, "They don't like me. They're scared of me."
She frowned slightly. "Is that all they did? Did they do anything else to you? And I don't just mean today. I mean since you've been in this village."
He paused, thinking back. "They call me names... shout at me... throw stuff..."
The woman gasped. "I didn't think I was this bad. Toushiro, I'm sorry. If someone ever does something to you again, tell me."
He nodded and she pulled him into a tight hug.
...
For the next week or so rather than running to Granny every time someone did something to him he trailed behind her. Everywhere she went he wasn't far behind. If she went for water by the river he was wadding in the water less than two feet away. If she was out in the garden weeding he was making mud pies. If she was cleaning the house he followed around pretending that the broom was a horse. He even wondered out into the town with her but was always less than a step behind. Granny had gotten used to her little white haired shadow, but it was slightly bothersome when he got under her feet some times. To avoid this she had taken to holding him in one arm while she went about her daily duties. He was beginning to smile and was acting more like a five year old should, except he refused to say more than a few words at a time. Momo had given up hope of trying to get him to play with her friends but was content to play with him by herself. She noted that he did have some rude tendencies and was a bit of a brat sometimes but she did not understand why he never wanted to play with her other friends.
"Toushiro, I'm going out to the store for a while." Granny announced one morning. Momo was out with her friends, so it was just him and Granny in the house that day. "Do you want to come?"
He looked up from spinning a top on the floor and dashed over to her, latching onto her yukata. She patted his head.
"I'll take that as a yes." She wrapped a shawl around her shoulders and picked up a straw basket. "Now stay close... although, I don't think I have to tell you that."
The village wasn't particularly busy that day but still people stared as the two passed by. He shrunk into the folds of Granny's yukata.
"Just ignore them." She whispered to him.
They entered a small produce store. Toushiro sighed in relief when he found out that it was empty. All he saw were shelves and shelves of pitiful looking fruits and vegetables. Granny sighed and muttered something about a drought. He cocked his head.
"What's a drought?"
"Nothing you need to worry about. Here, how about you go choose something that you want and I'll get it for you." She pushed him off in the direction of the fruit and candy.
He gave her a small smile and she chuckled softly. One of his front teeth had fallen out a few days ago. He ran around a large basket and began his little adventure. The old woman smiled wistfully. He was such a sweet child, if only people could look past his strange appearance and see this. People would always be judgemental and it was her job to at least be there for him when hard times came. She sighed as she picked up and inspected a shrivelled up aubergine.
Toushiro stood up on his tiptoes and peered over the edge of a large basket. It was almost empty and he had to stretch his body to the utmost as he tried to grip a dark green water melon. He had narrowed in on the fruit as soon as he left Granny's side. He had never even tasted the fruit before but he really wanted one. He was bent over his upper half was buried in the basket and his claves tensed trying to push him even further in. His finger tips just brushed the skin of the fruit.
"What do we have here?" A course voice sneered. A large hand grabbed the back of his yukata and yanked him out of the basket. He was flung onto the floor while a beefy man stood over him. "It's you again. What did I tell you if I ever saw you in my store again?"
Toushiro scrambled to his feet and backed away but the man was quicker and grabbed him by the hair and proceeded to drag him to the door. Toushiro was too shocked to scream but he did struggle against the painful grip.
"I told you to never set foot in my store ever again. You were lucky the last time, but now I don't feel so lenient."
The next thing the small boy knew he was being thrown onto the ground outside the store. Almost instantly people, adults and children alike, gathered around.
"What's going on?" Another man asked the store keeper, glaring at the boy on the ground.
"I caught him stealing from me again. I warned him the last time. These are hard times, and he's stealing from the people who really need the things from my store!"
