Hello again, FanFiction world!
pt. 14 of M.S.A.A. is finally out!
Before I start, I wanted to apologize for some things.
In one of the last reviews I got, a friend of mine named Aziya pointed some key problems with my story that I want to address.
1. I'm sorry if it feels that I'm cutting from one scene to the other too quickly, I fet better at that.
2. If, like Aziya, you want to know exactly what Yattamori looks like, a detailed description will come up later, though I did this so readers like yourselves can make up you're picture of Yattamori before I actually describe her word for word.
3. I'm sorry if I'm making Toshiro too...happy or emotional. I just wanted there to be a big difference as to how he treats her compared to other people just to show how close the two are,
4. I'm very sorry for poor grammar, I'm usually really good about it, but I guess we all flake in some places, tehe ^^
Other reasons and explanations are in the reviews, so b sure to check them out.
Also, I'm sorry to say that this is super sappy to the extreme, because this chapter, we actually see more of Yattamori's death. Sorry, but I couldn't avoid emotion Aziya if you're reading this ^^
So, without further interuptions, chapter 14, Promise
Maddie ^o^
"...To sacrifice yourself to save another is a very honorable act in my eyes. It shows your bravery and how much you care for someone or a cause. It's hard for me to comprehend sometimes that I myself did it once to save a life, Toshiro's life to be specific. That I was that willing to save Toshiro that I gave my own life for his is sometimes hard to wrap my head around. I think it's pretty incredible. But, as I lay here, unable to open my eyes or even whisper a single word in the Soul Society, I am learning that for Toshiro, it was indeed honorable, but one of the worst curses as well. I want to gasp at what every little detail I'm hearing him say. I can't believe that these events really happened to me, to us 14 years ago. It's almost too much to bear..."
November 30th, 2010
SOUL SOCIETY
Toshiro's Perspective
Toshiro sits in a chair parallel to Rangiku and right next to Yattamori's head.
He breaths a deep breath, then looks at Rangiku.
"Alright, well, as you know, Madison had pushed me out of the way of an arrow-shot sword, which hit her in the heart. And the impact of it sent her flying into a tree a few yards away. Then, it disappeared, and she fell to the ground. All of that is true-" Toshiro starts to explain.
"I know that, I want to know what happened after!" Rangiku says impatiently.
"Fine, here's what happened." Toshiro start again, looking back on the past.
NOVEMBER 28, 1996
Toshiro Hitsugaya, 4th seat of Squad 10 at this point in time, rushes over to Captain Madison Yattamori of S. Squad T.P. as she lays limp on her chest, bleeding after being stabbed through the heart. After pushing him out of the way.
"MADISON! Madison, are you ok? Answer me!" Toshiro yells as he turns her over and pulls her into his shaking arms.
He looks over her frail body.
Blood trails run from the corners of her mouth, and her original head injuries bleeding again. He forces himself to look at her fatal injury. The slim gash is pooling blood from both sides, and the puddle is becoming bigger by the second.
Madison coughs and tries hard to pull in air into her failing lungs.
She opens her eyes and looks up at him.
"Toshiro..." she whispers.
"Madison...stay with me! Back up will be here soon. Just hang on!" Toshiro yells.
"Toshiro, I'm..sorry." she says.
Toshiro looks down at her, taken back by her apology.
"I'm...scaring you. I didn't...mean to-"
"Shut up! Don't talk like that. It's not your fault, it's mine. If I had just listened to you, you wouldn't of had to.." Toshiro snaps at her and fades out, thinking about what has just happened.
"It's not your...fault."
"How's it not?"
"It was my choice, not yours."
"But-"
"No buts, I wanted to save you." she says.
She coughs, blood splating.
"Madison!"
She breaths heavily and looks back up at him.
"Toshiro, I think I'm gonna-"
"Don't give up on me Yattamori! You hear me?" Toshiro says as he holds her closer.
Toshiro sees a single tear fall onto her face. He imediatly wipes his eye dry and keeps anymore from appearing.
"Toshiro...I'm gonna make you a promise."
Toshiro loosens his hold so that he can look down at her.
She's smiling, ironicly.
"I'm leaving this world with the known fact that you're alive. I'm happy."
His eyes widen.
"Madison.."
"But, you haven't seen the last of me Toshiro Hitsugaya, trust me. I also know that this hurts you a lot. Which is why I'm going to be back. And then, I'll never leave you alone again. I promise." She says, trying to reassure him.
Toshiro looks shocked by her words.
Without saying a word, he brings her to sit up and pulls her into a hug. He's shaking more then before.
