"Kai? Ichigo?" called a voice from my doorway. I flinched away from Ichigo's warm embrace as I saw Momo, Toshiro's childhood friend standing awkwardly in the door.

"Momo!" I cried out happily. I held my arms out to her and she took the few steps to walk into my hug. I tried not to notice the suspicious look in her eyes when she glanced at Ichigo. I squirmed uncomfortably even though I was guilty of nothing.

"How is he?" Momo asked, suddenly I noticed the red rings around her eyes and realized that she had been crying. "They won't let me see him."

"I'll fix that as soon as I can. He's doing better they said" I told her, hoping to soothe her. She smiled just slightly. "They even said he looks worse off than he really is. I even took a nap with him. He'll be fine."

"I'm so glad. Toshiro is a strong man, He'll come back. I know it." She said with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes, giving me a mixed message on how she really felt.

" Oh Momo. I know it. I know it so well" I smiled. I Grabbed her robes and pulled her into a hug again. I squeezed her tight and I felt her chest shake with sobs. "DOCTOR!" I yelled. After a moment a man in a white coat popped his head in. "Please, Momo and I would like to visit Toshiro…together"

"Please, Kai. Captain Hitsugaya is only allowed visits from immediate family. The only reason you were allowed in was because…well when you were brought in we found the ring. Congratulations" He said with a smile. Momo gasped and I worried for a moment she was upset. That was until she squealed and hugged me again.

"He finally did it? He'd been talking about it for months!" She laughed and kissed my cheeks. Surprised and stunned a little bit I slowly began to thaw and I smiled and hugged her back.

"Please. She is his best friend. Oh and fetch my ring. I don't want to sit a moment more without it" I said, still smiling. Just then my joy was interrupted by the sharp intake of breath that Ichigo took just before he stormed from my room without a word. "Ichigo! Where the hell are you going?" I called as I lost sight of him. My heart pounded. That's right. I hadn't told Ichigo about Toshiro's proposal. I remembered just a few moments ago, the time when I was considering Ichigo and I's feeling toward each other. Even if I wasn't sure if I loved Ichigo, Ichigo's reaction made me think he had made his choice. Tears stung my eyes but I took a moment to compose myself.

"Kai? You okay? I wonder why Ichigo got so upset just then. I'll bet he forgot he had a date with Rukia" Momo giggled.

"That's not it." I snapped. Momo stared at me with big eyes. "I'm sorry Momo. I'm not sure what got into me. Doctor. Please let us see him." The doctor looked uncomfortable for a second then shook his head.

"Think of it as an early wedding present." He said as he walked over to Momo and pressed a pass card into her hand. She smiled and kissed his cheek in a friendly way. Unfortunately for him that didn't stop him from blushing like a school boy. I laughed and climbed from my bed.

"Oh! I almost forgot. You are going to LOVE me for this!" said Momo as she fished in her robed and pulled out some casual clothes, jeans and my favorite T-shirt. The one that Toshiro loved. I smiled took them from her waiting hands and retreated into my bathroom to change. I was so thankful to get out of that ugly paper robe that the hospital kept me in that the whisper of the denim and cotton over my skin felt like a dream. Once I was changed and my hair was combed I skipped out to Momo and grasped her hand, pulling her towards Toshiro's room. Hoping no one would notice, Momo slid the pass card through the scanner and the door slid open with ease. She smiled and almost pulled my arm from my socket the way she pulled me through the door, eager to see her life-long friend. I pointed to his room and she almost took off running. Only my hand held her back but I could see the strain in her eyes that showed me her desperate need to see Toshiro's condition for her own. It was the same look I had in my own eyes only yesterday.

"Oh Shiro….." she whispered as he came into her view. She did run to him then. I stayed behind, giving her as much time as I could keep myself away from him. Just as I reached his door the doctor that give Momo the pass card came through the doors and spotted me. He held up the ring in his hand and I almost sang with joy.

"Here you go Kai. It really is beautiful. You should have seen the nurses when they took it off you. They were green with envy. I think a few of them even spent what little free time they had staring at it and drifting into their happy place where I wouldn't doubt they were wearing it" the doctor said with a chuckle and bright smile. I laughed along as I took it from his palm and slid it effortlessly onto my ring finger. It felt so right to have it sitting there, a token of Toshiro's love for me and my love for him. It seemed perfect. I thanked the doctor again and I turned to enter Toshiro's room. Momo was holding his hand and talking to him, telling him what he was missing and how proud she was that he finally got the courage to ask me to marry him. She even laughed and confided in his sleeping figure that she wasn't sure that he'd ever work up the nerve to do it. She said that if he'd waited any longer that she would have come up to me second grade style and asked me to marry him herself. I couldn't help but giggle so my presence at the door of the room was suddenly noticed by Momo. She laughed and turned to me. She had tears running down her face but she had a smile that stretched a mile wide.

"He looks like he's sleeping doesn't he Kai? I actually like it. Usually he's too busy talking to listen to what I'm telling him. He's a much better listener now" She laughed through her tears. At the end of her sentence though her voice broke and her head dropped to her and Toshiro's joined hands and she wept. I walked over to her calmly and hugged her shaking back. I wasn't sure when it started, but after a moment I realized I was crying too. Momo eventually let go of Toshiro's hand and turned to hug me tight and we cried together, a fiancée and a best friend completely lost without one man. One man who was everything to those two women. One man who laid there, sleeping like an angel, his features soft, his chest rising and falling rhythmically, and a heart that beat strong, like the sound of a war drum.