Tadadadada!!!!
My second one-shot! Please Review!
Disclaimer: If Bleach would belong to me, do you really think I would write fanfictions? ... I thought so.
I also cannot draw. -.-
Warnings: character-death mentioned, slight UlquiHime
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Inoue Orihime was always a strange girl. That was what Kyoko thought.
She was very pretty - some even called her beautiful – with the long sun-kissed hair, her expressive grey eyes and the curves of her body.
She was also intelligent and got good marks, even though she was most of the time naive and very ditzy.
But nothing compared to her heart.
She was always happy and had a smile for everyone. She never held any prejudices or got angry with anybody, even when they insulted her. She just gave them a look akin to pity and smiled at them.
But there were moments and occasions when somebody did or told something and she would become very quiet.
Her eyes would cloud over and she would look as if she carried the whole world on her shoulders and would slowly break under the burden.
An air of seriousness and despair would be around her and she would look like a battle hardened warrior.
Those moments frightened her. It showed that nobody, not even the girl herself, would know what happened in the past.
***
Kyoko remembered that she met Orihime the first time when the school began after
Christmas break. Orihime was newly transferred, after an accident where she lost her memories.
She sat down next to Kyoko and gave her one of her blinding smiles.
"Hello, the teachers said you could show me around school."
Kyoko nodded and gave a small smile.
"Of course, Inoue-san." Her eyes flashed and her smile faltered.
"Thanks, but please call me Orihime."
Orihime, despite her friendliness, remained an outsider. Only Kyoko herself could be considered a friend, although Kyoko felt as if an invisible wall was between them. The others avoided being alone with Orihime, claiming in hushed whispers that she would give them a creepy feeling.
As if something cold and unnatural would surround her.
Kyoko didn't listen to their voices and drowned the uneasy feelings with the friendly chatter of Orihime.
They claimed that Orihime was insane, sometimes with her staring into space, reaching out, but never really getting what she wanted.
Kyoko knew that Orihime would sometimes get a glimpse of THEM.
Often crying, bloody and with a broken chain hanging from their upper body.
But when Kyoko tried to talk with Orihime about the ghosts, the other girl would block and claim she didn't know what Kyoko was talking about.
***
When Kyoko first visited Orihime in her home she wondered how apartment would look. She imagined warm colours, chaos and a homely feeling.
Reality was the opposite.
Everything was white. The walls, the carpets, the kitchen, the sofa...
There was only an occasional splash of colour from various schoolbooks.
Orihime jumped into the kitchen.
"Would you mind closing the door, Kyoko-chan?"
Kyoko closed the door and stumbled with a gasp back.
On the door was a picture of a pair of eyes.
They were a cold green and seemed to bore through her into the depth of her soul.
Kyoko knew that Orihime was a good painter, but normally the eyes she painted held some kind of feeling in them.
This pair of eyes were cold and Kyoko couldn't see any emotions in them.
But despite the coldness of the eyes she was overwhelmed with despair.
Swallowing she turned away and looked another time around the room.
It felt as if she was in a prison cell.
Automatically she went towards the kitchen were she heard Orihime, all the while feeling as if the eyes in the painting were following her.
***
"Oh look. The poor kitty!"
A black cat with amber eyes was hissing at Orihime and Kyoko as they kneeled before her. "Do you think she has a home?" the orange haired girl questioned her friend as she tried to stroke the cat.
Kyoko shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Look how thin she is. You can see her rips. She also seems very reclusive."
Orihime furrowed her brows, but soon a smile replaced her expression.
"I think I'll keep her. She is really cute. And I have the perfect name for her.
Isn't that right, Yoruichi-san."
Kyoko turned to look at Orihime. She was surprised that someone would name a cat like that. She opened her mouth to tell Orihime that, but she saw the other girl's expression. Orihime looked somehow hopeful. As if she expected that something would happen, but not knowing what exactly.
Kyoko swallowed. "I think Yoruichi-san is a good name for the cat."
Orihime just smiled.
***
There were times when foreign and strange people would look or behave like
they would know Orihime.
They were all different in looks and behaviour and only one thing tied them together.
They all looked like they wanted to be somewhere else.
As if they would feel what everyone else in class does.
