CHAPTER 10: A CLASS GATHERING

"Inazuma Kaze!" Tayomi squealed like an overexcited girl. Hitsugaya stared blankly at her.

"So, it's lightning-based?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Yeah! I think it's the first ever lightning-based Zanpakutou to ever appear in Soul Society! I love my Zanpakutou, it's lightning and wind-based, which makes it double elemental! OH I LOVE MY ZANPAKUTOU!" Tayomi screamed in sheer delight, going all out worshipping her Zanpakutou.

Just then, Hitsugaya swung his leg towards her. Tayomi instinctively blocked it with her hand, grabbed his leg and flipped him three hundred and sixty degrees. She stared at him, wondering why he suddenly attacked her all of a sudden. Hitsugaya would warn her before he attacked, most of the time. But for some unknown reason, he did not do so this time. How weird, he didn't warn me this time...

"Your reaction sure has improved. That's good." Hitsugaya said, upon seeing Tayomi's shocked expression. Tayomi smiled, before lunging at him with her fist. Swiftly, Hitsugaya blocked every single one of her attacks and attempted to kick her again. Tayomi dodged it by somersaulting backwards, before racing towards him to land a hit on him. They fought for two hours, before Tayomi realised that the sky was about to turn dark. Looking at the sky, she knew that evening was coming and that they had to go back to their rooms for a bath.

"Susu-chan, we have to hurry and get ready! The class gathering is probably going to start in like..." Tayomi continued staring at the sky, trying to estimate the time. "Forty-five minutes!"

Tayomi grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the dorm rooms. They went their separate ways, as Hitsugaya dashed into his room in the boys' dorm and Tayomi ran into her room in the girls' dorm. She saw that Kiseida was back in their room* and all ready to go. Grabbing the clean robes from her cabinet and a towel, Tayomi hurriedly took her bath, washed up and combed her hair. As she expected, she was all sweaty after running to her room from Hakuda practice. She felt rejuvenated after her shower and slipped her pink hairband back onto her head, before heading to the garden with Kiseida to meet her class.

By the time she and Kiseida reached the garden, she saw that most of the students from Class 1 had set up the picnic mat and the food. They would be munching on tempura, rice balls and other delicious snacks that they had bought from the cafeteria. She spotted Hitsugaya and Kusaka happily chatting together and she felt relieved, upon knowing that they were still friends and her rejection of Kusaka had not ruined their friendship.

Once all her classmates had arrived, they sat on the mat together and ate, chatting together just like a class. Tayomi could not stop smiling during this time, she felt as if she belonged in this class and everyone was so wonderful. She was happy to have such friendly classmates who could be serious and let their hair down as well. After their dinner, they quickly cleared up their food and decided to play truth or dare. They spun the bottle as everyone was forced to reveal their deepest secrets or do something embarrassing. Just then, the bottle had sun and pointed at Kusaka.

"I pick dare." Kusaka smiled, looking straight at Tayomi.

"Ooh..." Kiseida and the other girls squealed in delight.

"Hey Kusaka," Tayomi's classmate, Juunrui, shouted. "Why don't you confess to Tayomi again? This time, include why you like her!"

Oh darn. As expected from Juunrui. He's such a crazy guy, I'm not surprised he would come up with such a dare. Tayomi looked at Hitsugaya from the corner of her eye and saw him look at her with a hint of coldness in his eyes. She wondered what Hitsugaya was thinking, because she could somehow tell that he was worried about her, from the way he looked at her. Tayomi felt one of her nightmares come to life, as Kusaka went down on one knee again and spoke.

"Tayomi-chan, I love you because you're adorable, pretty and cute. You're so smart and talented as well..." Kusaka's words drained out as Tayomi turned a deaf ear to his second confession. She did not intend to hear Kusaka speak like that again and perturbed her. Once Kusaka went back to his seat, Tayomi hid her anger from the rest of her class as the bottle was spun once again. This time, it landed on Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya picked truth, silently wondering why he was involving himself in such a stupid game.

"Hitsugaya! Kusaka's your close friend and Tayomi's your close friend, have you ever tried to convince Tayomi to accept Kusaka?" Kiseida asked out of curiosity.

Hitsugaya pondered for a moment before giving his reply. "Yes."

The whole class laughed and squealed. Hitsugaya spun the bottle and it finally landed on Tayomi. Her nerves were killing her inside. She was desperately hoping that they would not ask her anything about Kusaka or Hitsugaya. But things did not look so good. Even if Kiseida would let her off, there was no way Juunrui would let her off. Maybe if she picked a dare, she would be able to get off the hook?

"Hm... I think I'll do a dare then!" Tayomi giggled.

"Ahh Tayomi, since you refused Kusaka, it makes finding a dare for you much harder, you know. Oh well, Hitsugaya's your good friend right? Okay then, Tayomi, give your good friend a hug! And Kusaka, don't be jealous, alright?" Juunrui spoke light-heartedly.

I have to hug him. Now I didn't see that coming at all. Tayomi felt nervous and slowly walked up to Hitsugaya, kneeling before him. She felt herself looking into his eyes again and him looking back into hers. My looking into his eyes is really becoming a habit. She slowly leaned forward and curled her arms around his neck. She felt his arms around her waist and they stayed in that position for a few seconds, before Tayomi backed away and returned to her seat. She knew her face was burning up and about to turn bright pink, causing her to cover her cheeks with her hands.

Before she knew it, the night was over and they had to return to their rooms. She bid farewell to her classmates and waved goodbye to them, as they made their separate ways towards their respective rooms.

"Tayomi-chan, so how was it?" Kiseida asked.

"Huh?" Tayomi replied, in confusion.

"The hug. How did it feel like to hug your good friend? And you really won't accept Kusaka?"

"No, Seida-chan..." Tayomi smiled. "I really don't like Kusaka. As for the hug, well it was alright. It's just a hug between friends, so it's fine."

Tayomi smiled to herself. To her, it was more than a hug between friends. It was a hug she gave to someone who held an important place in her heart.

*Kiseida and Tayomi are roommates. Kusaka and Hitsugaya (sadly) aren't roommates...

Yay so that's Chapter 10! Hope you all liked it! Please review :D I love hearing your thoughts about my story!

I'm super happy to know that I've finally gotten my first review! Thank you FuzzyShadowFoxx :D Also many thanks to Reason to Scatter, FuzzyShadowFoxx, Maii04 and mydnightfox for adding me to your Story Alert/ Favourite Story list :D

Most importantly, I really have to thank JazionKeera for inspiring me to start writing again. Haha, after spamming me with your stories, I finally decided to get out of hiatus and start writing again :) Do check out her stories, they're really really good!

I think the tone of the story has been a little serious lately, so next Chapter I will make it more light-hearted...It's April Fools Day, which means it's time for pranks! I wonder what pranks Tayomi will pull on Hitsugaya? Find out in the next chapter! :D (But the romance will still be in that chapter XD )