Toushiro glanced around worriedly. All of the people around him looked angry, this wasn't going well and he knew what was going to happen. He slowly attempted to get to his feet but was knocked back down by a fist. He landed on the dirt with a thud and a cry of pain. He cowered in the dust and held his head in his hands. The people were jeering like they wanted him to be hurt. Their laughing faces swum in his vision and he felt hot tears prickle his eyes. He shut his eyes tightly but he wasn't able to block out the course laughter and the hurtful name calling.
"Crying won't help you here, you little monster, I told you what would happen if you ever came here again." His words were accentuated by three sharp kicks to his ribs which left Toushiro gasping in pain. Tears mixed with dirt and stuck to his cheeks. He tried to shrink away from the man by crawling to the edge of the circle. The man grabbed him by the upper arm and yanked him up off the ground.
"Listen here boy, and I'm sure everyone here agrees with me, nobody wants you here, in fact we would be better off if you were dead." With that he back handed him across him face with so much force that he would have gone flying if his arm wasn't being held. He choked on his scream and struggled. "You're not getting away this time."
He raised his hand to hit the boy again.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" The shout caused instant silence and the crowd parted to let a grey haired woman through. "LET HIM GO THIS INSTANT!'
The store keeper dropped Toushiro in shock and he scrambled over to the woman, sobbing. She picked him up and cradled him to her chest before sending a death glare to the people gathered around.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Her voice was deadly low.
The store keeper narrowed his eyes and glared at Granny. "Teaching the brat a lesson, I told him not to steal from me again."
"Stealing? I told him to go pick out a treat, I was going to pay for it! And here I come to find you beating him senseless! You're nothing bunch a bunch of barbarians."
"Do you know who this boy is?"
"A child! Who you people have been nothing but cruel to."
"He's a demon! Ever since he came to this village food has been scarce, and bad things have been happening."
"And you think it's his fault?"
"Just look at him! He's obviously cursed and he's brought his blight upon us. He needs to be dealt with!"
"This is unbelievable. He's a simple child who has the misfortune to look different. I cannot believe how narrow minded you people can be. I have been taking care of him for the past two weeks and nothing of the slightest misfortune has ever befallen me. There are a thousand other children that steal from your store but you never perused actions such as this. Just because you think he is bad luck you do so! What proof do you have? In fact what right do you have to just decide to do this to him? I will not stand for this, you will not lay a hand on this chid ever again. And all of you get back to whatever you were doing; this isn't some kind of show!"
The storekeeper growled, "Fine, but if he ever sets foot in my store again, I will not hesitate to kill him."
Granny's nostrils flared, "Fine you will never see him or me in your store ever again."
Later that night Toushiro sat in a large wooden bucket filled with warm water. Momo was spending the night next door. Granny gently rubbed a cloth over his body, washing away the dirt that had accumulated on his skin. She furiously mumbled under her breath, each time she discovered a bruise, scrape or cut on his body. He sat quietly hunched over, tears dripping down his cheeks. She rubbed down every inch of his body being especially mindful of his swollen cheek and split lip. Even though her actions were gentle he still flinched every time she touched him. The laughing faces from that afternoon filled his head and he wondered if Granny was going to start laughing at him too. She looked just as angry as the people had this afternoon. She rubbed a spot on his back rather roughly and he pulled away from her with a small yelp. She really was just like the others. She was going to hurt him as well. He was ready to jump out of the bath tub when she gently grabbed his shoulder.
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to do that."
He stared at her for a second unsure how to react, she had hurt him, but yet she looked sorry. She lifted him out of the bath and hugged him to her chest. "If I could apologise for what those people did to you this afternoon I would. They were just mean and stupid."
He clutched the front of her yukata and laid his head on her shoulder. "Don't worry I'm never going to let anyone do that to you ever again." She picked up a towel and draped it over his back.
"Granny?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Why... why were they so mean? I didn't do anything."
"Yes, I know. The thing is..." She lifted him up so that they were both looking into each other's face. "The people in this village are afraid of anything that is different, and you're different."
He frowned, "Is being different a bad thing?"
