"Momo-chan! Come on!" Rangiku grabbed her friend's wrist and pulled her into the bar.
Momo coughed. It was relatively dark and smelled distinctly of alcohol, with music blasting in the background.
"Rangiku-san! Why do I have to be here in the first place?" Momo protested, shaking her wrist free as Rangiku sat down on a barstool and ordered a drink.
Rangiku took a sip from the cool glass that the bartender had place on the bar and explained. "Because! I'm meeting a friend here, and I didn't want to come alone!"
Momo sighed in exasperation and took a seat next to Rangiku. "And what am I supposed to do once he shows up? I'll be such a third wheel!"
Her last statement was ignored as Rangiku began to frantically fix her hair and smooth down her clothing. Momo looked towards the door and could see two people coming in; one with short dark hair, and the other with spiky white hair.
"There's Shuheii! Oh gosh, do I look alright?" Rangiku asked.
Momo nodded, "Didn't you say you were meeting a friend?"
Before Momo got a response, the taller of the two sat down beside Rangiku and smiled at her, while the short one continued walking by.
"Hey!" Rangiku hugged him and continued to ignore Momo. Momo sighed; she knew that Rangiku had been lying when she said this man was only a friend. And this normally meant that at some point they would get completely drunk and start making out. So Momo would be forced to walk all the way back home alone. In the middle of the night. Outside of a bar.
Momo had enough of this, so she scooted a couple of chairs down, almost bumping into the white-haired guy she had seen coming in with Shuheii.
"Oi, do you mind?" He almost snapped at her, taking a drink from his glass.
Momo blushed. "Ah, sorry! It's just that I wanted to move away from those two over there."
He looked over her shoulder. "Do you know them?"
Momo nodded. "Yes. That's my friend, Rangiku Matsumoto. I'm not exactly sure who she's talking tom though; I heard her call him Shuheii."
"Shuheii Hisagi. He's on my soccer team. Dragged me here, too."
Momo nodded and then turned to the bartender. "Excuse me, do you have any iced tea?" The man nodded, and within seconds there was a cup placed in front of her with a lemon wedge.
"What are you doing at a bar if you don't drink?" He asked.
Momo rolled her eyes. "That's not the kind of question strangers ask other people."
Toshiro held out his hand and sighed. "Toshiro Hitsugaya."
Momo shook it. "Momo Hinamori. And the answer to you question; I'm not a heavy drinker. And neither are you, apparently. You have water!"
Toshiro shook his head. "I can hold my alcohol, I just choose not to. Meanwhile you probably take one shot and totally freak out."
The young, dark-haired girl stuck her nose up slightly. "You hush up! I just hate hangovers!" Momo turned to the bartender once more, pushing her empty glass of iced tea towards him. "A beer, please."
Toshiro smirked, amused at her actions. "Are you trying to prove to me that you can handle more than one beer?"
The bartender gave her the bottle, before checking his watch, muttering 'thank god', pulling off his apron, and dashing out the employee exit in back. Momo simply shrugged it off and took a gulp out of the beer bottle.
Two hours and 5 and a half beers later, Momo was very, very drunk, while Rangiku and Shuheii had indeed began to make out. They were just about to leave, which would leave Momo and Toshiro alone.
Toshiro, however, had been very cautious with his alcohol consumption. Throughout the entire course of the night he had only had half a beer, sipping on occasion. The only reason he had ordered it in the first place was so he could convince Momo that he, too, was drinking quite a bit. With her drunken state, Momo was easily convinced that Toshiro had drunk the same amount as her.
"Mmm..." Momo muttered, resting her head down on the cold bar surface. She chugged the last of her beer, making a grand total of 6.
Toshiro decided that this was where he should step in. "Okay, Momo. It's time for you to stop. You need to go home."
She hiccuped and nodded, slapping down several bills to pay for her tab. Momo then stood and started stumbling towards the door.
"Hinamori!" Toshiro chased after her, stopping Momo right outside in the cool, autumn air. "Are you going to call a taxi?" He asked, not wanting anybody to get hurt if she drove.
Momo shook her head. "Nah, I walfed here with, uh, Rangiku-saaaan. It's fife streets dawn..." Her words were slurred and barely understandable.
Toshiro sighed. "Damn it..." He muttered. Even though Toshiro was often disconnected and irriate, he was still a gentleman. There was no way he could let a drunk girl walk home all by herself late at night. Much less a beautiful girl like Momo.
"I guess I'm gonna have to walk home with you," he sighed, stuffing his hands into his jean pockets to fight the cold. He watched as she smiled.
"Just cuz um drunk doesn't mean that I has a one-night stand wit' you!" Momo exclaimed playfully, starting to guide Toshiro the direction of her apartment complex. "Down this way."
As the two of them walked along, Momo yapped away in a drunken stupor while Toshiro payed some small bit off attention to the babble. He didn't really know exactly what she meant when she told him about walrus's and monkeys, but there actually were some things that she said that made sense. Such as her address and her beer consumption.
Finally, they reached the entrance to her apartment building. She thanked Toshiro, very politely, even while drunk, and asked him to come over the next day.
"No."
"Pleease?" She gave him the puppy-dog face, and Toshiro just couldn't refuse such an... adorable look.
"Geez, fine." He walked her inside and helped her to the elevator, but they were interrupted.
There was a slightly older man with thick-framed glasses, a white jacket, and curly brown hair standing behind the counter as the concierge (A/N- Do they call it that in apartments? Haha, IDK! Doorman, let's say that.) He was looking at Toshiro intensely, as if trying to explode him with his mind.
"Good night, Momo-chan," He called over to the intoxicated young girl.
Momo smiled and waved over at him. "G'nite, Aizen-san!" Toshiro looked suspiciously between the two of them. 'Something's up...' he thought.
The next day, Toshiro walked over to Momo's apartment just like she had asked. He had been prepared to help her in dealing with a hangover, but what met him when he arrived was far from it.
There was a police car parked directly outside. As he got closer, Toshiro could see that the front door had been left open, but was being guarded by a police officer.
"Are you a tenant in this building?" The tall, bulky, and gruff officer asked, staring down at Toshiro.
"No, I'm visiting a friend."
The officer frowned. "I'm sorry, then you can't go in there right-" he was cut off by a bang, and the sound of metallic clicks. Like the locking of handcuffs.
The officer walked away, towards the police car, and held the door open as Toshiro watched another officer pushing a man out. It was the man he recognized from the night before; the doorman, Aizen.
As soon as the squad car had departed and was a safe distance away, Toshiro went inside and could see a sobbing Momo sitting on the couch in the lobby. Her bright yellow sun dress was too bright to suit her current mood.
"Hinamori?"
She looked up and wiped her face, pulling a smile. "Good morning, Hitsugaya-kun."
"What was that about?" He asked
Momo's eyes filled with tears. She patted the cushion beside her, so Toshiro sat down and listened to her account of the night. Of how Aizen had broken into her apartment and... well, you can guess.
The distressed girl collapsed onto Toshiro's chest.
He wrapped his arms around her soothed her, not leaving her side from that moment on.
Sorry for the late update. I'm running out of ideas... haha. Not feeling inspired lately, and I've been very busy with school and stuff. But i'll have alot more time on my hands now! Please review!
~SnowKoyuki13