Ichigo had a wonderful dream. He met Shiro yesterday. She was beautiful; her turquoise eyes and long white hair that glistened in the sun. Wow and they went out to dinner with her friend, talked on the phone and fell asleep. Wait. Fell asleep?
Brown eyes shot open and Ichigo sat up abruptly, searching for his phone that was under his pillow. He was still on call with someone for six hours and thirty-two minutes. Everything was slowly coming back to him.
The shocking thing is that Shiro wasn't a she. Shiro was a he.
Shiro is Toshirou to be exact.
How oblivious could Ichigo be?
The boy shook his head in denial, but he also remembered the phone call he had with his friends. The rejection he got from Byakuya was enough humiliation for him as he confessed to the alumni in front of the entire student body. What more of an embarrassment will he get now that he'll be dating the school prodigy and all time snow prince soccer captain, Toshirou Hitsugaya? A shiver crept up his spine; feeling like his heart was about to fall out of his chest. Ichigo frowned, picking up his cellphone and putting it into his ears.
"Toshirou?"
There was no response.
He, however, heard a sigh and a heavy breath. Ichigo spoke again, "Toshirou?"
A soft moan came out of Toshirou's voice, followed by a yawn. Then, he could hear shuffling so Ichigo thought Toshirou's phone might have dropped like his did.
Toshirou's deep, sleepy voice greeted him. "Kurosaki?"
Ichigo tightened his grip on the phone. "Good morning."
"Mmm, good morning."
What does he say now?
Thankfully, Toshirou's voice came back up. "I'll see you in class? I have to get ready."
"Y-Yeah. I'll see you."
"Okay, bye."
Ichigo's phone slipped from his hands, letting it drop on his bed once more before grabbing unto his stomach. He'll see Toshirou today, the real Shiro.
He didn't think he was prepared to go with the flow just yet.
With a frustrated cry, Ichigo completely messes up his hair and slammed his head on the pillow. Skipping one day of school wouldn't hurt.
Toshirou kept looking at the sliding doors; students other than Ichigo entered the classroom. What happened? They slept on the phone all night and they sounded fine this morning. Is Ichigo not feeling well? He took out his phone. Toshirou was afraid, maybe he scared the strawberry away, and every ounce of his confidence began to slip away until Ichigo's friends approached him.
"Hey Toshirou, where's Ichi-"
Mizuiro whacked Keigo's head. "Sorry, my friend has no manners. I'm Mizuiro, this is Keigo; we're Ichigo's friends."
"Hi Mizuiro."
"So, where's Ichigo?"
Beats me. "I don't know, I thought maybe you guys would know what's up with him."
Mizuiro sat down next to him. "Not a clue. We called him last night but he said he was going to call you."
"He did."
"Oh, he did?" Keigo sat on the other vacant seat on the opposite of Mizuiro. "Are you guys official now?"
"Hold it you two!"
Keigo and Mizuiro turned their heads to see Rangiku glare at them with her hands on her hips. Keigo stared at her dreamily.
"It's my goddess!" Keigo stood up, attempting to hug the busty student. "Good mor-"
Rangiku lifted her hand and poked Keigo's eyeballs. "Don't interrogate my little one now, you're going to make him anxious."
"What?"
"I forgot to introduce myself. Haha, oops! I'm Rangiku Matsumoto; his mother."
"WHAT!?"
"I can tell you're both Ichigo's friends," the woman rolled her eyes.
"She's my close friend," Toshirou acknowledged, feeling bad after seeing their confused faces. "What are you doing here, Matsumoto?"
She let out a small pout, "you weren't answering your phone this morning and I didn't see you by the lockers."
"I came early."
"...And what's your excuse for not answering your phone?"
Rangiku, Keigo, and Mizuiro stared at Toshirou with interest.
"I was... on the phone with Kurosaki."
"Ooooo~"
"Stop that!"
"But where is Ichigo?" Rangiku looked around.
"Not here, obviously." Toshirou answered softly.
Keigo placed his hand on his shoulders. "Maybe he's just running late. You did say you were on the phone with him last night."
"Are you being nice?" Mizuiro gasped. "You're amazing."
"Stop that, I know you're being sarcastic."
Toshirou was silent. There was no pressure with Ichigo's friends. Keigo and Mizuiro looked genuine when they approached him but that wasn't what he was worried about. Even if Keigo was joking or not, Toshirou took the words to relieve himself. It was better to just focus in school (yes, focus in school guys!). He didn't want to lose his concentration over something so small as this.
But it didn't change the fact that he was a little worried. Rangiku saw the expression on his face and smiled slightly.
"He'll come. If he doesn't, you can always call him."
Their teacher walked in, Rangiku gave one last pat before she exited the classroom.
Ichigo never came to class.
Not paying much attention to that fact, he turned his focus on his group mates. His next class had them assigned in a team; these teammates are people Toshirou had to work with until the case study was over. There were two boys including him, and two girls. First came the introduction.
"Okay, let's start off with names," the other guy said. "I'm Sojiro Kusaka."
"I'm Momo Hinamori."
"Hiyori Sarugaki."
"I'm Lisa Yadomaru."
Then it was Toshirou's turn. Everyone looked at him.
"I'm Toshirou Hit-"
"Hitsugaya. Toshirou Hitsugaya," Kusaka finished. "We know."
The whitehead blinked.
"Hey, I have a question," Hiyori turned to him.
"Yeah?"