"No, I think it's good. We need things that are different because if everything was the same life would be very boring, don't you think?"
"But people don't like me, how can it be good."
"They just don't understand you."
"Why?"
"Because they don't know much."
"Can I... learn them how to?"
She chuckled, "Teach them is what you say. Here's what Toushiro, you ignore all of those mean people and do whatever you want."
He thought about it for a second. "Okay."
"That's my boy." She kissed him lightly on the forehead.
...
"Come on you guys let him play." Momo scowled her arms folded across her chest.
"We don't want him here, Momo. He's a freak, why do you even hang out with him?"
"Because he's my friend, and soon you won't be if you keep on being so rude!"
"Fine, he can play. But if he does anything funny, he'll never play with us again."
"He's not going to do anything funny. How can you cheat with tops anyway?"
"I wasn't talking about cheating. Who knows what curse he can put on us this time?"
"What are you talking about? We just came to play with the tops."
"Stop it Hinamori, they don't want me here, let's just go."
"But-"
"He's kind of smart for a freak."
"You take that back! Shiro-chan is not a freak."
"Hinamori! Look, he's just afraid that I'm going to beat him. Let's go I don't want to do this anymore."
"You beat us? That's funny. I'm the champion top spinner in the district! You could never beat me!"
"You've got words, but can you back it up?"
"Just watch me, freak."
The entire child population of the village gathered around a small ring drawn into the ground. Smaller children wormed their way to the front of the crowd while the larger one's jostled each other for the better vintage points. At opposite ends of the ring two boys were hunched over glaring at each other. One had short black hair and a scowl on his face the other was rather skinny with messy white hair and a bored expression in his teal eyes. They both held wooden tops in their hands.
"You ready to loose, freak?"
"I could ask you the same question. Let's go."
"On the count of three."
They glared at each other while they lowered the tops to the ground.
"One."
They gripped the tops.
"Two."
They readied themselves to spin.
"Three."
Instantly they flicked their wrists and the tops went flying around the ring. The whole crowd went silent and watched the two tops spin. Toushiro held his breath. He had been practicing at home and the longest he had gotten one to spin for was a little less than a minute. Momo said that some of the boys could keep them going for forever, but forever for Momo was short of three seconds. He watched eagerly as the tops spun waiting for any sort of wobble in the other boy's top and hoping that his own would keep going strong. Every second crept by and the wooden toys kept on spinning; colours flashing round and round. Every pair of eyes was glued to the spinning pieces of wood. Then there, the first wobble. It was like the top had tripped over something and jerked, slowing down and eventually coming to a halt.
Toushiro let out a huge sigh of relief. His top was the one still spinning. He won! A small smirk crept up on his face. That would show them who the freak is. He could do anything that the other kids did and beat them at it too. The other boy picked up his top and sneered at him.
"So now what, freak? You cast some sort of spell to keep your top spinning?"
"What? I won fair and square! You're just jealous!" Toushiro clenched his fists. The nerve of the boy. He had won, how was it even possible to cheat in spinning tops? And to accuse him of casting some sort of spell? Did he look like a magician?
"Jealous of you? Who would want to be a freak?"
He grit his teeth. How he hated that word. "I am not a freak!" He felt a hand rest on his shoulder and knew without looking that it was Momo. No one else would dear touch him.
"Shiro-chan, I think we should go now." She whispered.
He stood up slowly glaring at the other boy before turning away from him.
"That's right run back to your Granny, since she's the only one who could ever like you." The boy jeered after him.
"Just ignore him, Shiro-chan. He's just angry that he lost."
Toushiro took a deep breath. It took all of his will power not to turn around and punch the boy in his face. But Granny did not like him fighting and if she found out that he had punched someone she would skin him alive. He had learnt the hard way that she did not approve of fighting in any way shape or form.
"He's a freak! Who agrees with me? He's a cheating, lying, ugly freak!"
