Right Here Waiting

Right Here Waiting -Toushirou Hitsugaya Story #7-

Kurosaki Ichigo

When I opened my eyes, I honestly thought I was dead. Nothing hurt, and I was in a pure white room. However, when I noticed how plain and white everything was, I realized I had to be in a hospital or something.

As I sat up, I coughed, and brought my hand up to cover my mouth. It was all bandaged up. That stupid hollow really did a number on me... What happened to it? How did I end up here?

Then my thoughts settled on Toshiro. No way was I going to be allowed out of his sight anymore. Gazing out the window, I noticed it was night already. Toshiro must be going crazy right now... I shook my head, which by the way, started to hurt. So much for that painless state I was in.

The door opened, and in walked a middle aged man. Brown hair, plain features. "Ah, so your awake missy."

I coughed again, and nodded. "Yeah. Where am I?"

I took notice that he wore a white coat like doctors wear. "You're in my family clinic. I found you out by the river while running errands for my wife."

"Oh yeah... You see.. Um... I was jumped?" It was difficult to come up with a sufficient lie, but amazingly the old man bought it. Which was amazing, because anyone who truly knew me knew that I wasn't so stupid to go on some gang's turf I had a beef with. Which, by the way, weren't many.

Anyway, he nodded, and then I burst into a coughing fit. Not fun. My throat burned.

"Well, it seems laying around in the snow did you no good. You caught a real nasty cough from the sounds of it." He walked over to a couple of plain white cabinets, opening them, searching for something.

"Er, thanks for bringing me in.... um.. Mr...." I trailed off, waiting for him to finish for me.

"Kurosaki Isshin." He finally found what he had been searching for. It was a cough syrup. I accidently let out a groan. Just what I needed, medicine. God, I hate medicine.

Mr. Kurosaki head my disgust, but shoved one teaspoon worth in my mouth anyway. He left the bottle sitting on the night stand that was next the bed I was laying in. Sitting down on a wooden stool that was nearby, he gave me a rather serious look. "Ms,"

"Kazama Hikaru." I interrupted.

He nodded and continued. "Kazama-san, you should pay much more serious attention to your body's health. Your immune system, from what I can tell, is very weak." His tone of voice was very sober, and his eyes lingered on the cough syrup.

To be honest, I wasn't very surprised. None of this was news to me. And as for what he suggested, well, I'm just not the type of person who pays attention to my health. As long as I could walk, see, hear, touch, smell, taste, and breathe, I was just dandy by my own standards.

"That cough may just develop into something much more complicated." Kurosaki looked straight into my eyes. "It has higher chances of killing you than a normal person. Understand?"

I nodded slowly, feeling like a child being scolded at. Kurosaki-san got up and went over to the door. I didn't expecting him to be leaving so soon. "Get some rest." He reached over the flipped the light switch, turning off the lights. "I'll bring send up some dinner." Isshin suddenly got this goofy smile on his face, while giving me a thumbs up. "My wife is the best cook in all of Japan!"

Normally I would laugh, but Kurosaki-san was a bit... umm.... weird.

It was a while before anyone else came in. I was leaning against the wall, looking out of the window. The door opened, but when I looked over, I couldn't see anyone. But then I looked down, and then I realized that a little boy had come in. He had orange hair and big brown eyes, no older than 6 or 7.

In his hands was a plate of delicious looking food, and something to drink. By the looks of it, it was water.

"My mom told me to bring you some food." He said shyly, and set the plate down on the night stand.

"Thanks kiddo." The moonlight bounced off his face, and he gave me a small smile. I turned over to the food and poked a fork into some broccoli. I wasn't a particularly picky eater to be honest. He watched me eat, and I have to admit, it was kind of weird since he didn't say anything at all.

After I swallowed what I had been chewing, I asked him something. "So, what's your name? I'm Hikaru."

A surprised look came to his face, "Oh, I'm Kurosaki Ichigo."

I smiled, amused by this little kid. "You're mom is a great cook. This is delicious."

"Yeah! My mom is the greatest!" Ichigo told me confidently, and one thing came to mind. Momma's boy. I hope he'll grow out of it before he hits middle school, or some mean kids will be giving him a hard time about it.

I let on an uneasy smile."I wish I could say the same."

Ichigo gave me a confused look, and I knew his young mind couldn't comprehend what I meant by that. I shrugged and continued to eat until I was finished. My gaze strayed out the window again.

"Are you waiting for someone? You keep looking out the window Hika-chan." Ichigo was now sitting on the bed's edge, and I gave him an astonished look. He called me Hika-chan... That was what Ayame called me...

I tried to focus on the question he had asked me. "Um, I'm not sure... I guess you can say that." Was I really? I can't imagine who... I mean, Toshiro really didn't count did he? The only thing I knew I wasn't looking forward to was Toshiro's anger. Assuming he would be angry, and by the looks of it, I'm guessing he's going to be furious. Oh well.

I ran my hands over my face, trying to keep myself awake. In doing so, I stretched some of the skin of the my cheek, reopening a small cut. It bleed, and stung a bit. "Ow.."

