Disclaimer: I do NOT own Bleach in any way! All copyrights of this series goes to Tite Kubo.
Author's Note: OMG, so many reviews to answer! So many great expectations for this story. Gah, I have no other choice, but to keep my engines revved up! Special thanks goes to chococat450, becomeafan, yumi-2121331, icyangel27, sweet miracle 'michu 17, j cloud xD, Samantha, monkeywinz (x2), michiHitsugaya, HoneyFlower15, divprince, HyorinmaruIce, Neko-cheung, lil'sayuri-chan, maili-chan, allan caldeini, cool!, applestoapples, serenity095, MoonLightView, RebelAngel91210, KnowledgeandImagination, Kaye. Shirogane, Little riding hood, (Rinka Tokmiya, silver'ashes. butterfly), athfdrizzle, tanithhh, DestinedDuelist893, SMILES208, Epoch95. Thank you for your reviews! Now it's time to find out what difficulties Hitsugaya and Hinamori are experiencing since their first kiss. Enjoy reading chapter twenty of The Healing Heart!
LEGEND
"Talking." "Thinking."
The Healing Heart
Part II - Hardships and Love
Chapter Twenty: Distant
As she is walking through the hallway, Momo placed a hand over her mouth and let out a yawn. She had barely slept because thoughts in her mind have prevented her from resting. "Are you alright Hinamori-kun?"
She turned her head to the side to find her pale blond haired friend, walking beside her. The sixteen year old replied, "Oh, I'm okay Kira-kun; I just stayed up late, that's all."
"I see."
Just after Izuru opened the slide door to their homeroom class, Momo's eyes soon spotted a familiar face. Already present in the classroom and sitting in the seat next to her seat is Toshiro. "Hitsugaya-kun..."
She let out a quiet gulp. Hinamori walked up to her desk with her head held low. Taking a quick glance at him, she raised her head up a bit. She wanted to greet him good morning like she always does, but for some reason, she couldn't find the words to say it.
During this time, Hitsugaya noticed her presence beside him. With one short glance at the girl, he found himself keeping his eyes away from her. It is moments later he heard her say, "Morning..."
Toshiro opened his mouth, but soon closed it. Then, he let out a quiet reply. "Um, good morning..."
After that, the two friends behind their desks and exchanged no words from one another. As a matter of fact, they didn't even bother looking at each other, not even once. From a few meters behind their backs, Kira noticed their strange behaviour and began to wonder if something has happened between them. "Yo Kira," Renji greeted after entering the classroom in his usual manner; he walked into the classroom casually with his school bag draped over his shoulder.
"Oh hey Abarai-kun," Izuru replied before resuming his attention to Toshiro and Momo.
"What's up?"
There was a brief pause before the pale blond haired teenager answered, "They're not acting like their usual selves. Actually, they're not even speaking to one another compared to what they usually do around this time."
The red headed teenager took a brief glance at the two young friends and understood what he meant. He resumed his attention to his male friend and replied, "No kidding; they look like they're trying to avoid one another."
Kira nodded with agreement. "I wonder if Matsumoto-san knows what's going on between them."
He merely shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows, but it wouldn't hurt to ask."
"Yeah, you're right about that. We'll ask her during our lunch break."
"Eh, Hitsugaya and Hinamori are not talking to each other?" Matsumoto asked. Not long after the lunch bell has rung, Kira and Abarai quickly left their classroom to meet with the strawberry orange haired woman in her homeroom class of 3-1.
The pale blond haired teenager nodded with agreement. "We were wondering if you know something about them."
She crossed her arms over her chest and gave it some thought. After that, she held her arms out and shook her head. "Nope, I have no idea at all. Besides, those two usually get along with one another. If their relationship were to be a bit strained, they would just poke fun at one another and then everything would return back to normal a few minutes later."
Kira then looked at Renji. "I guess we have no other choice, but to ask them."