"I'm not a cheat, I'm not a liar." He muttered to himself. Granny told him to ignore these people and do what he wanted. He remembered her bit of advice even after all of these years. He would not give into their taunts. They only wanted a reaction from him. He was not going to give in.
The crowd of children began chanting. "Freak, freak, freak." And "Cheater, cheater, cheater."
He could ignore the freak part, the insult stung but he could ignore it. But he, Hitsugaya Toushiro, was not a cheat. He would never lie and would certainly never cheat. Granny had taught him much better than that. He snapped.
"Shut up! I am not a cheater!" He yelled. "I won the game fair and square. The reason why; because I practice every day!"
"Shiro-chan." Momo was urgently tugging on his shoulder.
"Liar! I saw you do something with the tops before the game!" Someone yelled.
What? The only he had done was spin the blasted thing. He snarled his fists shaking in anger.
"What are you kids doing out here?" A tall gangly man walked up to them.
"He cheated!"
"I did not!"
He glanced at them smiling like he felt good about himself for solving the children's dilemma. But as soon as he saw Toushiro his smile dropped and his face hardened. "What happened?" He asked again eyeing the white haired boy with unmasked disdain.
The boy he had played against walked up to the man. "We were playing tops and he cheated."
"How is it even possible for someone to cheat with tops?" Toushiro yelled, "I don't know any way. Tell me, how do you think that I cheat-"
"That's enough out of you." The man cut him off with a disgusted glare. "Go home now, I think you've done enough here."
"But I didn't do-"
The man raised his arm as if to strike him. Toushiro quickly leapt back and ran off dragging Momo behind him. But no matter how fast he ran or how quickly he ran away from the town, he couldn't escape the laughter of the town's people in his head.
Toushiro's mood for the rest of the afternoon threatened to make the sky turn grey. He refused to talk to either Momo or Granny and picked angrily at his dinner. He sat in a corner of the house glaring at nothing in particular until Granny stooped down in front of him and stared into his face.
"This has gone on for long enough, Toushiro. What happened?"
He grumbled under his breath. "They called me a liar and a cheat. I would never cheat. It's not even possible to cheat with tops. It's either you win or you don't!" He folded his arms across his chest.
Granny sat down next to him. "Do you want to tell me exactly what happened?"
And so he did. The old woman just listened with a small comforting smile. "Don't pay any attention to them, Toushiro."
"But I tried! And they still call me freak, they still find fault with everything I do even if I ignore them, they still yell at me!"
"Don't raise your voice at me." She scolded. He mumbled an apology. "If you continue to show them that you mean no harm, it's sure to get better."
He snorted, "Yeah and I'm a purple komodo dragon."
She chuckled and patted his head. "Things will get better for you sooner or later; you just have to be patient with everybody, okay?"
"... Okay."
...
The news that Toushiro had beaten the champion top spinner traveled around town and the boy took on the title of the new champion. But now no one wanted to play with tops anymore. Toushiro sat outside the house glumly spinning a top in the dirt. He hadn't left the house for nearly a week and refused to go out with Momo. However, today the brown haired girl wasn't going to stand for it. She stood in front of him and kicked the top out of his hands.
"You've been sitting around mopping for long enough, Shiro-chan. I'm going down to the river to meet some friends and you're coming with me." With that she grabbed his arm and ignored all his protests while dragging him to the river. Eventually he gave up, as usual, and followed solemnly behind her.
"I don't see why you even bother." He muttered as they walked alongside the river. "Once they see me coming they're just gonna run away."
"They just have to get to know you then everything will be alright."
"Where have you been, Hinamori? They don't want to get to know me."
She sighed, "Stop being so hard on yourself, Shiro-chan."
He rolled his eyes and wondered how someone who had been so exposed to the evils of life could be so naive. It was like Momo was untouched by anything bad, if that was even possible. She was always ready to believe in the good of someone who didn't even believe in it them self.
