A/N: Hey guys! under your requests, I decided to update ASAP.
School started already and I've been very very very busy recently. Needless to say, I had to skip a couple of hours of study to finish this chapter lol
But whatever, I owe you guys this much because Everyday with you is about to reach 400 reviews! Oh my goodness that's just awesome!
Man, 21 chapters already!
I wonder if we can reach 400 reviews with this chapter :3
Big thanks to all of you reviewers and those who have been following me on twitter! Love your reviews, love your pms and love your tweets :D
Love y'all!
Disclaimer: I do not own BLEACH!
Masquerade Ball
My eyes widened in shock, looking up at his mesmerizing emerald eyes that easily made my legs go jell-o.
I held myself up putting my hands on the counter behind me, inching away from Toushirou.
His question came out in a low and nervous voice, making me feel all kinds of emotions at once.
I felt happy that he might at least acknowledge my feelings; sad, because if I gave out the wrong answer, our friendship would be ruined; terrified, for him finding out my feelings I've been hiding so desperately from him for so long.
How did he know?
'Say yes.' A voice softly said inside me, making my scalp prickle and my hands nervously twitch behind me. "I do..." I whispered, but he was close enough to hear me.
I saw his eyes widen, but I didn't know how to interpret that.
Was he scared that I could have romantic feelings for him?
Being the coward that I was, I quickly added. "... I like our friendship a lot."
Toushirou visibly relaxed, his gaze softened and somehow that didn't make me feel any better.
He shook his head, as if mentally scolding himself, but a smile graced his oh-so-desirable lips. "Sorry." He chuckled. "I should've known better. Yumichika somehow managed to make me think that you may like me or something like that." He shook his head once again, as if in disbelief. "Sorry, Momo."
I laughed nervously. "W-why would you believe what Yumichika said?" I was mentally preparing the perfect plan to kill Yumichika while trying to re-compose myself on the surface.
"I don't know, I guess the one who really gave me that doubt was Kaien." Another name in my Black List. "He told me to ask you for permission before I could go out with a friend of mine this weekend at the fireworks display. Weird shit, right?" He gave me a kind smile, but it felt like my heart was getting stabbed by a sharp knife over and over again.
After the stabbings, my heart started sinking so low. "You can do whatever you want, Toushirou... Who am I to stop you?" I smiled, hoping to make it look as natural as possible, but then I just couldn't look at him in the eyes, so I looked down. "Why did you even ask?" I muttered to myself.
But he was close enough to hear every word I said. "Because I wanted to know." He replied with a hushed voice, taking me by surprise once again.
"...What?" I looked up at him, hoping that my eyes wouldn't give out too much of that hope I was feeling at that moment.
Toushirou shrugged and smirked. "If you would've said yes, by now we'd probably be a couple." He got closer to me, his minty breath fanning over the tip of my nose, his eyes wandering down my face as my eyes fell onto his lips which were sexily curved up into his trademark smirk.
I was utterly dumbfounded, I had no idea what to say and my brain refused to collaborate with me. "Huh?"
Fuck you brain.
"Just kidding." In a second, he pulled back away from me and his kind smile came back, mischeviousness was long lost from him and he looked nothing like the sexy young man seemingly making me drop my panties just with his words and just by getting close to me.
He was back as the handsome innocent dazzling guy who easily robs every girl's heart.
I blinked rapidly and shook my head. "I-I have to clean up here. You sh-should go to sleep." I stuttered a little bit and turned my back at him.
"What are you saying, I'll wait for you." I heard him walk up to the counter on my left side and for the rest of our stay in the kitchen we barely spoke up.
Inside me there was havoc.
'He didn't mean it that way...' Said my Heart softly, her face scrunched into sadness and dismay.
'This is what I was warning you about.' The Angel glared at me and my Heart. 'Serves you right for believing something so stupid.'
oOOOo
"Hinamori-san?" I blinked in surprise, seeing Nagase-san's face a little bit too close to my face. "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah, sorry." I replied in a huff, reaching up to the top shelves on my tip-toes on a small low chair.
He looked at me suspiciously but said nothing, in his usual silent behaviour.