"I think it's better to let Rangiku deal with it," Hisagi said, joining in on the conversation. "Besides, she has known Hitsugaya longer than anyone else and it's more likely for Hinamori to talk about her problems to her rather than us guys."
Abarai let out a sigh and began scratching the back of his neck. "I guess so..."
"Well, it's time for me to get going now..." Matsumoto said after slamming a hand on the table. She then stood up her seat and raised an arm up to show off her biceps, "...and get to the bottom of the mess that Hitsugaya and Hinamori have caused. This job is definitely for Rangiku Matsumoto to solve!"
The other boys slowly agreed. "Ehrm, yeah..."
With that said, the seventeen year old woman waltz out of the classroom, humming a random tune. During this time, Gin Ichimaru noticed her behaviour and turned his attention to her companions. "Now why is Ran-chan acting so happy just now?"
"She's eager to find out what is going on between Hitsugaya-kun and Hinamori-kun," Kira replied.
"Hn, how come I'm not surprised?"
"Tell me about it," Hisagi said. "If any interesting news goes through her ears, she's going to go all out with the rumours and gossips."
"Then, my prayers go to the Hinamori-chan and Hitsugaya-kun." Ichimaru let out an amused grin on his face. He added another comment, "They're definitely going to need it."
She is standing behind the fence on the rooftop, looking out on the scenery below. Usually, she would hang around with her friends, eating lunch together even if only one of them ended up showing up. On most cases like those, Hitsugaya would be the one who would be at her side. Now that she has kissed him, things have become awkward between them. After clutching a hand around the fence, Hinamori lowered her head and let out a defeated sigh. "Hey Hinamori!" said a cheery voice coming from behind her.
She turned around and noticed the older teenager standing in her presence. Placing her hands together behind her back, she asked, "Rangiku-san, what are you doing here?"
Matsumoto walked to her side, turned around, and began leaning against the fence. "I just wanted to talk to you. Besides, it has been a while since we last spoke like this."
"Oh..."
The two girls were silent for a moment until the strawberry orange haired woman commented, "Kira and Renji told me the news that you are not acting like your usual self."
Momo lowered her head. "I see..."
"Did something happen that caused you to be this way?"
The peach girl paused for a bit before raising her head up to look up at the partly cloudy sky. "It's about Hitsugaya-kun..."
"Hitsugaya? What about him? Did he do something bad to you?" She suddenly folded her arms over her chest. "That idiot, he's going to pay for hurting your feelings."
Hinamori quickly shook her head and replied, "No, he didn't do anything wrong! It's just...I have always thought of him as a very close friend, but it all changed when we shared our...first kiss with one another yesterday."
Matsumoto's expression didn't change throughout her confession (while trying to hold back the urge to yell at her with great excitement). She continued listening to everything the young girl has to say.
"From that point on, I can't stop thinking about him. Whenever I see him, I turn away, trying to fight off the blush on my cheeks and stabilize the fast rate that my heart is beating. Whenever I try to talk to him, I feel like I just swallowed a large rock, leaving no words to come out of my throat."
Momo then turned to Rangiku.
"These feelings are all too confusing!"
Matsumoto let out a sigh, thinking of a way to help her troubles. She replied, "I think you're currently experiencing the symptoms of love."
Hinamori blinked. "Love? You mean...as in I have fallen romantically in love with someone?"
She merely shrugged her shoulders. "That's what I read from the romance magazines; one is in love when they experience most or all those symptoms."
"R-Really?"
"Yup."
Now that she thought about it carefully, it does make sense why she likes to hang out with her white haired friend. Not only she wanted to help him, but she wanted to be there at his side. When she suddenly felt immense happiness from inside her as he gave her that kiss and she returned the favour by accepting his offer, it further proves Matsumoto's speculation. "I see...what should I do?"
"Well, the first thing you should do is to ask yourself: do you want to start a romantic relationship with him?"
"A romantic relationship...you mean going out with one another?"
"Yeah."
"I-I'm not too sure...I don't know if I'm ready for all that to happen," she admitted. "I mean...we are fine with our current relationship before."