"Look there they are!" She shouted excitedly and bounced off to join her friends on the river bank.
Toushiro considered running back home now that she wasn't paying attention to him but he knew that if Momo found out that he ditched her wrath would be worse than Granny's. He sighed and slowly walked up to the small group. Their chatting stopped almost instantly as he approached. He sighed and hung back. He was used to this, but that by no means meant that it didn't hurt.
"Why did you bring him?" An angry whisper made its way back to him.
"Come on you guys just give him a chance, he's not going to-" Momo tried to defend him but she was cut off.
"Just tell him to go back home, we have enough people to play anyway."
"We can substitute."
"You know, Momo, if you keep on hanging out with him other people aren't going to want to be your friend anymore."
Even from Toushiro's position a short way off, he could tell that that last sentence had made her uneasy. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped slightly in horror. Momo was one of the most social people he knew. She loved people, in all shape and form. She went out of her way to be kind to everyone she met and tried her best to stay in everyone's good books. Though, Toushiro thought that it was highly unlikely that anyone who met Momo would hate her. To hear that someone might not want to be her friend was worse than any physical blow to her. And it was all because of him. He gritted his teeth. He was okay with all the prejudice against him, mostly, but he would not stand for it if Momo got involved. People liked her; there was no reason for them to be biased against her because she spent so much time with him. He was not going to bring Momo into his hell, she did not deserve it.
He reached over and tapped the brown haired girl on her shoulder. She looked at him questioningly. He could tell that she was debating on whether or not to stand up to her friends. But he made the choice for her.
"I... um, I'm going for a walk." He stated.
"Don't you want to play with us?" She asked.
"No. I kind of want to see something lower down the river. You don't need to wait on me when you're done; I'll probably head back home before you're finished anyway."
"You sure? They don't mind having an extra person."
The others shot each other annoyed glances. He waved them off. "Yep, I don't really want to play anyway."
Momo raised an eyebrow, but he forced a small smile onto his face and backed away from the small group. "I'll see you back at home, okay?"
"... Okay. Oh and don't go in the river. The current's strong today, Te-chan's father warned us."
He nodded and began to trot further down the river bank. He was used to being by himself anyway. And to be honest he had given up trying to be nice and make friends with the village children a long time ago. He had even heard a few people saying his personality was as cold as ice. He kicked a small pebble as he walked. Momo was right the river did seem particularly strong that day. It had been raining quite a bit for the past few days, so the river was flowing harder than normal. The water even seemed a bit murky as the silt was being stirred up. Rocks that usually peeked up from the water were completely submerged and a few tree branches floated along with the current. The dirt he walked through was a little damp and mud was squished in between his toes each time he took a step. He briefly wondered what kind of game Momo and the others were playing; the soft ground would limit them to only a few. He had walked a long distance away but only noticed how far he had gotten when he no longer recognised the scenery. He had never come this far down the river before. The water was deeper than further up and there were rapids a little way off. The adults would never have let the children play in this part of the river, it looked far too dangerous. He decided to sit down for a while not caring that the grass wet his yukata or that the sound of the water was so loud it drowned out everything else. It may not have looked it to anyone else, but Toushiro found this spot very peaceful. He stretched out and lay back using his arms for a pillow and looked up at the grey, overcast sky. He was silently thankful that it wasn't sunny. He would have gotten burnt during that little walk of his. He closed his eyes and listened to the roar of the water. It was much different from the softer flow higher up stream. This was harsher, more powerful, it almost sounded as if someone was calling out...
He paused. That actually did sound like a human voice. He cocked his head and listened carefully. Yes, it was someone shouting, and it sounded as if they were in trouble. He quickly scrambled to his feet and ran to the edge of the bank. Straining both his hearing and his sight, he scanned the river looking for the person. Moments later he spotted a small head of black hair right above the rapids. It was a little girl, even younger than him, sitting on a rock. He could tell that she was panicking; maybe even crying and he knew that he had to get her out of there as soon as possible.