He can't lose her...
"Madison you can't go. You're my best friend. You're one of the only people who ever made me feel like I was a normal person. You gave me strength, you gave me the will to fight for what I believe in. YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME!" Toshiro yells as he pulls her closer.
Madison gasps quietly as the words cross her mind, followed by another coughing up of blood.
"I...didn't know that I meant that much to you...I'm so sorry. But...I feel the same way..."
"What?"
"I couldn't...live with myself if I let you die...and I could of saved you. You've saved me...so many times since we first became...friends. I couldn't...let you down. That's...why I did it..." Madison says as she loosens his grip and looks him in the eyes.
She raises her hands up to his chest and takes a tight hold of his kimono.
She presses her head against his chest, and starts to tremble.
"Madison...?" he trails.
"I can't believe it, but I'm actually scared." she confesses as a single tear rolls down her cheek.
"Oh, Madison..." Toshiro says as he puts his arms back around her.
Suddenly, another arrow-shot sword shoots from the shadows. Toshiro covers Madison from being hit again, but a barrier kicks in and stops the sword in it's tracks.
Toshiro gasps and looks down at Madison, to see that she was making the barrier sign with her hand, and was preparing the offensive sign. As she makes the sign, the barrier disappears and another reappears, firing at least 100 swords into the darkness of the shadows.
Toshiro gapes at the wall.
She had saved him again, as she was bleeding to death.
"Madison...why?" he whispers as she lowers her hands.
"I've given up my life to protect you. If you die, my death will be meaningless."
"Yattamori, please-"
"Promise me you'll acheive your goals." she interupts.
Toshiro looks surprised, and a pained frown takes place as his expression.
"Oh course, but-"
"Good. Then don't go dying for nothing. And become a great captain. You have the potential to be a great one-"
"You can't be serious Yattamori."
"I am..." she whispers.
Toshiro can't hold back anymore.
He pulls her closer and begins sobbing.
Madison gasps as the tears fall onto her face.
She uses her remaining strength to pull herself back up to a sitting position.
"Please Toshiro, don't cry. I've never seen you in so much pain..." she says as she rests her hands on his soaked cheeks.
Her hands are freezing.
Suddenly, she goes into a coughing fit, blood splating everywhere.
Toshiro holds her away a little as he trys to help her breath better.
As she stops, she falls into his chest.
"Madison...Madison!" Toshiro yells.
She opens her eyes slightly and he gasps.
Almost all of the life was gone.
...She's about to die...
"No, Madison, no!" he yells.
"Toshiro...be happy..." Madison says her eyes close, never to open again.
Within moments, Toshiro hears her breathing come to a halt, and her body becomes limp.
Toshiro sits there, his eyes wide and pouring out tears.
"Madison...Madison..." he says as he pulls her limp body tight.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screams louder then anything he's ever screamed.
His screams are so loud, that Aneko Kocamura, Yattamori's liuetentant, hears from over 1700 yards, almost a mile.
Suddenly, he hears maneical laughing coming from the surronding shadows.
"Finally, the great Captain is dead, leaving the little boy to cry over her bloody body. How rich, makes me want to spit." a low voice says.
Toshiro immediatly stops crying and begins glowing a light blue color.
Gasps from the shadows fill the night.
"How dare you..." Toshiro says as he rests Madison's body on the ground.
"What?" the voice says.
"HOW DARE YOU TAUNT MADISON!" Toshiro says as he turns towards the voices.
Suddenly, ice forms around Toshiro, encasing him. Within seconds, it cracks and breaks into millions of ice shards, revealing Toshiro in bankai.
"BANKAI! DAIGUREN HYORINMARU!" Toshiro yells.
The ice suddenly shapes into a great ice dragon, the form of Toshiro's zampakutou. It roars and charges into the trees of the surronding forest. He hears screams and cries. But, seconds later, all becomes calm and the enemy is gone.
Slowly, the ice disapates, leaving no trace of Toshiro's outburst. As it still fades, Toshiro walks back to Madison's body.
As he walks over, he picks up her necklace and puts it in his kimono.
When he comes to stand at her side, he silently drops to his sword and falls to his knees.
The light has disappeared from his eyes, making him look like only a shadow of himself.
He looks at Yattamori.
Though dead now, she looks more like she's asleep, her expression that of...ease, through the blood that has stoped and begun to dry on her face, covering her freckled cheeks.
Images of their childhood memories begin to replay in his head, only making the pain in his heart seem to multiply.
