She hadn't really known what she was doing when she pulled him down. She was just caught in the moment. But before she knew it, she was right down there on top of him. They had just stared at each other for a moment, and then suddenly Toshiro started to lift up his head. He's going to kiss me! Momo had thought, and had jumped off of him, slightly mortified. Looking back, she felt stupid for even thinking that. He had probably just been trying to get up. But still…
"Well, Momo?" Rangiku's voice registered in Momo's mind.
"Huh?" She said, turning to look at her friend.
"Were you even listening?" Rangiku asked, "Come on, what's up? You've been staring off into space this whole time." The three girls had headed back to Rangiku's house from the field. They were now lounged across Rangiku's bedroom floor.
"Oh. Sorry about that," Momo responded, "I was just thinking…"
"About Toshiro, right?" Rukia asked.
Momo's face turned a crimson shade, "Why would you say that?"
"She doesn't deny it!" Rangiku exclaimed.
Momo's face grew darker, "Fine," She admitted, "I was. So what?"
"You like him." Rangiku said.
"Fine." Momo admitted once again, "So what?"
"SHE ADMITS IT!" Rangiku screamed, pointing wildly at Momo.
Momo looked slightly petrified at Rangiku's strange behavior.
"Ignore her," Rukia said, sending a scolding look towards Rangiku, "So. Are you going to ask Toshiro out?"
"Uh…" Momo seemed intimidated, "I don't know… I've never had a boyfriend… and wouldn't that make things awkward… especially if he said no! And he probably would…." Momo seemed to be talking more to herself than her friends.
"Hmm…" Rukia said, thinking about Momo's incoherent blatherings, "You have a good point." Rukia flopped down onto Rangiku's bed and looked at the ceiling, "But… I don't know. He could like you back."
At this point, Rangiku burst back into the conversation with a crazed laugh, "I know how to find out!"
Momo stared at Rangiku for a few seconds, blinking expressionlessly, "Uh. No."
Rangiku began to calm down, "Come on! I was just kidding!"
Momo rolled her eyes, "Right."
"You know," Rukia said from her position on the bed, "The Fall Dance is coming up soon, and all the soccer players are supposed to bring dates…"
"Hu hu hu…." Rangiku chuckled, "What strange development do we have here? OOF!"
Rukia threw a pillow into Rangiku's face, "Stop being stupid."
"What's the Fall Dance?" Momo asked.
"Well at the end of every sports season Parker High holds a school dance," Rukia explained, "All the sports teams have their little awards things and MVPs and whatever. But! All the players are supposed to bring a date."
"What is that a rule, or something?" Momo asked.
"I don't know. A social rule I guess…" Rukia said, now wondering whose rule it was exactly, but then continued, "Still- I don't think any player has ever not brought a date."
"And Ichigo went with Rukia last year…" Rangiku added, "OOF!"
Rukia threw another pillow into Rangiku's face.
"IT'S TRUE!" Rangiku cried.
Another pillow.
"GAHH!! STOP IT!" Rangiku lunged herself on top of a screaming Rukia. The two wrestled for a moment, before they seemingly remembered Momo was there. She stared at them blankly before saying, "You guys are really weird."
"I can't deny." Rangiku said, as they all started laughing, "Anyway… what were we talking about?"
"How Toshiro is madly in love that Momo, and is going to ask her to the fall dance." Rukia reminded her as Momo blushed.
"So, you went with Ichigo last year?" Momo asked Rukia, desperate to change the subject.
"At the last minute!" Rukia claimed, "And just as friends."
Rangiku rolled her eyes, "Righht. OOF!" Rukia had thrown another pillow at her, "gHAH! STOP THAT!"
"Stop what?" Rukia played innocent, "I didn't do anything!"
Rangiku pursed her lips and glared at Rukia with a, 'You expect me to buy that?' face and then redirected her attention to Momo, "Annnyway, the Fall Dance is a pretty big thing at Parker High, and even Toshiro knows it's stupid to go without a date."