Ichigo looked up at my face, and hopped off the bed. I watched as he went searching for something in the cabinets. I wiped the blood that was escaping from the cut, and when I looked up again, a band-aid was in my face.

"Here. It'll make your hurting spots better." Ichigo explained, in a little kid voice. I blinked, staring at it a bit. The little boy pouted, and began unwrapping it himself, since I gave not attempt at receiving it from him. "If you don't put it on, it can get in..in.." It was a bit funny, as he tried to remember how to pronounce the word. "In..Infected!"

I suppressed a giggle. "Right.."

Ichigo leaned over and placed the band-aid on my face. Silly little kid.

"You know Ichigo, " I said, preparing myself for one of those inspirational speeches I gave to little kids. I've lived through a lot in the past fifteen years of my life, and I doesn't hurt to give away some wisdom, you know? "when you have something that is very important to you, protect it. Protect it from anything that could ever harm it, and when that something is in danger, make sure you protect it with your life."

I kept eye contact with the little kid, trying to get him to understand. I didn't want such a nice little boy repeating my mistakes. Ichigo nodded, and was going to say something when a woman's voice called out.

"Ichigo! Please come down here, your sisters want to play with you!"

He turned, "I'll be right down!" Ichigo then walked over to the door and looked back at me. "I'll promise that I'll protect it. I'll come back later, and then we can play." He grinned.

"Yeah." I responded, with a small smile.

Ichigo opened the door and left.

****

I had fallen asleep, leaning against the wall. When I awoke, I saw a pair of serious eyes looking down at me. Familiar eyes... But they were too close for comfort. I yelped, and backed away, hitting my head against the head board of the bed in the process. Um, ow.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! You don't do that to people!" I yelled out in a hushed voice.

Toshiro ignored me, and gave me this look. "I finally found you. Let's go home." Toshiro said in a semi- bored tone.

I rubbed the back of my head. "Huh? How did you find me?"

"It wasn't easy. I was at home with I noticed that your reistu just completely vanished. Someone was hiding it..." He trailed off, and then he caught sight of my bandaged hand. The white haired captain raised an eyebrow. "What happened to you?"

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. In reality, I was embarrassed to tell him the truth. "There was a hollow, and it sort of... beat me up." I pulled the blanket that was on me off, and stepped into my boots. After lacing them up, I glanced up at him. "But you know, it was by the river... where Ayame died."

This caught his attention.

"And it looked bigger than the other hollows you've encountered. It looked like a fish... I think there was a puppet that looked like Ayame attached to it's head..." By now, I had already stood up, and my hand brushed against the band-aid little Ichigo had placed on my cheek.

Toshiro had this scary look on his face...

"What?" I asked, getting the feeling he knew something that I didn't again.

He shook his head, and ran his hand through his hair. "Nothing. Lets go."

I nodded, but then I had another terrible coughing fit. I fell down to my knees, feeling like I couldn't breathe. I felt Toshiro next to me, and then it finally stopped.

"Are you alright?" He asked, concerned. I nodded faintly, and then I saw his eyes lingering on the cough syrup that was still on the night stand. Oh no ...

Before I could stop him, he got up and took it. Just like that. Isn't that considered stealing? That criminal...

"Hey... no. I'm fine, really. I don't need any medicine.." I tired to get him to put it back.

"No. You're sick. And you need to take medication. We're taking it." He argued, and something told me I wasn't going to win. Which was odd, because I always won arguments. It's was just one of the many laws of nature.

The short shinigami walked over the window, and was about to climb out of it. He reached out his hand to me, and I hesitated. It wasn't so much that I didn't trust the kid, really. It was just that I felt bad about leaving without saying a formal thanks to Mr. Kurosaki. Toshiro urged me to hurry with his hand, and I took it. He helped me out of the window, and now we were on the roof of another part of the Kurosaki's house.

"Great. Okay Captain Genius, how do you expect me to get down from here. It's a pretty nasty fall, and I don't have the reflexes of a cat, just so that you know." I crossed my hands over the chest, stubbornly.

Toshiro frowned, and sighed. "Don't you know when to shut up?"

"As a matter of fact, no, I don't. But.. Hey!" I cried out as he pulled my legs from underneath me, and picked me up. He held me like a bride, which I thought was so so corny. The boy jumped off the roof and onto another. After that, he jumped down into a random street.

"Let me go already!" I yelled out, and guess what? He let go of me.

I fell onto the floor, with no remorse from the young shinigami.

"Gosh... You can't just drop a injured person on the floor!" I slowly got up, knowing there would be new bruises on my bum and back. Possibly my arm too.

Toshiro shrugged, and looked back at me, since he had begun to walk away. "You told me to let you go."

I rolled my eyes and caught up to him. "I didn't mean just drop me! You can set a girl down gently you know."

He smirked at me, and it was strange. Because for once, he was getting on my nerves. I was supposed to get on his nerves, not the other way around... What is this world coming to?