Right Here Waiting

Right Here Waiting -Toushirou Hitsugaya Story #6-

Attack

I sat in my English class, anxiously waiting it to end. My foot was tapping restlessly against the floor. I paid no attention to what we were supposed to be doing in class, seeing as it probably would be reading some chapter of the book assigned to us silently. And I really didn't feel like playing my cards to see if I could manage to read it by the end of the period.

My eyes wandered to the window that I sat nearby, and I caught a glimpse of Toshiro running off, probably going to get rid off some hollow near by. He didn't seem to want to let me go anywhere without him, saying that I attract too many hollows, and that I could possibly be putting people around me in danger. It was okay I guess, Toshiro wasn't an annoying little kid who complained every couple of seconds.

I glanced down at the closed book on my desk. I needed to figure out what I was going to do about it. If I tried to read it on my own, that would take hours and hours.

I glanced back at the window, and felt my brow creasing, even when I tried to make it stop. My mother kept plaguing my thoughts, again and again. It wasn't a good thing, I hated it. I never wanted to go back there, to that house. Even if my mother might have changed.

Class was over, and I gathered my things, ready to leave.

"Hikaru-chan, do you have a minute?"

I looked up to an unfamiliar face. It was a boy with green hair that fell into his face, and brown eyes. I never seen him before, so I'm guessing he must have transferred when I was gone.

"What do you want?" I asked, not really planning to listen.

"Oh, well. The Winter Ball is coming up, and I thought you could... I don't know go with me?" He scratched the back of his head, and had a goofy grin on his face.

I raised an eyebrow. "First of all, I don't even know you, so no." I shook my head, and walked out to the lockers to get my regular shoes on. I noticed he was following along behind me. Grr this guy was persistent Why did he want to go with me anyway? No one in their right mind would want to go with me. He must have some screws loose.

"Well, if you decide to go, it's a perfect chance for us to spend quality time together. Well? Just think about it."

I let out a sigh of defeat, and sent him a glare.

Strange, he wasn't intimidated.

"I don't even know your name, you lousy punk." He was becoming irritating.

He gave me yet another goofy grin, as if he had forgotten that little fact. "Oh yeah. I'm Kimura Daiki."

"Right. Now um... I have things I gotta do. Leave me alone." I had already made my way to the school gate, and I noticed Toshiro was on the other side, leaning against the wall. Apparently, he was in his gigai since everyone else could see him. I heard whispers about his unnatural colored hair. Hm, I would have to ask him about that someday.

"Hey kiddo. Been waiting long?" I asked, patting his head.

"Hikaru..." Toshiro said in a warning tone, while squatting my hand away. "Don't do that. I'm not a dog."

I pouted. "But..."

I was interrupted my new friend. "Bye Hikaru-chan! I await your answer!"

After rolling my eyes, I let out a groan. Sure, I had no luck attracting normal guys, but I was apparently the jack pot for weirdo's. It bothered me that he kept calling me 'Hikaru-chan' too. No one calls me that. Ayame didn't even call me that.

Toshiro walked me home in silence. I didn't know what was eating him, but my mind was still settling on the fact that a boy had asked me out. I had always thought I was too plain, despite Ayame's efforts to make me see that I wasn't. The fact that I caught any boy's attention bothered me, it seemed so rare? I'm not sure if that's the word for it. Anyway, Ayame had always said I was "rough around the edges". In other words, I was an aggressive person. She had said to me once that my smile was more of a warning for any guy than a flirty smile. Like I was purposely doing that so that they could know that they wouldn't know what they were getting into.

So, Kimura-kun was interested. Huh... I think I would have to think about this boy's offer.

****

A couple of days later, as I got ready for school, I tried to convince Toshiro of something. I was trying to get him to leave me alone, if only for a day. I think I was perfectly able to take care of myself. The young captain sat on the couch, watching the morning news, drinking tea, that by the way, I made. I mean, come on, I made me him tea, he should at least hear me out. Right? Wrong.

"Absolutely not. What if you were attacked again? Forget it Hikaru. Its not happening."

I plopped down on the couch next to him, and I tried again. "Please, come on Shiro-chan." Even though I knew this would irritate him a bit, since I discovered a few days ago, that my young friend didn't like being called 'Shiro-chan'. But I thought it was a nice nickname. So ha. "No hollows have shown up in three, are you listening? three days! What are the chances of anything happening?"

He was frowning, then he gave me one of those looks that read, 'I can't believe I'm actually listening to you.' "Fine. But you're coming straight home."

I raised an eyebrow, as I got up and went into the kitchen. I still had to quickly eat breakfast. "Who made you my parental figure?" I called out from the kitchen, in between bites of my muffin. Ew, blueberry.

"I can't watch over you when you're fooling around with boys."

I spit out the milk that I was drinking. Did I hear him correctly? "What? Where did you get that idea from?" I walked back into the living room, leaving the milk that he made me spit out for him to clean later. It disturbed me a bit that he remember Kimura-kun at all (Which by the way, I haven't answered yet, since he's been absent lately.)

"That boy from the other day. He wants something with you. And you're actually considering it." Toshiro sounded like he didn't approve.

"How do you know about that? Stay out of my business." I retorted, pulling my hair up into a ponytail. It looked strange to me, but I left it like that anyway. I made my way to the door, and he followed.

"Hikaru..."

I waved my hand at him, dismissing his presence.

****

At school, my eyes were betraying me again. They mixed around the letters around every time I tried to read. I even began to wonder how I managed to read the letter from Sai. It must have been some sort of miracle. Probably.

The school day ended, and I decided to take a detour by the river. I was half hoping to spark a memory, half dreading it. After pulling my scarf closer to me, snow began to fall. It was cold, and piled up quickly on the ground. Surely Toshiro wouldn't mind me being just a little late.

I simply walked on by, when something caught my eye. Familiar red hair...

"Ayame?!" I cried out, moving towards her. She was standing near the bank. How could she be here? Alive?

Just before I was close enough to touch her, something slammed into me, knocking me into the snow. Let me tell you, it was not a nice feeling. The snow was icy, and rough. It pulled and scratched at my skin painfully. It took a bit of effort for me to get up again.

When I looked up, a disgusting looking hollow was awaiting me. It was weird looking, almost like a fish. Just lovely. I kind of regretted telling Toshiro to let me walk home by myself. Maybe I jinxed the whole hollow thing. Crap.

"My, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

My brow creased, "Excuse me? I've never seen you before in my life."

It laughed, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a puppet like thing slam into me. I fell into the snow again. This time it hit me with enough force to make me cough up blood, staining the pure white snow red. It kept ramming into me, leaving no time to recover. Pathetic, really.

The last thing I saw was that puppet like thing attached to the hollow. It had maroon colored hair.... like Ayame's. After that, it was hard to keep focus, all I saw was the blinding white snow around me, my blood continuing to stain it red.