There was the big-breasted woman with the small white-haired child.
The child was glaring at the oblivious Orihime and he muttered something like "Espada-lover" when they passed, but as they passed the look of anger was replaced by a look of guilt.
The older woman laughed at the child, but then she saw Orihime and the happy look vanished to be replaced with a sorrowful and at the same time understanding countenance.
***
There were a weird blond with a striped hat and a walking cane and a dark-skinned woman. Kyoko and Orihime met them in a supermarket, while they were buying food for Orihime's cat and the two of them were discussing the different aspects of the various cat toys.
When they saw Orihime they stopped their discussion and the man pulled his hat deeper so it shadowed his eyes, while the woman was watching Orihime with sadness in her eyes.
Orihime and chattered with her friend, while Kyoko listened absent minded and watched the strange pair out of the corner of her eyes.
"Ne, Kyoko-chan do you think Yoruichi-san will like that?" , Orihime asked and showed her a little cat toy.
Kyoko furrowed her brow when she saw the reaction of the other pair, but she turned to Orihime and nodded.
Grinning Orihime pulled her away.
Kyoko turned around and saw the man grinning, concealed by a fan, and the mix of gratefulness and pride in the eyes of the woman.
But she could still feel their relief when Orihime rounded the corner with her.
***
Then there was the boy.
He stood out with his orange hair and his permanent scowl.
The two girls met him when they were shopping. Fully packed they stumbled along the way when Orihime crashed into the boy.
"Ow, ow, ow." Orihime kneeled on the ground, head bent down so her hair obscured her face. The scowling boy, who hadn't even budged, turned to face the girls fully and reached out to help Orihime up.
Orihime looked at her helper.
The reaction was instantly. The boy stumbled back and gaped at the kneeling girl.
A look of astonishment, horror, guilt and sadness crossed his face, while Orihime's showed confusion, fear and despair.
She jumped up, grabbed her scattered things and pulled Kyoko with her.
Scared she stumbled away and never slowed down.
Kyoko turned to look at the boy, who was still staring at the vacanted space.
"K-K-Kuro..!" "Do you know him?" Orihime turned to look at Kyoko.
"I... I... " Orihime fell silent. Her hand gripping Kyoko's arm was still shaking.
***
Those were some of the minor moments when an other side of Orihime surfaced.
When you got to know there was another side.
And then there were those moments were Kyoko just wanted to run away. To hide from them. From Orihime. Where she wished Orihime was somewhere else.
Those were the moments that scared her. Because she would think that Orihime wouldn't fit into the real world. That she belonged somewhere else.
Somewhere where the despairing ghost and the haunting green eyes belonged.
Kyoko tried not to think about this. Orihime was her friend. Her only friend.
Before Orihime came she was an outsider with no friends, but now she had Orihime who supported her.
But the thoughts never seemed to vanish.
Exactly like the invisible wall that seemed to divide the girls.
***
One of Orihime's quirks were her hairpins.
They were almost the same green shade of the cold green eyes and shaped with a flower design.
Whenever something startled her or if someone got hurt, her hands would drift to the hairpins, as if they would help her. As if they could turn the situation.
When Kyoko first asked about them, Orihime's eyes darkened.
It was the first and only time where Orihime seemed angry.
"They were a present. But... they don't feel right. As if something is missing. As if I'm missing something. They aren't real. They are just substitutes. It's not right. Why did the do it? It hurts. I.. I.. They are..."
Orihime was panicking. She gripped her head, while tears ran down her cheeks.
Sobs shook her body as she tried to talk.
Kyoko kneeled beside, with tears in her eyes, as she looked guilty at the despairing girl. Helpless she pulled her into a hug until the sobs receded.
The next day when Orihime came grinning to school the green hairpins were gone replaced with new ones. They were white and black and had the design of bats.
Kyoko tried to ignore the unpleasant feelings the hairpins invoke in her.
***
There was only one time when they went together to the beach. It was summer and the whole class prepared with their teacher a beach-party. Everyone was laughing with each other regardless if they were swimming in the sea or playing on the beach.
Kyoko came just out of the sea and wrapped herself in a towel when she saw Orihime.
The girl, clad in a white dress, was standing apart of the rest and starred to the horizon.