"However, now that you have kissed one another, it means something else. It's either a one sided love has developed, both of you have fallen in love with one another, and you two were just in the heat of the moment. Either way, your friendship relationship has changed."
"Oh..."
"The final decision is up to you whether you should confess to him or not."
Hinamori lowered her head for a moment before raising it up again. She let out a faint smile. "Arigato Rangiku-san..."
The older girl smiled back. "It's no problem, Hinamori. You can always count on me to hear out your troubles."
"Hai."
"Anyway, I should get going," Matsumoto said as she began walking her way toward the stairs. "I have some unfinished business to take care of."
"Okay, I'll see you later."
"If you and Hitsugaya become a dating couple, you have to tell me the news!"
"Um...alright then."
"Ja ne!"
Once her schoolmate left, Momo to stand alone and do some reflection. "I wonder what he's thinking right now..."
Below on ground level, Hitsugaya sat under the shade of a large tree, looking through the contents of his silver cell phone. When he stopped pressing buttons, the LCD screen displayed a picture of his older sister, Miyuki. "Onee-chan, if you were still alive, what would you say to me at a time like this?"
He then let out a defeated sigh.
"I always thought of her as someone like you, a sister, and a precious friend, but after I kissed her yesterday, I-I don't know what to think of her as. I thought about keeping our relationship the way they were before, however it didn't work out. I-I can't stop thinking about her. I feel happy when I'm with her, I feel the need to always protect her, and most of all, I don't want her to leave my side ever. I never felt this way before; it's...so different and confusing."
Toshiro suddenly let out a frustrated growl and began scratching the sides of his head. "Heavens, what am I supposed to do with these feelings and why am I acting this way?"
"Maybe it's because you love her," answered a voice.
He turned his head to suddenly see the strawberry orange haired girl leaning against the tree trunk with one arm. Instead of getting mad at her for eavesdropping on his conversation, he asked, "Love?"
Interested by his response, Rangiku merely shrugged her shoulders. "But then again, I'm probably wrong about that. Besides, it's not like I experienced love myself. I just hear a lot of speculations about it."
"I'm in love with Hinamori?"
"Is there something wrong with that?"
He then gave her a stern look. "What do you think? Of course it's not good to have feelings for her! I-It's just..."
"There is nothing wrong with falling in love with someone whom you known for a while. As a matter of fact, I heard a lot of couples come together after being friends with one another for so long."
"It's not that; it's just..."
"Listen Hitsugaya, Hinamori is not your older sister, Miyuki. She's your regular girl just like me and any of the other girls in the school. So, it's completely alright to have romantic feelings for her."
For the longest time, after they have become friends, he has always thought of the peach girl as someone important. She is so important in his life that his mind often mixes her up with his dead sister. As a result, he would always be able to show his true personality in her presence. Either way, he would always tell his problems to her, he would always share his emotions with her, and finally, he would always stay by her side. Now that they're older, he sees her in a different way. He wanted her to become someone more and the thought of it scares him. "I don't know...if she feels the same way."
"Then, you have to tell her how much you feel."
"You're telling me to confess to her?"
She nodded with agreement. "You got that right."
Toshiro became silent.
"Anyway, I better head back inside and eat my lunch," Rangiku said while stretching her arms up into the air. "The school bell is going to ring soon. See you later."
After a few moments of thinking on his own, Hitsugaya closed the cap of his cell phone and stuffed it back into his pants pocket. "Maybe...she is right."
He picked himself up from the ground, brushed the dust off his pants, and headed back into the school building. From his previous actions, from his previous words, and most of all, from his heart, he now understands his sentiments and his desires. Once he is finished work, he will go find the raven haired girl and tell her the feelings from his heart and hope for the best.
Japanese Word Translations
Arigato - Thank You, Hai - Yes, Ja ne - Good Bye (informal/casual)
Author's Note: You can always count on Matsumoto when it comes to bringing young couples together. xD Stay tuned for the next chapter. Please review! Thanks.