"Hey!" He shouted at the top of his lungs and waved his arms wildly, trying to get her attention. She turned towards him. "Don't worry I'm going to try to help you! Just stay where you are!"
He rolled his eyes at his own words. Seriously, where was she going to go? She was surrounded by water. Speaking of which, how was he even going to get to her... how had she even gotten there in the first place? He couldn't swim across; he would get swept down the rapids himself. That would certainly be very helpful. And there were no rocks that he could use to climb over to her. He stood for a while contemplating the situation. He was not going to be able to save the child by himself. Though he was loath to do it, he needed the help of the villagers.
"I'm going to get help!" He shouted to the girl. "I'll be right back!" He hoped that she wouldn't freak out when he left, who knew how long she had been stranded there. Now his next problem would be to convince the villagers to listen to him.
Toushiro ran through the streets of the village looking for anyone. No one seemed to be out that day. He frantically glanced down streets hoping to run into somebody. He actually thought about going into the produce store to enlist the help of the storekeeper there. But thankfully he spotted a man coming his way. He ran up to him ignoring the shocked look that was sent his way.
"Excuse me, sir, but I need your help!" He exclaimed.
The man backed away from him, "Get away from here." He snarled.
"No, please, there's a girl trapped in the river. I don't know how long she's been there but I need your help to get her out!"
"What kind of joke is this? It's not funny, boy." He started to walk away.
"I'm being serious!" Toushiro cried out grabbing the edge of the man's yukata. "She had short, black pig tails and was wearing a green yukata!"
The man hesitated. "That sounds a lot like Aiko. Come with me boy."
Toushiro was lead to a small hut a little way off from where they were. The man knocked on the door. A young woman answered, she looked worn out with red puffy eyes, like she had been crying.
"Misao, where is-" He was cut off.
"Please tell me you know where Aiko is!" She wailed.
The man glanced to Toushiro before turning back to the woman. "Where's your husband?"
"He's looking for Aiko."
"Tell him when he comes home, that we've found her. I'm going to see what the situation is now. Don't worry Misao, we'll get her back to you."
The woman's eyes widened and she dropped to her knees. "Thank you so much! How did you ever find her?"
He glanced to Toushiro. "You might want to thank him."
She followed his glance. "Him?" Her voice was full of disbelief; as if she could not comprehend that he had done something good for a change.
"Yeah. Now Misao, you should save your thanks until after we've rescued your daughter. Come boy." He scrambled after the man. "Show me were you saw her. And if we find out that you're lying, you will be the one in the river."
Toushiro nodded and led him to the rapids and the stranded girl. When he saw the little girl he immediately sprang to action, planning ways to get her out.
"There's no way I can swim out in those rapids, and she can't stay there much longer." He paused for a while and eyed the river. "Boy." He turned to Toushiro. "I have a plan, but you need to cooperate for it to work."
He nodded.
"Okay, you can swim right?"
He nodded again. But frowned, was the man going to throw him into the river and hope for the best? If he couldn't swim across there was no way in hell that he could do it either.
"There is not time to go for anyone else, but here's my plan. You're going to swim across to get her, but we'll use this to make sure you don't go over the rapids." He indicated a rope looped around his waist. "We're lucky I have this rope on me."
Minutes later Toushiro found himself wadding into the icy river with one end of the rope tied firmly around his waist. This was insane. Both him and the man stood a good seven feet further up from the point where the girl was trapped to allow for the strength of the current. They were separated from the girl by less than six feet of water. Hopefully the rope would be long enough. He took a deep breath and dove into the water. The current was unbelievably strong and he felt himself being swept down the river almost instantly. He strained against it, though, and swam over to the girl. Each stroke was painfully difficult and the rope around his waist was digging into his skin. The current was threatening to rip his arms and legs from their sockets but he still struggled on. Water forced itself down his throat through his mouth and nose and he spluttered. After what seemed like an eternity the rock that the girl was clinging to came into reach he grabbed at it and only just managed to latch on. The current was pulling this legs and he had to hold on as tightly as he could to keep from going down the rapids himself.