The infamous final weekend of my summer vacation was coming up, but this weekend was not infamous for just that, but also because there would be the annual summer festival with the awesome fireworks display after it.
I used to go there with Toushirou back in my Elementary days and from when I started High School, so I expected to go with him this year too.
But no. God decided that I've had enough privileges of his attention for far too long. It was time to find the chosen one for that perfect white-haired prince charming.
And me, poor little frog, can do nothing about it.
"Kiddos, I'm going out for my lunchdate. I'll see you in a bit." Kamiya-san danced her way out of her office and out of the shop, happily bringing her iPhone up to her ear as it rang.
I glanced at Nagisa-san, as recently I've noticed his longing looks for Kamiya-san whenever he'd get the chance to see her. It was pretty obvious then that he liked her. But it was a one-sided love because Kamiya-san was already happily engaged with the infamous Kana-san, or so she would call him.
The poor guy, he had my same age, and he has to suffer that kind of love I've been having for my childhood friend.
I slowly reached up for the top shelf, wiping it as much as I could manage to reach and clumsily putting the books up, standing on my tip-toes.
I heard Nagisa walk up behind me, and I found myself in an almost similiar position from that time in the kitchen with Toushirou, as I stood between the bookshelf and Nagisa-san behind me.
The feeling was different, as he reached for the books I was holding and easily put them on the top bookshelf.
I didn't move, probably savouring that incredibly familiar situation, trying to immagine it was Toushirou although it did nothing but hurt me as it reminded me not only of the sweet fragrance he had when he pinned me against the counter, but also of his bitter words that denied our yearly 'date' on summer festivals.
"What are we even doing here?" A squeaky voice came from the entrance, and two footsteps clearly made their way inside the shop.
"My cousin asked me to buy her books." That's Toushirou's voice! When I turned my head to look at their direction, his eyes widened in surprise as the girl that stood beside him put a hand over her mouth when she saw me and Nagase-san.
Just then I realized how compromising that position could be. I blushed and nudged my fellow worker, who boredly looked at the two customers with his dark chocolate eyes.
He stepped back from me and used his usual business like attitude with normal customers. "Good morning, how may we help you?"
Toushirou grumpily put a list of books on the counter beside him without saying a word.
Nagase-san raised his eyebrow for a second, then he put his hand on the small of my back, making me look up at him to wonder what he was thinking of by doing that. When I looked back at Toushirou, I noticed his hands were balled in fists, his knuckles where turning white and Nagase-san gently nudged me towards the counter and then smiled at me. "We shouldn't make the customers wait, should we?"
I dumbly nodded, not understanding what was going on, but what I did see then was the girl with Toushirou clinging onto his arm for dear life.
As we got to the counter, I got the list of books and Nagase-san intimately stood closely beside me as his arm locked me between him and the counter because his hand stretched behind my back to rest it on the counter in front of me, and his other hand grabbed the list Toushirou put on the counter earlier. "I'll get the books, you two are lucky, we had a re-stock yesterday... right, Hinamori?"
I nodded with a smile as he held the list for me to read. "Yeah..."
"I'll go ahead and get them, start preparing the check and make a photocopy of their list." Nagase-san promptly ordered and left to get the books from the bookshelf we were just re-ordering and I did as I was told; before I could step away from the counter, Toushirou grabbed my hand when I turned around, making me look back at him in surprise.
He seemed to have gotten surprised too and immediately pulled back. "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Ouch, that kind of hurt. "It's okay." I went ahead and made a photocopy of the list of books so that we could keep track of our books-stock in the magazine. "Oh, these are the books that Rangiku needed right?" I tried to start some idle-conversation, but Toushirou was once again acting oddly.
"Yes." He nearly hissed and glanced back and forth at me and Nagase-san.
"Oh, you two know each other?" The girl clinging onto his arm finally aknowledged my exsistense, sneering at me.
I nodded. "We're childhood friends." I grabbed the photocopy and put it on the lower counters hiding underneath, along with the other photocopies of lists of books.
Nagase-san came back with all the books from the list effortlessly, and I noticed there that he was just a little bit taller than Toushirou when he walked past my childhood friend, putting the books on the counter.
