Bleach The Bookworm and the Outcast

**Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Bleach in any way. And I don't write any of my fanfics for profit either. I just write them because I want to.  
**

**Plot: There was a rumor that a student was cursed to have a hole in the stomach and an ugly mask on one half of his face; and out of shame he stayed in the school basement ever since. Toshiro hears about the rumor. When a friend of his goes to the basement and hasn't returned since, he goes there out of concern and discovers that the rumor is real.  
**

* * *

There are a lot of things Karakura High is famous for. One of them is strange albeit interesting.

Rumor has it that a student lives in the basement, at the corner where it is the darkest and the most desolate. Nobody bothers to go down there because when they try, they become extremely scared halfway. No one knows why there would be a student there, but some heard that the student was cursed to be hideous beyond reason and out of shame that student shut himself from the outside world, and a good place to stay in for that would be the basement.

It's only a rumor but it captured the attention of many. One of them was Toshiro Hitsugaya, who's the top 1 student of Karakura High. But he shrugged it off nonchalantly, thinking that it was all just a story made up by someone out of sheer ennui that became a tale that people love to tell those who haven't heard of it yet.

Toshiro thinks that such things are absurd, and there's no such thing as curses that can change someone's appearance; overall, magic. He deeply appreciates magic existing in fiction, but never in real life. There is absolutely no way that magic could exist.

Or so he'll think soon enough.

* * *

"Ah, if it isn't my favorite visitor." the librarian Nanao exclaimed with a smile as Toshiro stepped in the library, bowing to Nanao while smiling in return.

"Hello." he greeted.

"These are the new books." she said, immediately bringing the small tower of the thick books on the desk. She acted like it was a routine already to present to him what's new, and it actually is. After a while of looking at the titles, Toshiro pointed at two of them.

"Romeo & Juliet, and Bram Stoker's Dracula."

"Oh, now you're interested in romance. That's new." Nanao commented while giving him the two books and stamping on his library card.

Toshiro shrugged, "The wider my options on books, the better. And hey, it's not like I'm uninterested in romance."

They exchanged smiles and Toshiro lifted the books, ready to make his leave. But the kind librarian stopped him, her hand reaching for something. She took out a pocket-sized book and presented it to him.

"What is this?" he asked, taking the book, and flipping the pages.

"Short fantasy stories that didn't make it into the big book."

Joy shone through the silverette's teal orbs as he deeply gave his thanks twice to his friend.

"No need to thank me. It's your reward for coming here everyday." After a brief laugh, Toshiro left as Nanao waved to him before resuming to do her work.

Toshiro placed the books in his bag that carried only a small notepad and his pencil case, and he started to walk home. On the way, he bumps into someone who he knows since years ago. One of his childhood friends: Kusaka Soujirou.

"Hi, Toshiro." he said and Toshiro stated the same.

Unknown to Toshiro, Kusaka has a crush on him since a year ago but the man never finds the courage to ask him out; he fears that his friend might be disgusted with him or not so comfortable around him.

"Oh right, you're home's this way while mine's that way." the white-haired teen sighed, and before they knew it Kusaka decided to see him home; not that Toshiro found any problem. He's friends with Kusaka after all.

After being walked home whilst having a good conversation, he bid goodbye to Kusaka and entered the empty house. He removed his shoes by the doorstep and since there were no assignments today, he went straight ahead to preparing a simple dinner and he ate his meal while watching the TV.

The rest of the night was normal and good as usual. He would just eat, watch, check his mail, wash his face, brush his teeth, dress in pajamas, then sleep.

* * *

**A few days later . . .**

* * *

When class was over, Momo Hinamori stayed in school until everyone else was gone and she headed for a door that wasn't opened that much anymore. It was the door that leads very down to the basement.

She knew that people who tried got scared. But it was probably because they overreacted. She gulped but she was still curious so she twisted the knob and stepped downstairs, slowly and carefully, counting each step that echoed in the long, lonely hall that seemed to be endless when she counted sixty.

Momo sighed because it seemed endless and she started to get a little frightened, since there was nothing but darkness and the only thing that keeps her walking down in a stable manner is her hands holding on tightly to the banister. She also clicked her tongue because she didn't bring her flashlight with her. But she kept up her courage and continued walking down, determined to make it to the end.

The more she stepped, the count already reached up to more than one hundred steps and it slightly frustrated her. It even confused her because she didn't expect the basement to be so deep down from the school grounds. Either that or her impatience was getting the better of her and tricking her mind into thinking that she walked more than a hundred steps.

But relief washed over her frustration when she saw a tiny glimmer of light from afar. It was small, but it was definitely light. She walked faster out of excitement and hope, and the light became bigger and bigger. She closed her eyes and ducked down she was so close to the light, to the point that it overwhelmed all the surroundings around her.

For a few seconds, she stayed like that to keep her eyes from being blinded. But when she opened one eye, the intense brightness was no longer present and she opened the other, her body slowly standing back up. She was no longer on the stairs, and rather she was standing in the auditorium. The young brunette blinked a few times, perplexed.

