Yes, it seems that I have been gone forever but I am not dead. To those who have messaged me even though I was not updating (thank you for your concern), I cannot reveal why I was gone or the exact whereabouts but I'm sure the term, "REHAB" draws the line. Anyways, thank you for your support and patience. Please enjoy!
Tick , tock, tick, tock…
The constant ticking of the clock. The also constant shaking of Ikkaku's right leg rattling the attached row of plastic chairs. Surely, this would be the start of World War 3? Oh god.
"Hey, stop shaking your leg. It's annoying." A growl bellowed from Ichigo. It had already started.
"Can't help it." Ikkaku's response immediately shot back.
"Well, move seats then." For once, Hisagi had joined forces with the Tangerine, also joining him in an attempt to glare the baldy down.
"YOU FUCKING MOVE SEATS! YOU'RE THE ONE REQUESTING!" Madarame exploded, shooting out of his seat like a cat in an ice bath. This triggered his opponents too.
"Well, it's sending fricking vibrations through the chairs 'cause they're fricking attached to each other!"
"You idiot! Then just break the chairs!" Yes, at this point, intelligence was flying out the window.
"You're an idiot!" Ichigo yelled back. So he wasn't going to say that they couldn't break the chairs?
A fist collided with a jaw. Being at least one hundred percent that anyone involved in the brawl would be kicked out, nobody bothered to separate them. A series a yells and grunts filled the air but was silenced by a single clearing of the throat. Heads turned.
"Well, he's fractured his right arm and broken his right leg in two different places, they'll be in cast for a while and I'm afraid that Renji will have to walk with assistance and crutches." The doctor's eyes scanned the occupants of the room rather sceptically, tapping her biro pen on the clip board held to her chest. It was as though she had been pulled out of an episode of "Grey's Anatomy". The image was so clichéd that it was almost painful.
"Tch… that idiot got himself into this anyway…" Toushiro got up from his seat, stretching his arms and back while stifling a yawn. "Why should we have to worry about it?... I'm going home."
Momo got up from her seat after him. "Wait! I'll go with-"
The white-haired boy took a right turn into the hallway.
"Hitsugaya! The exit's… on the left…"
The brunette trailed off when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Rangiku smiled down at her. "Don't worry about him. Toushiro's still Toushiro. He's probably just a little peeved that this had to happen on his birthday…"
Hinamori smiled back. "Yea… I guess."
Yet, something didn't click. It almost felt like gears trying to turn when they didn't even fit in together. While the petite female was deep in thought, an awkward silence choked the atmosphere of the room. Or maybe it wasn't as awkward as everything thought it was. Maybe it was just one of those silences that made you feel bad when you didn't have anything to say.
Momo slowly traced her index finger on the glass pane of the window in front of her. Her finger started to lose heat and go red. The glass was almost like a thin sheet of transparent ice. She could see that it was lightly coated with frost. The brunette started to wonder if that meant it would snow soon.
"Uncle?"
The white-haired man didn't look up from the magazine he was reading. "Hm?"
"The snow's awfully late…"
Silence engulfed the older man as he slowly lowered the magazine and sighed. He looked up at his niece, his brown eyes seeming somewhat weary and drained. It almost frightened the female. How much sadness was trapped in those irises?
Jyushiro cleared his throat to answer. "It never snows here. Ever. And it never has. Probably never will."
Hinamori's slender eyebrows knitted together. Why was he speaking so strange? Why did Matsumoto seem to suddenly find interest in her shoes? It was too peculiar. Even Ichigo and Ikkaku weren't bickering anymore. She didn't know what to say.
'Say something… anything… just…'
"EH?! Then what's the point of winter?" The brown-eyed teenager forced out a disappointed sigh. "And I was hoping that we could go snow-sledding or ice-skating or something over the holidays…"
The tiniest smile tugged at the corners of her uncle's lips. He seemed almost grateful that she had attempted to change the mood. Yet, he also seemed to see past the act and into her intention.
"It's just… the way things are meant to be, I guess. Who knows?... maybe it's better this way."
"Hey!" Momo and Ukitake both whipped their heads towards the strawberry-blonde when she burst out. She shook her head at the white-haired man, who looked away with a guilt-ridden face. "You shouldn't just say things!"
Curiosity bubbled in the back of the brunette's mind as her uncle swiftly apologised.
A nurse walked into the room. "Excuse me… Renji's parents said that they would be able to pick him up so you don't have to stay if you'd prefer not to. It is late and cold after all."
Everyone sighed as they got out of their seats, stretching their backs and arms over their head. Sighs and yawns filled the room. Jyushiro looked at his watch and gasped. "It's 12am! You kids should be home in bed!"
A smile cracked on Hinamori's pink lips at her uncle's rather maternal personality.
"Hey, do you know where Toushiro went? He sure as hell didn't go to the exit…" Ichigo grumbled beneath his breath. It was obvious that the carrot-head was not liking the idea of maybe having to go look for him in the hospital.