I grabbed the plastic bags under the counter and Nagase-san held my hand to stop me. "Cash register."
I frowned, knowing well by then how he didn't want me to do the hard work. But I wasn't really in the mood to fight him in front of Toushirou, I at least wanted to look good after all of the stupid things I did in front of him in the past few days. "Fine..."
Toushirou and the girl mirrored me as I walked towards the cash register and quickly typed in all the books they bought. After giving out the price, Toushirou got out the money from his black wallet from his pocket and paid for the books.
By then, Nagase-san was already done putting the books in the plastic bags, so the girl pulled one of them off the counter; they were pretty heavy, but I could carry them with no problem, but she couldn't.
"Come on, give that to me." Toushirou swiftly got the plastic bag from the girl who protested.
"Let me help!"
Toushirou held both bags on his other arm, away from her. "I'll carry them, they're heavy."
That sight was so familiar. It kind of hurt, that's how we usually are whenever we go shopping for groceries.
Seeing how his usual treatment for me was just the same towards other girls really sucked.
The two were slowly making their way out of the shop, and Nagase-san nudged me, his face close to my ear. "If he turns around, there's a chance."
I perked up, glancing at my kind co-worker. "Really?"
He nodded, leaning back against the wall behind the counters. "Of course."
I looked out, Toushirou and the girl were just out of the store. They were walking to the right, and I waited for Toushirou to turn around before he could get out of my sight.
But he didn't.
Not able to wait any longer, I turned my back to the glassed doors, with a big frown on my face.
Nagase-san looked surprised after glancing out of the big windows, then sighed with a smile.
"He didn't turn around, see?" I slumped down. "Nagase-san, he doesn't like me." I could feel big tears threatening to escape my eyes, but I blinked them back in.
He didn't say anything and just motioned his head towards the glassed doors, where Toushirou was standing, panting.
My eyes widened in surprise, the tears from before were easily forgotten. "Toushirou?"
He walked in, in his usual classy way up to the counter. He put a bentou box on top of it. "I forgot to give this to you."
All of my hopes that went up instantly crashed down, dragging me down with them. "Right..." I tried to not sound disappointed.
He briefly smiled at me and left in a hurry. "I'll see you later."
I just nodded and watched him leave. Then I looked back at Nagase-san with a frown once again.
"Oh come on, he likes you." He said boredly. "It's not one-sided, Hinamori-san. He clearly got jealous earlier."
"But that girl..." I pondered.
"He has no interest in her whatsoever." Nagase-san sat up on the counters. "Just trust me, will you?"
I pursed my lips and just went on to re-organize the last couple of bookshelves.
oOOOo
"So let me get this straight. You confessed, yet you didn't?"
"Exactly." I put on my beige open cardigan over the chocolate V-neck shirt I was wearing and grabbed my bag, holding my phone next to my ear.
"You're a pussy." Rukia sneered.
"That, I have." I chuckled humorlessly. "No, Rukia. It's been confirmed, he doesn't like me." I waved at Nagisa-san and Kamiya-san before walking out of the bookstore.
"Ditto. But how can you be so sure he doesn't like you?"
"It was obvious. When I 'confessed' he looked... horrified. I don't know, something close to that emotion." I sighed and huddled in my cardigan, pulling it tightly at my body. "I think he likes someone else... he told me this weekend he was going out with a friend of his."
"Maybe he's talking about Kaien or Ikkaku and the others?" She suggested.
"No no, why would he go with them to the fireworks display?" I sighed and pulled my ticket from my shorts' pockets, then walked throught the gates. "And he said 'a friend of mine'. He must be referring to that girl he brought along at the bookstore earlier..."
"A girl? Tell me her name, I'll take care of it."
I rolled my eyes, though I knew she couldn't see me. "Whatever, Rukia."
"Alright, Miss Whatever Ruk- Hey!"
I burst out laughing. "Did you actually write it?!"
"Shut up." She sulked.
"Sorry sorry, don't sulk. I have to go now, the train just arrived." I stepped inside the train and looked for a seat. "I'll talk to you later."
