The Proposal
Disclaimer: The Proposal and Bleach's character, setting, plot, and everything else belong to their rightful owners. I'm just playing around.
xx
Rangiku lost her balancing and attacked the floor. She turned her head to the side confusingly, and gasped outrageously and unbelievingly when she saw Toushiro, "Oh, my God. Oh, my God!"
Toushiro rubbed his side where he hit something, or someone, and he turned his face to his left to find the culprit. Wrong move. Very wrong one indeed.
In turning his face, Hitsugaya not only found the source, he also got a full-blown view of a very naked Rangiku. Toushiro's face instantly flamed up, "God! Wh-what, w-why are you naked?" He managed, horrified, before turning his head away again.
"Oh, my God!" Rangiku repeated, her face burning with shame. Both her hands desperately searching the floor for any item of clothing.
"W-why are you wet? Y-you're showing everything! Cover up, for the love of God!" Hitsugaya blurted frantically.
"Oh, God! Don't look at me!" Rangiku's right hand did its best to cover up Hitsugaya's eyes and push his face further away.
"I don't understand! Why are you wet?" Hitsugaya asked again, still shell-shocked. He closed his eyes shut as tight as he could behind Rangiku's palm.
Rangiku was too busy raking and searching the room for something to wear to answer Hitsugaya's question. She scrambled to her feet and spotted a sort of large fabric in the bed and since it was closest, she grabbed it quickly, and wrapped it hastily around her body.
"Oh, God! Not the Baby Maker!" Rangiku exclaimed desperately when she glanced down the quilted fabric. She unwrapped herself again, and flung the Baby Maker away.
"Oh, my God!" The blonde panicked, running around the room in circles. Thankfully, she saw her cream trench coat she wore to the airport the day before sitting neatly on a chair. She grabbed it and tied it tightly at the sash.
"You can open your eyes now." Rangiku mumbling in embarrassment, prodding a still-very-red-and-blind Hitsugaya with her foot.
Toushiro hesitated for a few minutes and at last opened them slowly. He inhaled deeply and then exploded, "Explain yourself, please, Matsumoto Rangiku!"
"Explain myself? Why did you knock me when I got out of the bathroom anyways?" Rangiku asked indignantly, crossing her arms.
"I-I didn't... I-I… I was listening to-, I mean, I was in the balcony just now!" A very flushed and flustered Toushiro said, tripping over his words.
"Really? You didn't hear me?" Rangiku asked hotly, although it came out more like a statement rather than a question.
"I- psh! I was listening to these!" Toushiro held up his earphones and mp3 player defensively. "You're crazy, you know? Suddenly deciding to jump me like that all of a sudden!"
Rangiku huffed and crossed her arms defiantly, "What? No! I didn't even mean to jump you! Your beloved pet was..." Rangiku paused for a bit, waving her hands around thinking of a suitable word. "…attacking me! And naturally, I had to run. And I ran into you!" She waved her hands about for emphasis.
"What is it with you and Momo? Seriously!" Toushiro muttered, shaking his head.
"Just, you know... go. Go! Take a shower or something. You stink!"
Toushiro rolled his eyes and walked towards the bathroom door. He spotted Momo behind the door and pointed, "See? See the viciousness on this thing? I'm so scared! Barely made it out of there with my life." He said sarcastically. "Oh, and Rangiku? Nice tattoo by the way."
"Ugh! Just... go." Rangiku exclaimed, burning red all over again.
That night, bed
"Hey. You asleep?" Rangiku asked uncertainly from the 4 posted bed above. She couldn't sleep and wanted to know if Toushiro, who was quiet on his mattress under her bed, was asleep or not.
"Nope."
"I like the clown show that airs every Friday." Rangiku said all of a sudden.
"What?"
"Yeah. Not in the 'Haha, this is so silly' kind of way. I actually quite enjoy it." Pause. "I took violin lessons in sixth grade." Pause. "I think Ryan Reynolds is cute." Pause. "I don't like flowers in my house 'cause they remind me of funerals." Pause. "First concert I ever went too was Celine Dion's." Pause. "I cry like a baby every time I watch 'Titanic.' Pause. "I never played a video game before." Pause. "I hate the coffee in our office. They taste like puke."
Toushiro blinked a few times and then asked, "And um, the bird tattoo?"
"They're swallows. I got them when I was 16, after my parents died." She bit her lip. "And I'm sure there are other things too, but they're all I can come up with for now. At least you know some stuff about me now, right?"