"Why haven't you skipped to senior year? You're supposed to be like, super smart."
"This class is mandatory, should I pass this class then I'll skip."
The group was impressed at his answer.
"So, shall we start with our poster?"
There was a shared nod and papers were coming out of their binders to begin brainstorming about their case study of Genie the Wild Child.
Hyourinmaru: Where are you?
Zangetsu: I don't feel so good. Sorry.
Toshirou furrowed his brows.
Hyourinmaru: Do you really not feel good or are you saying that just to avoid me?
Was Ichigo avoiding Toshirou?
He stared at his phone absentmindedly.
Yes.
Ichigo prolonged his press on the delete button and retyped.
Zangetsu: I just need some time to think about it.
A couple of minutes later, Toshirou responded.
Hyourinmaru: Sigh. Take all the time you need, Kurosaki. It's my fault for making it hard on you.
A part of Ichigo panicked. He quickly replied.
Zangetsu: No!
It's not your fault. It's mi-
Hyourinmaru is now offline.
"Well, fuck."
Classes felt longer than they usually were today. Toshirou blamed it on the heat. He's not fond of them; he prefers the cold. He was raised on the mountainside where it was cold and snowed during the winter. Ever since he moved down to live with his grandmother, he had to maintain the sudden increase of temperature and he didn't complain about it.
Behind the heat, Toshirou blamed it on himself.
Had he told Ichigo the truth that he was a guy from the beginning, things wouldn't have been complicated like it is now. Ichigo's probably having a battle of consideration now. Yes, he liked Shiro, but Ichigo mainly thought that Shiro was a girl. Did it really take a year for him to find out? In person too?
Anyone would think that Shiro could be a boy right?
The possibility was there.
But when you're in love, I suppose being blindfolded amongst certain things is inevitable. Toshirou thought and let out a loud sigh.
At least class was over. Soccer was not in season, but he'll have to condition when he gets home, to keep his mind off Ichigo. Toshirou placed his books into his locker and closed it, heading out to the outer side of the building where he changed his shoes to outdoor shoes.
"You heading home, Toshi?" Rangiku called down the hall.
"Yeah. I could use some rest."
"Now that's something I don't normally hear from you," she walked closer. "Is it Ichigo?"
Toshirou showed her his exchange of messages with Ichigo.
"Oh. My."
"Yeah."
"Give it time, Toshi."
He grabbed his cellphone from Rangiku's hands.
"I know. I'm heading home now."
She frowned. "Don't let it get over your head okay?"
"Hitsugaya!"
Rangiku and Toshirou turned and watched Kusaka run his way.
"Who's he?" She whispered.
"One of my teammates in class. Sojiro Kusaka."
"Ah. The hockey captain."
"He is?" Toshirou was surprised.
Rangiku was cut off before she spoke some more.
"Are you heading home?" Kusaka asked, ignorant to Rangiku's stabbing glares.
Toshirou slowly nodded. "Yeah... Why?"
"Great! Let's go home together!"
Rangiku whistled and started walking away to cool off. "I'm gonna go now."
"Matsumoto!"
Kusaka watched the busty student disappear on the hall. "Was she your girlfriend?"
The small boy almost cringed. "Don't ask me a stupid question like that, Kusaka."
"What? How's that stupid?"
As they walked out of the building, Toshirou rolled his eyes. "Matsumoto's like a sister."
"Matsumoto? The Rangiku Matsumoto?"
He raised his brow. "The Rangiku Matsumoto?"
"Hey, she's one of the hot girls in school. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it."
"That's disgusting."
Kusaka laughed. "She's not my type, don't worry."
"Oh good," Toshirou sounded almost relieved. "I was going to interrogate you if you were approaching me to chance a date with her."
"No way! I just wanted to go home with you!"
Toshirou eyed him suspiciously.
"Okay then."
Sode no Shirayuki: Ichigo! I know this is sudden, but I'm finally coming home!
In the middle of his video game, Ichigo's mouth hung open and dropped his phone from what he read. The screen said GAME OVER; Ichigo paid no mind to it, moving his cellphone at a further distance from him. One eyebrow twitched, quickly reaching the device back into his hands to enter something.
Zangetsu: Toshirou?
Hyourinmaru: ...Yes?
Zangetsu: Are you free tomorrow afterschool?
Hyourinmaru: Um... Yes. I think so..
Zangetsu: Let's go out on a date.
Hyourinmaru: Really?
Hyourinmaru: Did... Did you send that by mistake?
Ichigo chuckled.
Zangetsu: No. It was intended. Let's go out tomorrow.
Zangetsu: Movies maybe? After school?
Hyourinmaru: Sure.
Good. That way, Ichigo can avoid the trouble that's about to head his way real soon.
"Who're you texting?" Kusaka asked curiously, leaning forward to see who Toshirou was texting.
"Back off! I'm chatting with a friend."
"A girlfriend maybe?"
"Oh for the love of- I don't have a girlfriend. And it's a boy!"
Kusaka snickered. "So a boyfriend then?"
Toshirou swore under his breath and held back the urge to hit his head against the train's door. On the other note, he was happy on the inside; maybe he just needed to be patient like Rangiku said he should. Ichigo would come around eventually.
"Long time no see, Ku-ro-sa-ki-kuuuun~"
"Ichigo..."
"Is that..."
"...Ichigo..."
Whispers and hisses.
"Oh man, we're so sorry."