"Grab on to me!" He shouted, managing to swallow a good deal of water. The girl seemed hesitant. "If you want to get out of here you need to grab on to me! Quickly!"
She took a deep breath and swallowed her fear. Toushiro wasn't sure if it was him she was afraid of or the water. She jumped onto him wrapping her arms around his neck with enough force to choke him. He wrapped his arms around her body and felt the man on the shore pull both of them back. The plan wasn't thought out well. The water pulled both of them under struggling to make them its prey. The man was pulling with all his strength and it showed when Toushiro felt his back bumping into the river ground. He was able to stand up and heave the girl onto the bank. When they were in arms reach the man grabbed the girl from his arms and cuddled her to his chest. She was shivering, coughing and crying. Toushiro dragged himself to dry land and collapsed his legs turning into jelly. His chest felt like it was seizing up and he coughed up a bit of water. A large hand was placed on his shoulder and he looked up to see the man staring down at him the girl held safely in his other hand.
"Good work, boy. I guess you're not that big of a jinx as we thought. Come, we need to get her back to her mother now."
He nodded and wearily got to his feet.
A small crowd had gathered outside the small hut to witness the return of the little girl. The man, who Toushiro had learnt was called Kamin, was praised village hero. People surrounded him, offered him praise, applauded, and commended him for his brave actions. None of them even looked twice at the shivering white haired boy that his left hand was placed upon.
Toushiro felt his stomach sink to his feet. Even after he had rescued the girl no one acknowledged him. Did they really hate him that much, even after he had saved one of their own? His thoughts were cut short, however, when Kamin suddenly hoisted him up on his shoulder. He glanced around confused and almost managed in slipping off the man's shoulder. Kamin held onto him tight, though, so he didn't fall. The crowd was silenced instantly.
"What is he doing here?" Someone demanded.
"He's the one who showed me where Aiko was and even swam out into the river to get her."
The stares hardened, and Toushiro wished that Kamin would put him down. None of the people seemed happy to hear that he was the one to have rescued the girl.
...
"I'm so proud of you, Toushiro." Granny smiled as she hugged him.
Kamin had taken it upon himself to bring him back home and had explained what had taken place that day. Majority of the village had not believed the man, but Misao and her husband had actually thanked him. Kamin had even apologised to both him and Granny for treating him so badly before. Toushiro was astonished; he hadn't expected any of that. No one, other than Granny and Momo was ever nice to him. The man had even smiled at him and ruffled his hair. He had called him brave and smart; he had complimented him! Toushiro's mind couldn't comprehend that part. Kamin had complimented him. The same man had been ready to drown him in the river earlier that afternoon. He was bewildered at the fact.
Granny had lit the fireplace and the three of them, him, Granny and Momo, sat around it each with a piping cup of green tea. A thick blanket was draped around Toushiro's shoulders.
"See, this is what I was talking about. People are going to start warming up to you eventually. Just keep on doing what you do. They'll turn around." Granny pulled him into her chest with a one armed hug. Momo just grinned like a proud mother hen.
He shook his head, "But the entire village still hates me."
"But now you proved to them, that you can do good. You've planted the seed of doubt, my dear and pretty soon it will blossom."
He cocked his head, not quite sure what Granny was talking about. He could only hope that people would hate him less after this. But it did feel good to have saved that girl and prove that everyone was wrong about him.
"See, Shiro-chan," Momo beamed, "People don't hate you, and now you have one more friend!"
Toushiro shook his head but smiled at the older girl. She was right for once and things were finally starting to look up.
Warm and fuzzy or just plain pathetic? Like I said it was an experiment so please don't hesitate to tell me how it went.
Review! ^^
-Mymomomo