"Okay, bye."
oOOOo
"Sure, I'll see you at 5 then..." Toushirou smiled to himself. "Okay, bye." He hung up and shoved his phone in his pocket.
Oh man, he was definetely talking to that girl.
"Hey." He gave me his usual warm greeting, as if nothing happened.
It kind of hurts. "Hey." I greeted him back and flopped down on the couch next to him, as usual. Although he might already like someone else, and although it would be impossible for him to return my feelings even in a milion years, I'm happy by just spending some quality time with him.
And by quality time I mean sitting next to him.
"You look tired."
"I am tired." I sighed, leaning back in the soft couch. "Hey, summer festival is this Sunday right?"
He nodded, glancing at me.
"Well, I hope you have no dates or anything for Saturday, Orihime invited you for her birthday party."
"I should be free this Saturday." Toushirou turned the tv on and we didn't speak much after that.
Though I was dying to know who that girl he brought at the bookstore earlier was.
He caught me looking at him and smiled. "What's wrong?"
I blushed. "N-nothing. What would you like for dinner?"
"I don't know." Toushirou shrugged and rested his arm along the back of the couch behind me. "I want what you want." And then he smiled at me, making me nearly combust on the spot.
'I WANT YOU!' "Oh, okay." I replied breathlessly. Fumbling, I stood up and went upstairs to change into more comfy clothes.
Good old sweaters and a tank top will do.
I checked my phone and saw a couple of messages from Rukia.
Heyyy the party will be held in Karakura, at that ginormous hotel by Karakura Park. Let's go there together, yes? -Rukia
Oh right, Hime told me that we should get there earlier, she told me she needed help with her hair and make up. -Rukia
I quickly typed a reply and went downstairs to sit once again next to Toushirou, who was effortlessly typing down on his phone.
"So, how was your day?" He asked me as I sat down.
I looked at him with raised eyebrows. "What's with the sudden question?"
He shrugged. "Just wanted to know. Seems like you've been having a good time at your workplace..."
Huh? "Uh... of course I am." After all, I do love staying around books. Is that what he's referring to?
"Oh, good..." Toushirou glanced at me, a sudden serious glint sparkled in his eyes. "I mean... You and your partner seemed to be getting along very well."
I nodded and smiled, remembering the silly moments I spent with Nagase-san. "He's a very good guy. At first he was very quiet, but now we're getting along."
Toushirou's jaw hardened and I felt his hand on the back of the couch clutching on the leather. "Good."
Is he...? No no, that's impossible. I should seize this opportunity to ask him about that girl. "So uh... what about your girlfriend?"
He raised his eyebrow. "Girlfriend? Oh, you mean Chihiro?" He chuckled. "She's not my girlfriend." I felt like a fish bone was taken off my throat. And damn it felt good. "She's a friend of mine... I accompanied her at the bookstore because she had no one to help her to carry all the school textbooks."
"Oh." I nodded. 'I still don't know how to feel about this though.'
Right on cue, my stomach growled like a grizzly's mating call. I blushed and Toushirou laughed.
"Come on, I'll cook dinner tonight." He got up and held out his hand for me to take.
Oh, Toushirou. Thou art a heartless handsome prince charming.
oOOOo
"And that's it?" Nagase-san said in dismay. "Lady, you gotta do something about your situation."
I sighed and wiped the dust off the bookshelves I was working on with the wet cloth in my hand. "As if there was anything I could do about it."
"Listen, I'm pretty sure he likes you." He groaned. "Look for signs, maybe you're just missing them out because you're so oblivious."
I glared at him. "Hey!"
"What? It's true!" He held up his hands in a defensive way. "You two are gonna go together to your friend's birthday party right?"
"... Yes...?" I asked, not sure where he was trying to get to.
"Then do this. Don't stick around with him."
I frowned. "I don't want to."
"Just do it." Nagase-san started scribbling something down on a piece of paper and put it on the counter, pushing it in my direction. "Here, this is my number and my e-mail, and keep me updated."
I huffed. "Aye aye sir..." I glanced at him then went back to the books laying at my feet. "I still don't think it will work though."
"Oh, it will. Damn right it will." He grinned confidently, and I think that it was the first time I've ever seen him grin like that.
