DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH. JUST THIS STORY.
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The Guardians Club
written by: anime16
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Problem Number Two:
Part 2. The Unintended Fight.
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The guardians gathered in their secret clubroom, pooling all the data and information they have so far. Ichigo and Rangiku were the first pair to report.
Ichigo faked a hoarse cough and faced his co-guardians. "We've interviewed one of Rangiku-san's victims – I mean friends...Shuuhei Hisagi. He is in the same class as Sakigami-senpai since first year."
"Shuuhei told us that he find Sakigami-senpai quite odd. Sometimes, she's quiet and shy, and then there are times that she's flirty and clingy...and sometimes, she's acting tough too. He couldn't understand her at all," Rangiku continued, slightly glaring at Ichigo for his choice of words. She smirked. One day, she's going to get her sweet revenge against the orange-haired boy.
Ichigo gulped. He's going to be dead.
The next pair to report was Gin and Rukia. They looked so disturbed and glum when they were presenting their research. The rest of the guardians were perplexed and worried as well, seeing two of the toughest people they knew, looked like they carry the burden of the world.
After all Gin is famous for his scary, wide smirks and Rukia seems to be the expert in bashing people. Looking at them like that makes the other guardians nervous.
"We've researched more in the internet and found this," Gin murmured softly and clicked the enter button in his laptop. The screen flashed and it shown the Online Diary of Daisuke Sakigami. As mentioned, he is the older brother of Mariya Sakigami, the one who died five years ago.
"He seems to be skilled in computers since this online diary of his is really hard to find," Rukia said. "By the way, the entries are far more important than what I'm saying."
The guardians read the entries one by one. In the middle, at a certain part in the diary, they couldn't stop themselves from letting out a loud gasp. They found themselves sick up to their stomach. These are the few highlights in the diary:
February 14, XXXX
Hey diary, after mom ran away from home, abandoning her family, stepdad was never quite the same. He is always drunk. He ignored his work and was immediately fired. I'm the one who goes to work. Well, there should be one keeping our family strong or else it would break into pieces.
April 28, XXXX
Hey diary, stepdad seems to be a stranger to me now. Gone was the kind and cheerful father. Gone was the responsible one. Gone was he when mom disappeared from our lives. And Mariya always clings to me like there's no tomorrow. I don't know why but she seems to be afraid of stepdad.
June 13, XXXX
Hey diary, I almost killed my stepdad. He...he abused my sister! How could he! How could he do this to her? She's still young, full of life and future. And he just...he violated her. Her innocence...the one I always wanted to protect...Damn!
June 15, XXXX
Hey diary, we decided to move out. I'm the one who's raising the family anyways. Stepdad could go rot for all I care. That bastard could just die! Mariya is not talking, she seems in a shock. And I think she's being bullied in school too. How am I supposed to protect her? I don't know...diary, can you tell me?
August 5, XXXX
Hey diary, stepdad wants us back. Like hell we will! He's despicable. I couldn't live with him anymore. How could he after what he did to my sister! And Mariya still refuses to talk to me.
October 29, XXXX
Hey diary, it's not Daisuke-niichan anymore...it's me Mariya...Daisuke-niichan wouldn't be able to say anything to you anymore because he is already gone. He is overexerting himself you see. He crossed the road and didn't see a car coming. He died, he died. He left me all alone. How could I move on without him in my life?
There were some entries that have date but empty. In between those entries is a small space. Mariya seems to be absentmindedly pressing the enter button or the space bar for it to become like that.
"She had a painful past," Momo commented. "I feel sorry for her and her brother."
"If I'm there...I'll beat their stepdad to pulp and mince him then threw him to the ocean to become a fish food," Ichigo said. "I'm so angry right now."
"Seems to be they were not really abandoned physically by their parents. They were abandoned emotionally and it left a scar, not a physical scar but an emotional one," Rukia uttered solemnly.
"I think...Mariya-chan is not the suspect anymore. She's not the type to push people from the stairs," Momo spoke up in a loud voice. "She's a gentle person. And she's not the one causing harm!"
"How can you say that, Hinamori?" Toushiro asked. "You don't have evidence that she's innocent. The past could never really justify what she's doing right now. It doesn't matter, even if she's good at first."
