A/N - From now on I am going back through all 5 chapters and re-writing them because I realised they were kinda shitty so I am starting again! There will be a 6th chapter up soon enough but I want to make the story a bit easier to read first and then I'll think about what to do for the 6th chapter.
Disclaimer - I do not own Bleach - Tite Kubo does!
1
Mai Koyuki, a simple blonde haired teenager. The blue eyed female had never known her mother and was raised by her ill father, Mai was grateful for everything she had in life although she always felt as though she was missing something. As if something was missing, like it had been taken from her. The female knew that she had never met her mother but as she looked at the only image of the said woman she felt as though she recognised her, not only because she herself looked like the woman in question, but as if she had met her before.
The image that sat in Mai's lap was slightly faded and crinkled at the edges due to constant use. The image held a smiling female who looked to be pregnant and her happy husband beside her, they both looked at the camera with so much love for each other. Mai had never seen that look in her father's eyes and the thought of it not being there made the girl sad, she knew that her father had lost the love of his life but she felt slightly guilty due to the fact that her mother had died in childbirth.
Now Mai's father was desperately ill and the said female was scared that she would never be able to that look in his face again, because she knew that he didn't have long left and she was determined to see love in his eyes at least once before the inevitable happened. The young girls shoulders dropped as she felt tears form in the corners of her eyes, she wished she was able to do something for the dark haired male, anything that would help him through the pain he goes through everyday.
"Snowflake," a soft voice brought Mai from her wallowing, the voice only a whisper. The blonde looked to her doorway and saw her father standing there leaning against the wood of the doorway with a soft smile on his face. She smiled back as the dark haired male walked forward and sat next to the blue eyed female on her bed, both then looking down at the faded photo - both with completely different thought patterns.
"What was mom like?" Mai's quiet voice broke the comfortable silence between father and daughter. The elder males blue eyes widened slightly before becoming warm and looking into his daughters matching eyes. The blonde teen looked at her father with a smile and urged him to tell her everything about her mother, she loved hearing about the times they would spend together and the stories he would make up about the adventures they would go on to a place called 'The Soul Society'.
"Well, your mother was quiet when I first met her, she always seemed to be scared of something." Itachi had to pause to laugh lightly to himself before looking down at the smiling face if his daughter who reminded him so much of her mother and the love of his life. He shook his head lightly, long black hair flying around his face while he sighed before taking the photo from Mai's hand and looking at it closer.
"She loved to see other people smile, even if that meant she herself wasn't happy. Your mother sure was stubborn like that, she put everyone before herself, even me - can you believe that?" Itachi paused again and laughed lightly along with his daughter and looked to the small blond with a warm look in his eyes, he looked back to the photo and took every detail of his wife's face and memorised it, knowing it would be one of the few times he would get to see this photo.
"When your mother had gotten pregnant she wanted the best for you and was contemplating not keeping you. We were both young when you were conceived and we were both scared, but when she gave birth we couldn't ever let you go. You were ours and you would only ever be ours." The dark haired males head slumped down and he clenched his teeth to stop the tears that were forming in his eyes, he hated to cry in front of his daughter, he didn't want to appear weak in front of the only thing he had left to protect. His blue eyes widened when he felt Mai lean against him and wrap her thin arms around his middle and rest her head in the crook of his neck, he smiled at the touch and wrapped his right arm around her small body and brought her closer to himself before closing his eyes and smiling brighter.
"She loved you so much but nothing could have been done to help her, she was just lost," e he said in a small voice, he hated to admit it but he knew that his wife was destined to die. After all Mai was the very reason that he himself was ill and that his wife had died, yet Itachi loved this small girl with every fibre of his being. Mai sighed as she felt warm tears land on her head and she couldn't help but hold her father tighter, and make sure that he didn't break in her hold.
Itachi pulled away from his daughter and smiled at the pale girl while standing up and wiping under his eyes, he looked at the image in his hand one last time then handed it back to the blonde before him and ruffled her hair before walking towards the door again, the dark haired male looked over his shoulder and saw that Mai was looking at the image in her hand with a loving smile and pain in her eyes, he knew that she missed her mother although she had never met her and that in itself brought pain to the elder males heart.
"Come on snowflake, you have to go to sleep now. You start a new school year in the morning," Mai turned her head to her father and nodded before crawling to the top of her bed and getting under the covers, while placing the image of her mother under her pillow. Itachi smiled at his daughter and lightly kissed the top of her head and then turning the light off and closing the door behind him while he walked out of her room.