"My dad got into a car crash when I was 16. I was really close to him. He was my idol, and I really looked up to him. He was very busy with his work, of course. Rarely had time to spend with his family, but I knew he loved us dearly. And then he died so suddenly. I… my world was turned upside down. When me and Okaa-san first received the news, I fell into depression. I just… something inside me snapped, I guess. Okaa-san did too, but I think what held her together was that she knew she needed to be strong for me and Gammy. Soon then I recovered and decided to strive for only the best and devoted my life to work. I guess in a way, I wanted to be my father."
"I had no idea. I'm so sorry." Rangiku whispered softly. "But you know... at least you became a someone. You're a successful executive director." Rangiku gave a harsh laugh. "Me? I just spiraled down after my parents died. It's like, I don't even have the will to live anymore. I spent my days partying, drinking, and you know... doing stuff." She paused. "I must be such a disappointment to them." She continued with a rueful tone, her eyes watering up slightly.
"Rang-" Toushiro argued.
"But you know what, Shiro? I'm sure your dad will be very proud of you if he could see you now." She furiously blinked away the threatening tears and interrupted Hitsugaya before he could go any further.
Silence. Toushiro just laid in his mattress, staring in silence at the ceiling. He didn't even complain when Rangiku called him Shiro. He guessed, in a way, he didn't care if the one calling him that was Rangiku.
"You still there?"
"I'm here. Just... processing." Toushiro said after a while. "So Celine Dion, huh?" He switched to a lighter topic.
"Uh-huh." Rangiku hugged her bolster tighter. "I love 'My Heart Will Go On'."
"How does that song go again?"
"You know..." The blonde trailed away, fidgeting against the duvet sheets.
"Rangiku?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, but you are a very, very beautiful woman. You can also be really hardworking when you want to, so... no need to be so harsh on yourself." Toushiro commented carefully.
"You're here, there's noth- ugh." Rangiku sang softly, but soon winced as her voice broke in the middle of the high note. "God, I can't sing that high. I'll have an aneurysm."
She and Toushiro laughed themselves to sleep soon after.
Following morning, bed
Knock, knock, knock.
"Ngh… what?" Rangiku groaned, her voice all croaky and rusty. She curled up against the duvet and drifted off to sleep again.
Knock, knock, knock.Came the knocking, more persistent this time.
"What is it?" Rangiku groaned louder.
"Room service! Breakfast for the happy couple!" Chirped out the voice from behind the door.
Rangiku bolted and sat upright immediately and hissed, "Toushiro! Toushiro!"
Toushiro, who was still very much asleep, just sighed in answer and turned his body away.
"Toushiro! Wake up! Your mother's at the door!" Rangiku hissed with much more urgency, whipping a pillow at the poor man below.
"Huh?!" Toushiro demanded, now fully awake and rubbing his eyes roughly.
"Get up here! Get up here now! Your mum's at the door!" She hissed again, jerking her thumb towards the door.
"Just a second!" Rangiku provided loudly to the door.
Toushiro as though just hearing the constant rapping on the door frantically scrambled to his feet, clumsily made his way up to the bed, and hid the mattress he slept in under the bed.
"Okay, okay. So what do we do now?" Toushiro asked calmly as he positioned himself as comfortable as he could next to Rangiku.
"Um, just... spoon me. Spoon me!"
"Right, right." Toushiro agreed, draping an arm around Rangiku's frame. "Ahem. Come on in!"
Rangiku's arm, which was squished in an awkward position then decided to just pat Toushiro's head, since both their hands and arms were somehow tangled together.
Yumi then walked inside the room with a radiant smile on her face. On her hands was a table of food.
"Ooh, smells nice. But Yumi, you shouldn't have went through all that trouble." Rangiku managed with a worried expression.
"Okaa-san's cinnamon rolls are fantastic." Toushiro whispered from beside her.
"Eh, it was no trouble at all. Anyways, you're family now!" Yumi replied with a wave of her hand.
Gammy then walked into the room shortly after, dressed in a blue sweater and a matching long skirt.
Yumi turned back and forth to Gammy and to Rangiku and Toushiro with a smile, "Gammy and I have come up with a proposition, and I happen to think it's a terrific idea." She paused and cleared her throat. "I'd like to go through it with the both of you now, actually, if you guys don't mind."
Rangiku raised an eyebrow inquisitively and nodded slowly, "No probs, Gammy. Fire away."
Gammy who was quiet all the while, suddenly couldn't contain her excitement any longer, "I want you guys to get married tomorrow! On my birthday!"
To be Continued..
A/N: Sorry for the long update, it's been what? A month plus? So in my defense, I've been super busy and caught up with, you guessed it, school. I have like, a ton of tests and homework. They seriously drain all of my energy and put me off writing. But your reviews help make it worth it ehehe.