"Then I need your evidence too. You came up that Sakigami is innocent after all." Toushiro bore his beautiful emerald eyes to the enticing brown orbs of Momo. She pouted at him and looked away, crossing her arms against his chest.
"I will find evidence that she's innocent!" Momo exclaimed. "Just you wait, Prodigy!"
Toushiro flinched. Momo always calls him Shiro-chan. No matter what happens or what he tells her, she never calls him any other name. The only way to make her is to make her mad at him and he seriously doesn't want that.
Nevertheless, he snorted and asked silently, "So what information did you guys get?"
Renji was about to reveal Mariya's premonition about Momo. But one look at the black haired girl, told him not to stick his nose to someone else's business.
Actually she pleaded her case to him a while ago, that he shouldn't tell Toushiro and the rest of the guardians anything about what Mariya's premonitions about her. He asked her why and she answered while smiling sadly, "I don't want him to get worried. I can protect myself."
"We met Mariya-senpai," Momo answered softly. "She's a kind person."
"Is that all?" Toushiro questioned her. It is not in his intention to sound mean. But they were quarrelling over something and she took it in a wrong way.
"What do you mean that's all?" Momo said, her voice rising top notch. "I'm sorry if what we found is useless to you. Oh, I still have one piece of information to you, Prodigy."
She stood up from where she sat and went beside her childhood friend. She turned around to face her more properly. She bent down and told him, "She likes you." She poked him in the chest and added, "Why don't you go on a date with her?"
Toushiro twitched in annoyance. He stood up and glared at the black haired girl. How can she order me to date someone other than her, the nerve!
With nose flaring due to anger he shouted, "Yeah, yeah if you say so. I would date her and don't you ever regret it!"
He bumped his shoulder to her and stormed out of the clubroom.
Momo bit her lower lip and looked at the door where Toushiro left. She heaved a deep sigh and twirled around to face Gin. "Maru, can you give me the site where you found the online diary of Mariya-senpai's brother?"
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After the confrontation in the clubroom, Momo and Toushiro refused to talk to each other. She went home alone that day. She was living in a high class condominium given to her by her parents before they went overseas. She managed to convince them to let her stay because she didn't want to leave her friends and most especially Toushiro.
She changed from her uniform to her indoor clothes, which includes a plain red t-shirt and shorts. She carried her laptop on the living area and opened the internet connection. She visited the site she got from Gin.
She used her wireless mouse to scroll down the contents of the diary. She read it multiple times over the past few hours and still couldn't get new information.
"Why is it there were blank parts in the diary? There are dates where there are no entries but there is also a big space," she said to herself. Maybe...just maybe...there is something she doesn't want us to know...
She pounded her head on one of the throw pillows in the living room. What would I do if I want to type it and don't want others to know?
She closed her eyes and thought deeply. Suddenly her phone rang, startling her. She straightened up and reached for her phone in the coffee table. In the fourth ring, she finally answered it.
"Hello..." she greeted.
"Hi, my dearest daughter, how are you doing?" The caller on the phone was no other than her mother. She was the same as always, loud and perky.
"Great..." she replied with the same enthusiasm.
"Did you read our letter for you, Momo?" Her mother asked her again.
She rolled her eyes. "Your letters are blank. I can't see anything!"
"No, Momo. We used an invisible ink made in France to write our letters. That's why you need to apply heat on it to make the words visible for you to read." Her mother giggled while continuing, "The masterminds behind this trick are your twin older brothers! They say it would surely tick you off and it really did."
"I should have known those two were the root of it," she sighed. "And how should I know you used invisible ink. If you haven't called me, I won't be able to read your letters."
"Well, we did say you should iron the letter before reading it," her mother said.
"I thought all of you were joking," she pouted like a small kid who lost her lollipop. "Well...I got something to do mom. Let's talk some other time."
"Alright, I love you Momo."
"I love you too." She ended the call by just one click and placed it back in the coffee table. She smirked. "Really, doing something like invisible ink to write letters..."
Her eyes widened and she abruptly looked at her laptop. Hide...Using an invisible ink to hide something...