I failed to stifle a smile, his grin was contagious. "Okay."
oOOOo
Soon enough it was already the long awaited weekend, which was apparently the last weekend of our summer vacation and school would start on Monday.
It was Friday afternoon, and I just finished my shift at work.
I already made arrangements with Kamiya-san about the changes in my sched when school starts, and she was very flexible about it.
"Alright, have a good weekend." She said smiling at me and I repectfully bowed at her, leaving her office.
"Keep me updated." Nagisa-san said playfully, holding up his phone.
I rolled my eyes. "Of course. See you."
"Remember, keep your distance from him!" He said as I left the shop, and I just shook my head and smiled.
I suddenly bumped into someone, and I nearly fell back on my butt. "Ow, sorry!" I put a hand over my face which slightly hurt from the bump.
"Oh, you're out already?" I looked up and was gracefully met by Toushirou's oh-so-handsome face.
I blinked a couple of times, making sure I wasn't dreaming, until I suddenly sneezed in the utmost ugly way.
That got Toushirou to chuckle and I blushed madly, pulling my muffler over my nose. "Come on, let's grab something warm to drink."
"Wait, what are you doing here?" I stopped him before he could start walking ahead.
"I was going to come and pick you up." He looked back at me and looked down at my hand holding his wrist, making me quickly pull back with a blush. He smiled at me.
"Why?" I asked, still confused.
Toushirou raised his eyebrows at me. "Rukia told me you wanted company to buy a gift for your friend."
"Wait I... Huh?" I was even more confused.
"She told me she couldn't come along so she asked me to accompany you. Come on, give me your bag, you must be tired." He held out his hand for my bag, but I didn't budge.
"No uh... don't worry about it, I can manage." I gulped, Nagisa-san's idea suddenly popped in my mind.
'Keep your distance!'
The rest of the afternoon slowly dragged on, keeping my distance from him when it was only just the two of us was really hard, maybe I should've brought along the plan at the party.
'Good idea, I'll do it at the party.' I nodded to myself and glanced out of the window in the train, holding my bag close to me while Toushirou sat on the row across mine.
Although it was hard to keep my distance from him, I noticed that his attitude seemed slightly different from usual, but I have no idea how to define it.
He kept... approaching me. I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much into it.
Once home I silently went upstairs to take a shower and change and started rummaging through my closet for a decent dress for Hime's party.
Toushirou walked in and faintly gasped. "Geez Momo, are you treasure hunting?"
"No, I'm looking for something to wear for tomorrow..." I grumbled, pulling out another pair of shorts from the closet. "Oh damn it, I don't have a mask."
"Right, the theme was 'Masquerade ball' right?" Toushirou nodded to himself.
"Momo!" Rangiku bursted inside our room with a big grin on her face. "I bought you a mask!"
Toushirou raised his eyebrows and pointed drammatically at Rangiku with his hands. "The solution for your problems is here."
Rangiku threw a white butterfly mask with a floral lacy pattern over it. "Simple but classy! Look at mine!" She held up a very big butterfly mask with feathers standing on top, it was pink and had lots of shiny stones around the eyes.
"Very... detailed." Worst compliment ever.
"Thanks, I like it very much too!" She seemed to be in high spirits, then turned to look at Toushirou. "Do you need one too?"
He shook his head. "I think I still have the mask from last year..."
"Oh, okay." Ran grinned and walked backwards out of the room. "Ja!"
"Alright, tick that one problem off and I still have the dress problem..." I sighed, remembering that every single pretty dress I've ever used are either leant by Rukia or bought by someone else.
Oh hey, I think Mom got a couple of elegant dresses for me. "Nevermind, I have no problems anymore."
"Good." Toushirou smiled and knelt down next to me. "Should I help you clean up the mess?"
I looked down and around me to see all of my clothes scattered around. I think my undies are all underneath the piles of shirts and shorts. "N-no thanks. You should go ahead and start cooking dinner." I slowly inched away from him, still trying to keep some distance from him. "As soon as I'm done here, I'll help you."
He seemed to be taken slightly back from my answer, but said nothing and left the room.
I sighed, hugging my knees.