"He probably just went to the vending machine…" Ikkaku apparently wasn't interested in having to look for the white-haired boy either.
"I'll look for him!"
Before anyone could say anything, Hinamori had bolted out of the room.
'Geez… maybe I shouldn't have come after all…'
A sulking teen ambled the many halls of the hospital. How was it that every single room, corner, stairwell and hallway led to the same place? Or maybe it was just that the entire place looked the same all over. The heaviness of her eyelids clearly screamed out to her that her mental clock desperately wanted to put her body to sleep. She shook it off.
'I came all the way here!... can't back out now or it'll be embarrassing!... where is he anyway?...'
Hinamori pushed past doors and walked around corners with no real thought of where she was leading herself. She was already lost, did it even matter?
"NO! FUCK! GET THE FUCK OFF ME! LET! GO! FUCK!"
The brunette almost jumped out of her skin. She quickly whipped her head around to investigate the source of the commotion.
"LET GO! NO! NOOOO!!!!"
Legs thrashed as arms adorned in white reached out and desperately tried to grab the psychotic patient. People in white. Rushing towards the scene. Nurses and doctors held the patient down as someone pulled out a syringe and injected fluid into his arm. They then quickly let go and stepped back as the body started to become sluggish in its movements before eventually dropping to the floor. Nurses ran in with a straight jacket.
Momo shook her head.
'Not dead. Just tranquilized… Why am I even here?...'
Just as she turned to leave, she stopped. If it weren't for the light, yet completely overwhelming, traces of aquamarine in the distance, she would have missed the head of white hair amongst everything else that was the same colour. Just a little duller.
The aquamarine turned the corner and disappeared into a hallway, leaving the brown-eyed female trailing it without realising.
"Oi, what's a pretty girl like you doing here?"
"Are you my daughter?... they told me she died in a house fire, you see…"
"Play with me!"
Nothing reached her as she sturdily turned the corner only to quickly step back again. She made sure that her presence wouldn't be seen or heard by the boy in the next hallway.
"I told you I don't want them. You can burn them for all I care." At the sound of his deep voice, Momo immediately found herself listening.
"Legally, I can't do that without her permission, Toushiro. She asked me to give them to you." A female voice. A slightly older woman. Professional.
"Well, legally, I have a right to cut off any connections with anyone I want."
"But you still came here to visit your twin brother?"
The brunette immediately felt as though her senses had heightened. Everything was so much more clear now. Every word they were saying. None of them escaped her ears.
Hitsugaya cleared his voice, his mind void of any responses to the question.
"Even after what happened at school?"
"How do you know about that?!"
"Toushiro, I've known you since you were seven."
"Liar. That's not the reason. Who told you?!"
"It's a small town, Toushiro."
"You liar! You fucking-"
The sound of high-heels clacking her way caught Momo's attention immediately. Her body seemed to freeze and stiffen for a moment before instinct took over and commanded her body to quickly turn around and bolt. She had just managed to make it out of the hallway when-
"LIAR!" The yell silenced the entire ward. Even the brown-eyed teen, herself, turned around to stare at the one who had unleashed it.
Fury. Fury, fury and so much more were burning in his eyes. Even for a pair of orbs that everyone had always described with the words "ice" and "cold", Hinamori could feel the fire burning in them. Jaws and fists were clenched to the point of joints turning white. A toned chest rose and fell as shallow breaths were taken.
The doctor pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her hear. She turned towards Hitsugaya and released a sigh.
"Toushiro, my sources have a right to remain anonymous."
"And I have a right to live a normal life with privacy!"
"Toushiro, you and I both know that, that is not possible with your brother here."
"This has nothing to do with him! So you can just-"
"Toushiro, I currently hold the legal rights and qualifications to put you on therapy and meds again, if I feel the need to do so. And I must say that your… current status… as of now happens to be rather concerning."
"You wouldn't."
"I can. I promised your mother that I would-"
"Don't you DARE fucking mention her again!"
Confusion. Momo's mind was clouded with it. The words coming out of Toushiro and the doctor's mouth made no sense to her, yet they might have. She felt as though she was trying to fill in a hole too big.
The female even failed to notice her housemate turning the corner and freezing in his tracks. Her brown orbs widened as her mouth went dry.
'You didn't hear anything. You didn't. Hear. Anything… Just say something!'
"H-h-hey… uncle said to look for you… b-b-but…" Hinamori trailed off under his icy glare. Never in her life had she been so overwhelmed by a person's presence. "Yea… well… it was… heck of a party and all… but…"
The words wouldn't form. The glare she was receiving intensified. "What are you doing here?"
Yes, short chapter as per usual but I'm seriously on a roll for this story and "This Bittersweet Life". I've also gotten "Whatchya Waitin' 4?" planned out so yea... xDDDD... please review?