Momo sighed, "So what makes you think that he'd ask me? You said so yourself, you know, that there's plenty of girls who completely adore him."
"Just a hunch," Rangiku said winking, "And besides, it's not as if he likes any of those girls. In fact, I think they kind of bother him," She chuckled, "And they don't really like him for him anyway. At least, I can't imagine that they do… He's not a very likeable person." They all laughed. It was sort of true after all; Toshiro's rough exterior was kind of a put down.
"When is it anyway?" Momo asked.
"It's usually the first Friday after the last game of the season," Rukia said, "And that includes tournament games. Since our team is certain to make it to the final championship game, it would be the day after that. Cause the last game in on a Thursday."
"Someone's done their research," Rangiku observed.
"Ichigo's been talking about it a lot is all…" Rukia said.
"Mhmm…" Rangiku rolled her eyes, "Anyway, that's sometime in November, so you've still got time to get Toshiro to ask you."
"What do you mean, 'Get Toshiro to ask me?'" Momo questioned.
"You know," Rangiku nudged her small friend and sent her a wink, "Using your womanly powers of persuasion," Rangiku mimicked a flirty pose, as Rukia started to crack up.
"I can't see Momo doing that to Toshiro," Rukia exclaimed.
"Me either." Momo seconded, as they all laughed.
"I wouldn't worry about it to much, anyway," Rukia told Momo, "He really does seem to like you. He's been a lot more happy and smiley since you came around." Momo blushed, but Rukia continued, "No, it's true! I don't think I'd ever really seem him smile at all, except when he's talking to you, or whenever you walk into the room." This caused Momo to blush even further.
"I agree," Rangiku added, "So we should focus more on how we're going to get Ichigo to ask Rukia out!!" Rangiku and Momo laughed, but Rukia didn't look too happy about it.
"And how we're going to get Principle Yamamoto to ask Rangiku out!" Rukia sarcastically remarked, causing all three of the girls to laugh.
Later that night the girls headed downstairs for dinner, a nice entrée of Instant Marconi and Cheese, and a second course of microwave Pizza Bagels. Rangiku's parents had headed out to eat for the night, so the girls were all alone in the house.
After playing some fierce video games, hanging out, watching a children's Disney movie, and running down the hallway and sliding in their socks, it was about 9:00, and about time for desert.
They got out all the ingredients to make crepes: pancake mix, milk, eggs, oil, and Nutella. As you can imagine… that didn't go well. They ended up just eating thin pancakes coated in chocolate, and making a mess. But hey, it tasted good. After cleaning that all up, they headed back upstairs, and finally managed to get to bed at some late early? hour.
The next morning when the awoke they headed down for breakfast: cereal, for none of them wanted anything to do with pancakes for quite a while. A little while after that, Momo decided she would head on home, as she hadn't made any specific plans with Ukitake about what time she would be coming home, and she didn't want to worry him.
After bidding goodbye to her friends, Momo headed across the street and let her self in with her new key, and looked around. The giant house was quiet… she didn't see anyone about at all. She was certain that such a large house with only an old lady, a sick man, and a distant child would be quiet quite frequently, but she had yet to experience this. The only time she wasn't with someone was when she was upstairs in her room, alone; and even still she could hear Toshiro in the other room, and Ukitake and Granny downstairs. This… was just weird…
Momo cautiously walked around the grand living room; she placed her bag on a nearby table.
"Hello?" she called, "Is anyone here?" No answer, then she noticed a note taped near the entrance to the kitchen, by the phone.
"Momo:" The note read, "We apologize for not being here to greet you, but the three of us have gone to church this fine morning, for the lord has answered our prayers!! -Granny." Momo placed the note down; all three of them went to church together? She couldn't picture it… and what had Granny meant by, 'The lord has answered our prayers?' She glanced at the clock; it was about 11:30 so they'd be home in like a half an hour or so...