Liking him has never been so tiring before.
oOOOo
"Happy birthday Orihime!"
Everybody clapped and held their glasses of champagne up for another toast.
"Cheers!"
After a loud cheering, we all drank and music started playing softly in the background. The host let everyone sit down at their assigned tables and we all ate some classy food.
"This party is awesome." Rangiku said, munching loudly on her food, still not taking her mask off.
"It is." Toushirou nodded, enjoying his meal. "Aren't you uncomfortable eating with you mask on?"
I stifled a laugh along with Shizuka-san and Uncle Juushirou. "Why don't you take it off?"
"I don't want to take it off, I love my mask!" She protested.
"But you're the only one who's still wearing it." I commented, glancing around the big room elegantly decorated in 19th century style furnishments and decorations, Rococò style.
"Whatever." Rangiku slowly munched on her meal.
"Alright, I'm done." I lightly wiped off the corners of my mouth with the given white napkin and put it down on the table, next to my plate.
"Already? You didn't eat much." Toushirou said in a worried voice. I shrugged, putting on my mask.
"I'll go ahead and wait for my parents, they should be here any time soon." I stood up, grabbed my purse and left Toushirou and his family, walking towards the big doors that lead to the long halls for the entrance.
No one was in the halls, they were brightly lit up by the big chandeliers hanging above, and the sound of my heels clicking on the floor kind of creeped me out.
The entry doors suddenly opened and I was met by Mom's happy face and Dad's usual pout.
I grinned and walked fast towards them, greeted by a warm and comforting hug only they could provide me.
"What are you doing here all alone?" Mom asked me, pulling back and looking at me. "Aww you're wearing the dress I bought for you!"
I shyly looked down, admiring my long white dress with a black thick belt going around my waist and a big black bow flowing along the back of the belt all the way down to the end of the dress. It had a heart-shaped neckline with black viny patterns along the edges of the neckline.
It matched the mask Ran leant to me.
"Oh no, Momo you're going to catch a cold dressed like that!" Gasped my Dad in his usual drammatic way; he was about to take his coat off and give it to me, but Mom stopped him with a nudge in his ribs with her elbow.
"Cut it out honey, she looks gorgeous!" Mom looked behind me. "This is quite the palace yes?"
"It is." I grinned. "Come on, Orihime has been waiting for you!"
We walked back inside the main room where the some of the round tables were moved to the sides of the room to give space right in front of the large stairs that lead upstairs.
"Wooow!" Mom gaped and looked around.
"Looks great." Dad nodded, glancing around and waving at some of his old friends. "Hey, where's the food?"
I rolled my eyes. "Oh Dad, you'll never change, huh?" I grinned at him and squeezed his arm. "Look, the buffet table is over there."
Dad immediately ran off and Mom shook her head. "I'll tag along, you know how your dad can eat at parties."
"Alright, I'll see you two later. Our table is on the other side." I pointed at the table where Toushirou and the others were still eating at.
Mom grinned. "See you later."
Orihime walked towards me, accompanied by her creature of the night - wait, that sounds rude - I mean, Prince of the night, yea, that sounds better. Both of them looked like a perfect couple that jumped out of a fashion magazine.
Orihime smiled at me, tucking a lock of her wavy hair behind her ear. "Enjoying the party?"
"Yeah, I love it!" I grinned and glanced around. "Oh, why are they moving the tables?"
She giggled. "For the dancefloor, you silly! I think the waiters are going to effectively take off all of the dining tables and put high tables to the sides, and drinks will be served at the bar right next to the buffet tables."
"Dancefloor..." I glanced at the waiters bringing dining tables out of the main room. "I can't dance."
Orihime winked at me. "You could get Toushirou-kun to teach you."
I blushed and she just giggled.
"Oh, your parents are here! I'm going to greet them, I'll see you later, Momo-chan!"
I nodded and smiled, watching the couple walk towards the buffet tables.
"Boo-yah!" I jumped and looked behind me to see Rukia grinning. "Love your dress!"
"Can't you greet me like a normal person would do?" I sighed but smiled at her.
She gave me one of her weird mischevious smiles. I raised my eyebrow at her, silently questioning her what was going on. "I know what you're doing to Toushirou. And it's working. I should've given you that advice sooner, damn it!"