"_How could I be here?_"

And then, she saw some parts of the auditorium looking so bleak and gray. It gave a scary feel in the atmosphere but she didn't focus on that. Momo felt chills running up her spine when a breeze howled inside through the open windows. She looked at the windows and saw that the curtains were ragged, and the small three-row bleachers had nothing but old torn T-shirts and flags along with crumpled note pages. She shivered in fear, her feet retreating by a few inches without her knowing about it.

It was dark, not as dark as when she went down the stairs but it was still dark. It terrified her now, and she turned around, her feet getting hastier as she was more anxious to run away. A flight of stairs was waiting for her, and she headed for it with all her might while oxygen left her body as she was ran in such a frantic manner. But just as her foot attempted to get up on the stairs, a presence flashed to her from nowhere. She couldn't see what did the presence look like, but the person towered over her by such a degree. She gazed at the silhouette with shock and fear, and she thought she could see something that looked like one-fourth of an odd mask-like thing on the shadow's face.

"Sorry, but I can't let you get back now. Now that you've seen this place." a deep suave voice said coldly, and Momo froze. In that voice, she could feel it echoing and it wasn't her imagination; it was really echoing.

She turned around again to run but a hand grabbed her wrist tightly and dragged her somewhere so quick, that she had no time to scream and only had the time to let the fright and bewilderment fill her soul to make her pass out like a light.

* * *

**Two days after . . .**

* * *

Toshiro became worried when Momo's seat was absent for the second time in a row. She's one of his closest friends, and he knows that Momo is not the type to get absent just because she wants to unless there's a very valid reason. He sighed at the fact that she's just sick, and he made a mental note to go by her house later for a visit.

Writing on the notes was normal for him and he visited the library again, exchanging a short conversation with Nanao before walking home. But first, he headed for his friend's house and knocked on the door but nobody answered. Her parents would be gone for a month, and Momo is, as of the moment, living all by herself.

He became even more worried because Momo had no reason to be home late. He waited for ten to twenty minutes, passing the time by sketching at the back page of his notepad. There were no assignments today, and he waited until almost an hour went by. The sun already set, and the moon is on its way to be up high in the evening sky. Toshiro gave up even though he was so concerned for Momo, because he had his own home to watch over. By coincidence, his parents would be gone until a month from today, and he walked home to do the same routine before sleep.

* * *

For the first time in a few years, Toshiro fidgeted with his fingers and his pen when Momo was absent for the third time. He even bit his lips and scratched his head, which was rare for him because he's the composed type of person. He had never been so shaken up before, but it was normal since the brunette is his dear friend.

"_Hinamori, where are you?_"

The thought would be asked in his head or out loud in the form of a silent mutter once in a while until class was over. Everybody left with everybody except Toshiro because it was his turn to clean the classroom. He mopped the floors and arranged the chairs before locking the windows and the doors of his respective classroom. Then he started to leave, this time without going to the library but Nanao would always understand why. It only happens once a month when he's the one in charge of cleaning.

As he trod down the long and silent hallway, he noticed the door that led to the basement. To his surprise, it was slightly open but no one seemed to notice for he heard no gossip about it. The basement would be a big deal because _nobody_ goes down there. He knows that clearly, and opened it wider to see only the very top of the stairs that descend down to nothing but darkness.

Another addition to his surprise was a tiny hair piece and he picked it up to get a closer look at it. The janitor most likely forgot to throw it. After a few seconds, he gasped. The peach shaped hairpin belonged to Momo, because he was with her when she bought it four months ago. He gulped and could only think of one conclusion.

Something happened to Momo when she tried to go down the basement.

"That idiot! She shouldn't have done that! Why didn't she even tell me that she planned to do it?.!."

No matter how angry he was, he was still fearful to what might have happened. Gripping the pin tightly in his balled palm, he stepped down and slid one hand smoothly with the banister to serve as his guide. His eyes looked at nowhere but straight ahead, and he ignored the fact that it's taking a long while to reach the bottom. His top priority was to find Momo. If she wasn't at home nor in class, the basement would be the best third option.

He stiffened when he saw light getting brighter and larger the further he walked and he put out an arm in eye level to shield his vision. The light was so bright that it could almost blind anyone who would continue to look at it. He stayed like that, but he stood his ground and prepared himself to what would happen next. He couldn't comprehend to why after a long time of going down the stairs with nothing but pitch-black darkness, there would suddenly be bright light.

Soon, the soft red light he could see in his closed eyes vanished and he placed back down his arm, his eyes slowly opening. He felt surprised to what greeted his eyes. It was a copy of the school auditorium, but he could immediately tell that it was completely different. The whole place looked like no one had been there for a hundred years. It looked glum and creepy, with a ghostly feel.

Toshiro was almost startled by a powerful gust of wind that entered the open but dirty windows, blowing dust all over the place from the powerful air. He coughed and sneezed from the dust going in his airways. He touched a part of his chest as he coughed and wheezed out some more, trying to walk around to find a safe place. The winds grew more ferocious and he opened one of his eyes to see stairs. Without thinking, he ran up but halfway until he could reach the other end, he felt something hit a pressure area in his neck. All of a sudden, Toshiro couldn't see or hear anything.


End file.