Momo had never attended church regularly with her family, and she began to wonder if Ukitake and his family did. From the note, it didn't particularly sound like it. From what she understood from her parents, it was hard for their family to function in general. Ukitake's tuberculosis took a seriously toll on the family, although it had apparently been improving recently with treatment. In fact, Momo had barely noticed it at all in the short time she had been staying with the family. Ukitake did most of his work at home, and since Toshiro could walk to school and he didn't really need to be carted anywhere Ukitake was able to rest and remain comfortable without too many stresses.
Momo suddenly paled. Having her there must be a serious stress to the family. She immediately began to feel bad. She was really beginning to care a lot for the family, and didn't want to do anything to put Ukitake's health at risk. Of course, she wouldn't have been aloud to come if that was a factor was it? Well, who really knew, Ukitake was so kind he may have just… Momo began to become lost in her thoughts as she carted her bag upstairs to her room.
As she headed towards her room, she noticed Toshiro's door open. Even though she knew she shouldn't, she went it anyway. He wouldn't be back for a while, and she was just curious after all. She wasn't going to hurt anything…
The room was the same as usual, messy, and cluttered. This time Momo directed her attention to the photographs upon the dresser. The largest was one she had seen earlier, on her first day in the house. It was a picture of Ukitake and Toshiro together. Now that she was able to look closer, it appeared that they were outdoors, maybe camping or rock climbing or something.
She looked at another nearby photo. In this one was Toshiro, who was maybe 5, an older boy, who was maybe 13 or 14 with the same white hair, and two adults, who were presumably Toshiro's parents, as the white haired man looked strikingly like Ukitake. However the woman didn't look like any of them. Her hair was red, and kept up in a clean looking bun. Her eyes were green, agitated and diverted from the camera. Momo paused as she looked at this picture, and found herself recalling what Granny had said about Toshiro's parents. They really didn't seem very… caring? Was that the word she was looking for?
Momo decided to turn her attention elsewhere, which just happened to be a nearby photo frame, however this one was empty. That was strange… She picked it up and a small piece of paper fell onto the floor from the back of the frame. Momo placed the frame back on the dresser and instead crouched down and picked up the photo. She immediately recognized Toshiro by his insane colored hair, than directed her attention to the little brown haired girl smiling to his right.
Momo stared at the picture. That was her! This was a picture of Toshiro and herself! But how is that, they'd never met before, had they? Momo thought about it, it wasn't really like she remembered all the people she had met when she was that young, but wouldn't she have at least remembered Toshiro, or at least been told that they'd known each other? And why was this photo out of the frame?
Then suddenly Momo heard the sound of a door closing, and people talking. The others were home! Momo replaced the photo in to it's spot and than quickly ran into her room, taking her bag with her. After catching her breath for a moment, Momo headed downstairs to say hello and let them know she was there. When she headed downstairs she saw Granny and Ukitake enveloped in a hug, as Toshiro was taking of his jacket. (Wow, he looked really nice when he was dressed up.) Then Momo noticed something else…
"Ukitake- your hair…" Momo started, "It's shorter." It was true; Ukitake's previous long silver hair that had extended down his back was now tied in a shorter ponytail that hung just below his shoulder.
"That's not all that's different about me, Momo." He said as a huge grin came across his face, and Granny's eye's started to water.
"What is it?" Momo said, seriously curious.
"It's gone." He said his smile growing, "The tuberculosis. It's gone."
So. Yeah. I know it's been a while since I updated. I was taking this class up until last week that lasted 3 hours after school, which means I don't get home until like 7. So that ended, and now I've finally had time to finish this chapter! : )
And incase you're wondering, my sister is doing just great. She had surgery and now she's back to normal. Well, not completely… She still has to wear a sling, can't fully move her arm, and won't be doing any vigorous activity for a while, but asides from that doing good.