I raised both my eyebrows. "Excuse me?"
"You know, the 'avoid him and make yourself desirable' thing." Rukia waved her hands dismissively. "It's working! He's been doing nothing but stare at you ever since the party started!"
I blushed. "Really?" A smile creeping up on my face.
Rukia winked and motioned in the direction where Toushirou's table was. "Even now, he's looking over here."
I looked down on the ground, my heels peeking out of the dress.
"Why don't you go out on the balcony or upstairs? Maybe he'll follow you and it's going to be like one of those romantic scenes in those American movieees!" Rukia squealed loudly, smacking my arm.
I rolled my eyes and tried sending a text to Nagase-san, just for poops and giggles. But the signal inside the room was very low, so I glanced at Rukia with a small glare. "I'm going to the balcony, but I'm not doing it because you said so."
"Ohh la-la! He's gonna follow you, trust me! Then the music will start playing loudly and he's gonna ask you for a dance and everything will lead to a kiss!" She started giggling non-stop and smacking my arm, which started to turn red. "By the way, who are you even texting with?"
"Oh? A friend of mine." I smiled fondly and left Rukia to her thoughts.
Once out in the balcony, I held my phone up, expecting for signal to magically pop in my phone.
"Ah, finally." I sighed in relief and quickly typed a text to Nagase-san, who immediately replied in just a matter of seconds.
Told you it would work. Good job going on the balcony, it's a classic. Now just wait for your beloved under the moonlight. - Kyo
'Kyo? Oh, right. That's his name.' I shook my head with a smile, sometimes my stupidity just has no limits.
I leaned over the marbled fence of the balcony, looking out onto the big palace's backyard, glancing at the gazebo by the big oak trees.
Then I looked up and gazed at the stars. I missed Karakura's night sky, the stars are in clear view and the moon shone brightly.
I rested my chin on my hand, looking up, mildly wondering if Toushirou would really come over like Rukia and Nagase-san kept saying.
I may or may not have waited for 10 minutes, but I immediately went back in because it was quite cold outside.
When I went back in, the dining tables were all gone, replaced by tall bar tables, and there was a big open space right in front of the stairs, as the bar tables stood on both sides.
I noticed Toushirou was on the left side of the dancefloor, chatting with Ichigo and the other boys, while Rukia, Rangiku and Orihime were on the right side with Mom and Shizuka-san.
Of course I joined the ladies, and jumped in their conversations about Orihime's prince of the night.
"He's a good kid." Mom nodded and sipped on her champagne.
We kept chatting idly and every now and then I'd glance behind me, over the still empty dancefloor, at Toushirou, who had his back facing me.
Music started playing and Ulquiorra was suddenly by Orihime's side, holding his hand out to her, inviting her for a dance.
We all 'aw'ed and the couple went ahead and danced, and I took the opportunity to glance yet again at Toushirou, who still had his back facing me.
Soon, more couples joined them, and Shizuka-san, who left a couple of minutes ago for the restroom, came back to our bar table.
She had a jaw-splitting grin stamped on her face.
"What's wrong?" Rukia asked, also smiling.
"Look at this!" Shizuka-san squealed like a teenager, putting her technologic iPhone 4 across the table for us to see.
There was a picture she took in panoramic mode, where she captured the entire elegant room along with all the guests moving around. Starting from the left side, there were the buffet tables and the bar, some people came out blurry in the picture; then the messy row of bar tables started, and I immediately spotted Toushirou standing by the bar table right next to the dancefloor, looking behind him; then there was the dancefloor where Orihime and Ulquiorra were just about to dance; and finally came the right side of the room, with Rukia, Rangiku, Mom and I standing by the bar table standing right next to the dancefloor, and I was clearly caught ogling at Toushirou.
Oh shit.
When I looked at the whole picture, it looked like we were looking at each other.
Does that mean that Toushirou has been looking at me too?
"AWWWW LOOK AT YOU TWO!" My Mom went crazy. "Shizuka, send me that picture!"
"Of course darl!" The two hit it off pretty well, and started animatedly chatting about me and Toushirou.