As he finally escapes the memories, he leans over and takes her body in his arms and cradles her close as he raises from his kneeling position, her black satin hair ribbon falling out and releasing her long, chesnut hair as he turns.
"I'm so sorry, Yattamori." Toshiro says as tears slide sliently down his face and onto her emotionless, white cheeks.
It doesn't even cause a spark of movement from her.
As he goes to take a step, Aneko appears, panting, seeming to of hurried over as quick as she could after hearing his cry.
As soon as she sees Yattamori in his arms, the color in her cheeks disappears, making her look as lifeless as Yattamori.
"Captain..." she says as she rushes over to him.
"Aneko..." Toshiro says as tears start to form in Aneko's eyes.
She looks up at him and gasps, and he knows why.
He never cries or shows pain. He's always serious and gets on Madison's nerves, a party-pooper she calls him. But she won't call him that again, she's gone. Gone for forever, to never return.
He begins to tear up again.
"Aneko...I couldn't save her!" Toshiro says as he falls back down to his knees.
Aneko's eyes widen, tears falling down her cheeks, as she watches Toshiro cry his heart out over the loss of Madison, holding her lifeless body close.
Though, even though he heard nothing now but his own cries, in another world, a new, healthy girl named Madison Shecker has been born, holding Yattamori's close as she does not even cry, though silent tears do escape her eyes, without a sound...
2010
Toshiro takes a firm grasp of Yattamori's hand as she lays unconscious on the bed, breathing normally now in the present day.
He looks back at Rangiku to see she's stunned by the story.
He knows he probably shouldn't of told her the truth. She'll probably find some way to tell Yattamori what happened without breaking her promise. She's good at it.
Suddenly she starts to grin.
"What?" he asks, seeing as how nothing in the story is positive.
"She kept her promise." Rangiku confesses.
"Huh?"
"She said she would come back. She did." she explains.
Toshiro's eyes widen and looks back over at Yattamori.
It's true, Yattamori had kept her promise.
She's somehow overcome death and returned to this world, and with all her memories of him and their friendship.
He smiles dimly and tightens his grip on her hand.
Now that she was back, he isn't gonna let go of her again, and that's his promise to her.
Toshiro stands and releases his grip, intending to end their visit for today, Rangiku standing as well.
Then, something takes grip of his hand before he can move it. He turns back to see it's Madison's hand.
Rangiku notices.
"I don't think she wants you to leave yet, Sir." Rangiku says as she smiles and begins to walk away.
Toshiro looks surprised. Rangiku opens the door, then looks back at him.
"I'll go ahead and get some of the paperwork done. You stay a little longer." she says.
Toshiro nods then turns back towards Yattamori and sits back down. Rangiku silently closes the door behind her and disappears down the hall, intending to keep her word.
Toshiro sits there, motionless for what seemed for an eternity, staring at Yattamori's hand, which still clutches his tight.
He sighs.
"Yattamori, I know you probably can't hear me. But, I promise, that you'll never have to be in that situation again, and if you are, I'm going to make sure nothing bad happens to you. And I'll never leave you alone, so then I'll always be able protect you. Then, you'll never have to cry again or be scared." Toshiro says aloud.
Yattamori's grip on his hand tightens.
Toshiro smiles.
"I missed you Madison, I really did."
November 30th, 2010
OUR WORLD
Madison's Perspective
Madison sits quietly at the table as her family eat their lunch. She stares at her lunch, her mind in another place.
She can't believe what she's just heard.
Somehow, about 20 minutes before, when she was on her way to the Outback with her family, she suddenly heard Toshiro talking.
It went on like that for about 5 or 6 minutes, and what she has heard wasn't positive at all. He told Rangiku a story about what happened after she fell from the tree. Then, on top of that, he told Rangiku not to tell her, just so that she wouldn't worry.
She feels so bad for him. She remembers many occasions when she had told Toshiro that she couldn't wait to see him reach bankai. And when he did, it had only been because she died in his arms.
Talk about irony. She hates it.
Her family notices that she's out of it, so ever since, they have been staring at her like she's a puppy they're debating on adopting.
Annoying.
"Madison...?" she hears her mom say.
Her trance breaks and she turns towards her mom, who looks worried.
"Dear, what's on your mind?" her mom asks.
"She's probably thinking about boys or something." her sister, Abigail, an exact copy of her mother, comments as she eats a piece of steak.
Well, she is technically thinking about Toshiro, so she is thinking about a boy.
She then notices she's blushing, making it look like Abigail's comment may be more fact.
"Ooo, Madison, who's this boy you're thinking about?" Abigail asks.
"That's enough Abi-" her dad starts.