With shaking hands, she reached for her wireless mouse and scrolled down to an empty entry with a date. The background is white...if she used a white color in typing then...
She took a few quick gulps of air then highlighted the whole text. True enough, under the entries that were once blank, words suddenly appeared. She got excited and immediately read it.
After a few minutes of reading, there were a series of gasps coming from her. She flung a hand to her mouth as she couldn't believe her eyes.
She arched back a little after she heard a loud knock coming from her door.
It's nothing compared to an accident that might befall on you...
She stood up from her seat and went towards the door. She looked at the peep hole first to see who it is. Her eyes widened. "You..."
Be sure you're ready when the death god knocks on your door...
She unlocked the door and opened it. "Why are you here?"
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Toushiro was moving his food around the plate, but never really eating any. He was still worried about Momo. She didn't talk to him after their quarrel in the clubroom. She went home without him. It was surely driving him crazy. It was times like this that he hated the most.
"Are you sick Tou-chan?" His mother asked. "You're not eating any."
"It was Momo-neechan, isn't it?" Tsukino spoke up.
Toushiro looked at his little sister as if asking, how in hell did you know?
As if reading his mind, Tsukino shrugged and answered, "I heard it from Rangiku-neechan."
"That blabbermouth..." Toushiro hissed. "I didn't ask her to tell you about it."
"Then again, you didn't ask her to stay quiet about it," her little sister retorted.
Toushiro snorted. "But still –"
His words were interrupted by his phone ringing in the sofa table in the living room. He excused himself from his family to go answer it. "It's mine. I'll just go and get it."
He received the call and pressed the phone to his ear. "Hello, Hitsugaya speaking."
"Shiro-chan...It's me..."
"Hinamori..." he murmured, somewhat relieved that she called him by his pet name. However, it was short-lived when he noticed that she was whispering and there were some fear and nervousness laced in her voice.
"What is it Hinamori?" he asked. "Are you alright? Is there something wrong? Why are you whispering?"
"Listen to me Shiro-chan. I found something in the diary...Kyaaahhhhh..."
"Hinamori? What happened?"
"What are you doing? No, stop, stop, stop..."
"Oi, Hinamori! Hinamori! What happened to you?"
"Don't..."
"Hinamori! Hina –"
The phone call was cut. His eyes widened, staring at the phone in his hands. "Hinamori..."
"Aniki..." Tsukino shouted.
Toushiro looked at his sister and saw her tossed him a jacket. She pulled one jacket around her too and wore it. "Let's go to her house. I already told mom that we will go."
Toushiro absentmindedly nodded.
Tsukino sighed and slapped her brother's back. "Come on, get yourself together." She held his hands and dragged him outside the house.
"What happened? You were shouting her name so loudly," Tsukino asked.
They were in the middle of running around the dark streets, completely unafraid. Toushiro remained silent and his sister respected that and didn't ask again.
They were in the shining lights of the town before they knew it and called for a taxi. They hopped in and Toushiro told him the address of Momo's condominium.
After a few minutes, they finally arrived and Tsukino paid for the taxi because his brother was still completely out of it. She dragged him to the condominium and went to Momo's unit. Tsukino took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
There was no answer. She draped her hand on the knob and twisted it. The door was not locked. She immediately panicked and slammed the door opened.
Toushiro and Tsukino stumbled on Momo's abode and their eyes widened. Inside was pure chaos. There were fallen furniture and her laptop was left open.
"Hinamori!" Toushiro shouted. But no one answered him. He ran towards the kitchen and hollered once again. "Hina –"
He stopped when he noticed something in the floor. There were a few blood stains on the floor but there was no Momo. He knelt down and touched the blood. It was still fresh. Then he saw something small scribbled in the bottom of the wall beside the blood stains. There were only four letters.
Four letters that he knew so well: Momo.
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Author's Notes: So many mysteries...Hope I'll be able to wrap it all up in the next chapter. So what do you think happened to Momo? Any ideas? And...do you guys have any mysteries in mind you wanted me to write here? If you have, you can review here or PM me. Thanks for reading the story. Leave some awesome reviews while you're at it. Hope you enjoyed reading this.