Kyoko walked carefully to her friend.
"Orihime, why are you standing here. Come join the others."
Orihime just continued to stare.
Kyoko shrugged her shoulders and turned around.
"You know where you'll find me."
She began to walk away when she heard Orihime's voice.
"It's wrong. Everything here is wrong."
Kyoko faced the girl again. "What's wrong?"
Orihime furrowed her brows. Trying to remember what she forgot long ago.
"There was sand. White sand. Everywhere. There was no water. Trees out of quartz that reached deep into the ground."
Orihime looked into the blue sky. Her eyes had an feverish sheen as she discerned everything and nothing. Kyoko took a step back.
"The moon shone the whole time. A mirror moon. But now I can't see him anymore."
The girl shook herself out of the trance and blinked at the other.
"So what do you think is there to eat."
Orihime grinned at her, while Kyoko wished she could forget it like Orihime did.
***
Hearing the enthusiastic ringing Kyoko opened the door and saw the smiling long-haired girl before her.
Kyoko's parents weren't there and she had invited Orihime for a sleep-over.
Kyoko smiled softly when she lay at last in bed, the sleeping Orihime on a mattress next to her, and wished they could do it more often.
She woke up, when she heard distressed noises.
Still half asleep she looked to her friend who whimpered.
"Orihime?" No answer, only more whimpers.
Kyoko stood up and kneeled next to Orihime. She touched the girl by her shoulders and shook her softly.
The girl sobbed and tears escaped the closed eyes, but she didn't woke up.
Kyoko shook harder, but stopped when she realised that it didn't help.
Orihime sobbed harder, tears flowing freely.
Her damp bangs stuck to her forehead, as the girl tossed her head.
A small scream escaped the sleeping girl as her arm rose out to try to reach something.
"Ul-Ul..qui..", whispered the sleeping girl, sobbing harder, as the hand failed to grab the thing she desperately wanted.
"ORIHIME, wake up."
Kyoko screamed at her distressed friend, shaking her.
Tears rolled down her own face, seeing her friend in this state, cursing herself for her own helplessness.
Crying she pulled the sobbing girl into her lap, all the while desperately wishing she could help.
The next day Orihime remembered nothing of the dream and smiled her blinding smile.
***
She wasn't surprised. She really wasn't surprised by the news. Somehow she always knew it would happen, so she wasn't shocked.
But she was still crying as she stood, clad in black, in the front of the small crowd.
There weren't many there. Some of her classmates, one or two teachers,
Orihime's family and her own family.
But there were also those strange people. They stood a little aside of the rest. There were the pair from the supermarket and the boy with the orange hair. A big and tanned boy next to a smaller dark-haired boy with glasses. There were also two girls. Both of them small and dark-haired with tears in their eyes.
One of them turned around and punched the orange-haired boy, before she ran crying away.
Kyoko slowly stepped forward and laid the flowers onto the grave.
With tears in her eyes and a smile on her lips she turned away and began to walk away.
Now she knew what it was.
What made others around her uneasy.
What the invisible wall between them was.
She knew that Orihime was already dead before she lost her memories.
Kyoko was only happy that she succeeded in giving Orihime what she desperately wanted.
A real friendship, where both of them needed the other.
Kyoko remembered the times Orihime helped her and her smile widened.
She only hoped she was happy where she is now.
In the place where is only sand, no sea, trees of quartz, a mirror moon, white rooms, bats, those green eyes and the one named Ulqiuorra.
Hoping Orihime is happy with the memories of their friendship.
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I wrote this one-shot after our beloved emospada turned to dust and I wondered how everyone would react if there where
real feelings between them. I also think that Orihime's powers are upsetting the precious balance of soul society and are against the law.
I mean resurrection?? The power to negate everything that happened? If I were some higher up, I wouldn't want that power around.
Ergo: They bind her powers, erase her memories and send her back home. The others would feel guilty, especially Ichigo with his normal
shounen-hero-complex, Urahara and Yoruichi, because they had to know what would happen and the others who know Orihime better.
Tatsuki would blame Ichigo who drew Orihime into this world.
Orihime would be changed, sometimes remembering scenes, something that would disthinguish her from the rest.
... I think I'll stop. Please Review.