"His name is Tomas. Tomas White." Madison blurts.
Her family look at her, wide eyed.
Madison can't believe what she said.
...Tomas White? Is that really the best fake name I can make up for Toshiro? I mean, it sorta fits, well, the White part does anyway. But Tomas? Toshiro doesn't look like a Tomas. He looks like a, well, a Toshiro. Or a Nathan, maybe. Oh, nevermind, the point is that Toshiro doesn't look like a Tomas, definitly. But, I'm going to have to deal with it now that I've blurted it...
"Tomas White? When did you meet this boy, dear?" her mom asks.
"Years ago."
"Really?"
"Yeah, we're old friends."
"Then why haven't you talked about him before?"
"Because...he moved."
"Really? Where?" Tyler, her older brother who looks more like their father then mother, asks.
"Japan." she answers.
She can't believe what she's saying.
"Wow, why?" Abigail asks
."His dad's company moved there."
"I see. What was the company?" her dad asks.
"Um...I think it was...um, a, uh...car company."
"Cool." Tyler comments.
"Yeah, he moved back because his dad couldn't take biking everywhere anymore."
"That's a fail." Tyler interjects.
Abigail nods, agreeing, like she always does. No matter the situation, Abigail always takes Tyler's side, and agrees with everything he believe is right. To her, it's just annoying to watch, and she sides with whoever she thinks is right, like a normal person. Which in this case, is her brother.
Her dad rolls his eyes and slices another piece of his steak.
"So, how did you meet back up with him?" her mom asks.
"I ran into him during P.E."
"When? As you were waiting to be called?" her mom asks.
"No, while we were running laps. I literally ran into him. I was talking to Virginia and didn't see him in front of me. Then, smack, I ran into him as he slowed down. He turned to say sorry and reconized me instantly." Madison explains.
Man, even though it's a believeable story, it sure makes her sound like a complete klutz. Tyler and Abigail are beginning to laugh. Her dad looks at her with his weird side-ways glance, which is pretty much another way of saying "That was a fail on your part, honey".
Perfect.
Suddenly, she thinks up a perfect plan to discuss what just happened with Toshiro's story.
"Yeah, he told me that he made a friend there in Japan named Manami. Aparently, she was the first person that he really connected with, seeing as how she was the only one who didn't see him as an outcast. They were in each other's class all elementary school, and most of 6th grade. But, in the summer before 7th grade, while they were playing in the wooded area outside his house while their parents were out, the house was robbed. The robber was armed too..." Madison explains.
"That's horrible." her mom says.
"What happened?" Tyler asks, intrigued.
"They went back into the house during the robbery to get a drink, seeing as how they didn't know he was there. And it just so happened that the robber was digging through the living room directly across the kichen. So when they walked in, the guy saw them and fired randomly. A bullet was headed straight for Tomas, but Manami, pushed him down, and it hit her in the heart instead."
"Oh no!" her mom says.
"The robber fled as soon as he shot her, leaving him to sob over Manami's body. But, since it had barely hit her heart, Manami wasn't dead yet, so, until she bled out, Tomas tried to keep calm and keep her comfortable. He blamed himself for what happened, but Manami told him that it had been her descision, so it wasn't his fault. Then she died. But Tomas told me he still blames himself. I feel bad for him."
"So do I. But he shouldn't blame himself, it'll just make him and everyone around him depressed. He should move with his life, and he shouldn't blame himself anylonger. He wasn't the one who decided to pull the trigger, and he wasn't the one who decided to save his friend. That was Manami's choice, not his, so she was right, it wasn't his fault." her dad explains.
Madison stares at her dad for a minute, then grins.
"That's what I'm gonna tell him." she says as she takes a sip of her Pepsi.
"When?" Abigail asks.
"Tomorrow. And I hope he thinks about my reasoning. It might save him from himself."
"Good, now, who wants dessert?" her dad asks.
BONUS Funnies ^o^
'So, you really ran into Tomas?' Abigail asks.
'Yes, I just told you that.' Madison answers.
*Abigail begins to laugh again, making Madison irritated*
'Why are you still laughing?'
'You're such a loser!'
'I am not!'
'Says the chick that can't see right in front of them.'
'I'm the loser?'
'Yepe.'
'Yeah, says the girl that wants to mary PHARAOH ATEM FROM YU-GI-OH!'
*Abigail's smirk disappears as she begins to blush*
'Ack! Don't say it out loud!'
'Abigail and Atem sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-'
'Who's Atem?' Tyler asks.
'NOW LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!' Abigail yells.