Hi again! Ummmm here is Ch. 2, and the beginning of the storyline. Sorry it's such a big jump from Ch. 1. Thank you so much for reading this far! Oh and "Nachtmusik" means "night music," or serenade.
Dislaimer: I don't own Bleach, or any of the characters mentioned in this story. If I did, Ukitake, Kyouraku, and Hanatarou would appear a lot more, and Hinamori wouldn't be enamored with Aizen. She would realize that he was just messing with her and slap him around a bit.
Ch. 2: Nachtmusik (night music)
"Ok, with that being said, have a great winter vacation everyone! See you in 3 weeks! Don't forget to do those winter homework assignments!"
A roar of voices and the sound of chairs scraping against tile sounded through class 1-A of Sendou High School, as eager students stood up and began to file out of the classroom.
Among those students was 16-year-old Hitsugaya Toshiro. He stood, grabbed his backpack, and slung it over his shoulder lazily, heading thru the door of the classroom with his usual stoic and brooding expression.
Hitsugaya exited the school and stood at the stoplight, his breath forming little puffs of air in front of him. Though the walk to his destination was long, and it was quite chilly out, he didn't mind, and chose the open wintry air over the cramped bus. He didn't know why, but for some reason he'd always had a certain fondness for winter. He felt more comfortable in the cold climate and overcast skies, as opposed to the bright and muggy summer. He always felt suffocated and blinded by the extreme heat and sunshine of that horrid season. It was by far his least favorite. There were other reasons, ones that occurred some 9 years ago………………………….
The crossing light changed from red to green, and Hitsugaya crossed the street. The city he now lived in was a pretty bustling place compared to the small, rural town he lived in during his childhood. People packed the streets and sidewalks, and the city was constantly in motion. This took awhile for Hitsugaya to get used too, the lights and sounds of the city keeping him up for many a night when he first arrived. But by now he was used to it, so much so that he could navigate the streets of the busy city pretty well, and sleep through almost anything.
Hitsugaya stopped at another street light in front of small antiques shop, and stared through the frosty glass at the artifacts inside.
In the front display was an old, wooden toy piano. It was modeled like a baby grand, but small enough for a young child to play on.
He was immediately reminded of Hinamori.
"Lets keep in touch, ok? We'll write letters to each other, and when I see you again, you have to accompany me in a song on the piano." She extended her left pinky. "Yakusoku?"
They had promised to keep in touch, but ever since that day, he hadn't received one word from Hinamori. No letters, no visits, nothing. Hitsugaya had no idea where Hinamori was now or what she could be doing. It hurt him terribly, but knowing the circumstances, he perfectly understood why this ended up happening, and knew there was nothing he could do to change anything. He just hoped that wherever she was, she was safe and happy.
He snapped out of his little reverie and crossed yet another street, slightly increasing his speed. He was heading to his godfather's lounge, as he heard they would need extra help tonight. As he briskly walked through the streets, a wintry breeze blew against his face, staining his pale cheeks with a rosy glow. He pulled his black overcoat and black and while checkered tie tighter around his body.
A half hour later, Hitsugaya found himself standing in front of Nachtmusik and its familiar redwood sign with its name in the middle, carved out of redwood and surrounded by 2 golden music notes. He quickly opened the heavy redwood doors and stepped inside.
During the day, Nachtmusik was an ordinary coffee shop, serving the normal lattes and pastries and the like. But at night, it transformed into a gorgeous lounge, a place of elegance and music.
Nachtmusik was decorated in redwood, with a color scheme of various shades of brown and beige. The coffee bar that was open from early in the morning through the night was on the left, and the bar that only opened at 6:00 in the evening was on the right. 10 stylish yet homey redwood tables draped with beige table cloths, complimented with redwood chairs, adorned the center of the room. 2 plush tan couches lined the back wall, and 4 more were placed in each corner of the room. In the center of the room was a slightly elevated redwood stage, where various musical acts would play nightly. The stage was truly the heart of Nachtmusik, and was what gave the lounge its graceful, relaxing atmosphere and charm. People came for the coffee and drinks, but stayed for the music.
As he expected, a long line had formed at the coffee bar. Kotsubaki Sentarou and Kotetsu Kiyone rushed about the coffee bar at lightning speed, flipping various bottles and syrups in their hands, locked in an intense battle to see who could serve the most customers first.
"Here you go sir, one iced Thai latte!" Kiyone presented with a flourish. "Your total will be $3.75!" She rang the customer up, then sniggered at Kotsubaki. "Hah, that was customer number 5 for me! How many have you served, 1? 2?
"For your information, booger girl, I will now be serving customer number 8!" Kotsubaki exclaimed as the next customers stepped up to order. "Good luck catching up!"