I blushed madly, and Rukia and Rangiku suddenly whispered and giggled.
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, looking at them. "What's wrong with you two?"
The two just giggled non-stop and pointed behind me. When I turned around, I gasped silently seeing Toushirou standing right there in his elegant suit with a white rose pinned on his coat's chest pocket.
He smiled at me and held his hand out for me.
I blinked behind my mask and quickly looked at Rukia and Ran for help. I could clearly see their weird sneaky eyes behind their masks as they waved me off to go with him.
I looked back at Toushirou, his eyes almost hidden by his black simple mask, his hand still waiting for me. I looked upwards at him. "I can't dance." I mumbled blushing.
His smile widened and made me get even more red. "I'll take care of you."
I nearly combusted on the spot, and almost jumped on him until I heard Mom speak up. "Please do! Forever!"
I blushed and glared at her. "Mom!"
She held up her hands in a Peace sign and I put my hand on Toushirou's.
I saw a flash on the corner of my eye and noticed Shizuka-san taking countless pictures of me and Toushirou. As usual.
Toushirou just shook his head and lead me on the dancefloor, putting his hand on my lower back, making my heard beat faster and faster from the contact.
Paul McCartney's voice played over the speakers, singing 'This never happened before'. Definetely will be a new song to add on my Favourite list.
I'm very short
This never happened to me before
I met you and now I'm sure
this never happened before.
We made it through the crowd of couples dancing from earlier and we stood in the middle of the crowd, finding a small space that fit us both.
I stood in front of him, managing to look up at him directly face-to-face, my mask giving me confidence to look at him. He looked down at me with some sort of mysterious smile which didn't reach his eyes that I love so much.
Now I see
this is the way it's supposed to be
I met you and now I see
This is the way it should be
Then, in that moment, the noise the guests made became just a buzzing background noise, in my ears the music played clearly and Toushirou was still holding my hand.
And the scene from that night at the beach re-played. Once again, it was only the two of us, the rest of the world was forgotten.
His hand that was holding my hand let go and slowly trailed up my naked arm. I felt shivers running up and down my spine, and in time his hand reached my shoulder.
Ever so slowly, it trailed up to my face, cupping my cheek.
My hand automatically reached for his hand holding my head still, and my brain stopped working altogether as he slowly got closer and closer to me, making me tilt my head to the side.
Until his left hand grabbed my right hand and brought it up on his shoulder, while he pulled his hand away from my face and brought my left hand on his other shoulder.
This is the way it should be for lovers
They shouldn't go it alone
It's not so good when you're on your own
His hands were then on my lower back, and we slowly swayed to the beat of the slow music.
Toushirou's face was close to mine, but I guess I didn't feel so uncomfortable because of the mask giving me a protecting feeling.
I held my hands together behind his neck, looking down, hoping not to accidentally step on his foot or something, while his forehead rested down on mine, our nose touched and his lips were so tantalizingly close to mine.
I don't know how long we danced, but then I noticed that the song playing in the background changed a couple of times and the couples on the dancefloor were slowly getting fewer and fewer.
I looked around, snapping out of the happy bubble and noticed how differently people were dancing around us.
They danced the classic waltz, I think Toushirou and I were the only ones just swaying here and there mindlessly.
Ugh. I blushed and noticed so many familiar eyes staring at us.
Then, I wasn't sure if Toushirou was just tired of dancing with me or he noticed me getting uncomfortable under everyone's mischevious eyes, but he pulled back and silently escorted me back to where Rukia and Rangiku were going gaga over their phones, Ichigo and Ran's boyfriend Gin stood next to them, looking extremely bored.
"Want a drink?" Toushirou asked with a kind smile.
I nodded, still at a loss of words from the events.
I felt my face litteraly on fire, so I fanned myself with my hand as Rukia and Rangiku assaulted me with squeals and questions.
I had a wonderful time dancing with Toushirou. The question is, did he feel the same things I felt at that time?
A/N: So how was it? Hope you guys enjoyed :D
I really hope we can reach 400 reviews with this! If we do... well, I might update then lol!
Favourite part of chapter 21? ;)
Twitter: Snowyforest18