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, take this!" Kiyone yelled as booty bumped Kotsubaki out of the way and began serving his customer.
"Hey booger girl, that was my customer, MINE!" Kotsubaki seethed. "Get your own!" He bumped Kiyone out of the way and grabbed the bottle of caramel that was in her hand.
"You moron, you don't even know what the customer ordered!" Kiyone exclaimed as she tried to wrench the caramel out of his hands. They began a vicious tug of war with the caramel bottle, spraying caramel all along the counter and everywhere but the customer's drink.
Hitsugaya sighed disapprovingly and shook his head. They could be so childish sometimes.
He glanced to the bar side and was surprised to see that it was open, as it was only 4 in the afternoon, and that his godfather, Ukitake Jyuushiro, was behind the counter. He was wiping the inside of a newly washed crystal wineglass with a white cloth, a pleasant expression across his face. He looked up from his task, and as he spotted Hitsugaya by the door, flashed him a warm smile and wave.
"Hey Toshiro, had a good last day of school?" Ukitake asked cheerfully, abandoning his task and walking toward his beloved godson.
"The usual," replied Hitsugaya impassively. He pointed a finger at the coffee bar. "Kotsubaki-san and Kotetsu-san are fighting again."
Ukitake's smile faded as he shifted his gaze to the coffee bar. The duo was now fighting over the whipped cream bottle. He sighed, shaking his head. "What am I going to do with those two?" he asked, exasperated.
"Oi, Kotsubaki! Kotetsu!" Ukitake yelled in a stern voice. The duo froze in mid grab as if they were caught red handed stealing. "Quit fooling around and get back to work!"
Kotsubaki and Kiyone put down the whipped cream bottle sheepishly and apologized. "Were very sorry, boss!" They exclaimed with low bows.
"I'm sorry boss, it was all the booger girls fault, she the one that started this crazy challenge-"
"No, no, it wasn't me, it was him, I swear-"
"I don't care who started it," Ukitake said severely, "Just stop fighting and start working! Quarreling won't make the line get any shorter."
"Right away boss!" Kotsubaki and Kiyone exclaimed, and went onto serve the next customers as fast as they could.
"Those two can be such goofballs sometimes," Ukitake commented.
"Ojisan, why is the bar open so early?" Hitsugaya asked, wondering about the unusually early opening time. "And where's Kyouraku-san and Ise-san? Aren't they supposed to be running it?"
"Oh, Shunsui and Ise are out picking up a special order of sake," Ukitake replied. "And as for the reason that the bar is open early……." A knowing smile spread across his face. "We have a "special" performer tonight. They'll be performing at 5, and have a 2 hour set, so we decided to open the bar early to serve more customers before the performance starts. Get changed and switch places with Kotsubaki so he can tend the bar. I have to help them set up." He put a hand on Hitsugaya's shoulder.
"I think you will be pleasantly surprised," he said with a wink.
"Okay…………" Hitsugaya thought, as his godfather slid his hand off his shoulder and began to walk to the coffee bar to tell Kotsubaki the plan. He headed toward the bathrooms. "I wonder who this performer could be?"
Hitsugaya changed into the standard Nachtmusik barista uniform: a long sleeved white collared shirt, black bowtie, and black slacks and shoes. He never really liked the uniform, and always thought it made him look rather foolish. But nonetheless, it was part of the job, and he wouldn't complain. He didn't want to trouble his godfather more than he had to. He finished adjusting his bowtie in the bathroom mirror and headed out to the coffee bar.
Though Kotsubaki and Kiyone were rather immature sometimes, he had to admit, they were way better then he was at tending the coffee bar. They had the recipes for all the drinks memorized, and knew exactly the right amount of everything to put inside by feel. Hitsugaya, on the other hand, had to look at recipe cards and measure everything. It took Hitsugaya and Kiyone the better part of the hour to deal with the rush, and Hitsugaya finished the last customer's order just as the lights began to dim, and Ukitake took the stage to introduce the performer.
Hitsugaya looked around the room. All the seats in the house were full, and people were lined up all along the walls of the room. He began to grow increasingly curious as to who this mystery performer was.
"Thank you all for coming out tonight," Ukitake began, a welcoming smile across his face. Several female audience members sighed audibly. "Tonight we have a special performer, a budding young singer with a big heart and spirit, and a voice to match. She just sighned a contract with us, and will be performing here at Nachtmusik 4 nights a week. Please welcome the beautiful, the extremely talented-"
Hitsugaya's gaze slipped from the audience to the stage at that moment. He let out a loud gasp, and his eyes widened in total and utter surprise. His mind went blank from shock as he took in the form of a friend he hadn't seen in over 9 years.
"Hinamori Momo!"
So what do you all think? Is it too weird? Please review!