Mai opened one of her eyes when she heard the door shut and quickly threw the covers off of her body and grabbed the photo from under her pillows, he quickly and quietly made her way to the window. Without making a sound she slid the window open and climbed out onto the ledge before puling herself up onto the roof. Her long hair blew in the slight wind as she stood and walked over to the chimney and leaned against it and looked out over the houses surrounding her. A serene smile came to her face as she saw everything was quiet, everything was calm and everyone was fine, even the stars were out. The blue eyed teen looked above her and smiled at the bright dots that shone down on her from above. Her thoughts allowed her to escape the world for a short time and be free from the burdens that chained her to the ground.
As soon as sunlight shone through the crack in the curtain Mai opened her eyes and cursed the fact that she had left her curtains like that, but she still pushed herself up from the confines of her warm bed and made her way down the hall and into the bathroom where she stripped down and got into the shower to wake herself up for the first day back at school. When the blonde female stepped out of the warm shower she wrapped herself in a small fluffy towel and wiped the fog off of the mirror so she could finish getting ready for school.
When Mai was finished in the bathroom she made her way into her bedroom to get dressed, her shirt fit well but was slightly too tight around her chest where she had grown over the summer, but everything else had seemed to fit her just fine, her skirt sat mid thigh and had been ironed the night before so it was presentable for the first day back and her blazer and been washed and dried to be nice and fresh for the day ahead. The blue eyed female quickly pulled her black knee high socks on and slipped her black pumps on and she was ready for the fist day back at Karakura High School.
"Snowflake! Its almost 7, don't you need to be leaving soon?" a small voiced called from the furthest bedroom, Mai looked at the clock and realised she was late so she quickly thanked her father and quickly made her way onto the busy streets of Karakura, she was careful not to get into anybody's way because she knew that everybody there had a place to be and she didn't want to be the reason for any of them being late for their first days back.
The 15 year old quickly walked her usual route to school, making sure that she went past the memorial of a small girl that had passed, to leave another flower. Mai hated to see a child that had no longer been remembered, and every time she saw the small brown haired girl she always saw herself in her lonely eyes. The small girl had died a few years ago and in a way Mai thought that she and the young girl were in the same boat, even though Mai was still breathing she felt as though she should be dead because of how numb her mind usually felt.
Mai then smiled as she crouched down and placed a small flower in front of the image that lent against the telephone pole in a small back road that eventually lead the way to Karakura High School, a way that she had found thanks to her orange haired friend. The blue eyed female looked to the image of the girl one last time before standing up and brushing the small amount of dirt off of her knees and turning to walk the way she was meant to when she heard a whisper in the wind that sounded like the words 'Thank you'. Mai smiled again and allowed her thought to wonder just like last night.
Mai liked to think to herself on her way to and from school, she had always thought that it was comforting and this was a lot quieter than most of the places that she found herself, meaning all of the boys who would fawn over poor Orihime and the worrying voice of her father when she got home. Mai shook her head at the thought, her blonde curls moving with every shake, her laugh was light and she couldn't help the slight pitying look she gave to the sky while thinking about it.
"Mai?" a strong voice called, bringing the blonde teen out of her thoughts. Mai's head turned in the direction of the male and saw that it was Ichigo, he had been one of the first people to welcome her to Karakura town and help her fit in at school. Even though he may appear to be cool and collected, the blonde knew that deep down he was a big softy and she believed that he was nicer than what he thought he was and she was determined to try and find his soft spot. She smiled as the male took a few more steps to catch up to the short female.
"Morning Ichigo," Mai smiled, and the orange haired male took that moment to look at the girl before him and see how much she had changed over the summer. Ichigo noticed that her hair had gotten a shade lighter, now making her hair a bleach blonde but in certain light it almost looked white, and it had also gotten a few inches longer meaning it now sat just under the small girls waist. The girl however had not physically grown and was barely even up to Ichigo's shoulder, causing a small smile to form on his face at the thought. Mai's eyes however were still the pale blue they had been when he had last seen her and they still shone with a slight child's mirth.
"Ichigo, are you alright?" the blonde questioned, she had asked him the same question repeatedly and he had not answered making Mai worried slightly. She furrowed her blonde brows as she waved a hand in front of his face which seemed to bring him out of whatever he was in, Ichigo shook his head and smiled at the girl in front of his before seeing the confused look on her face and then becoming confused himself.
"huh, what?" Ichigo mumbled out as he shook his head again, the orange haired male smiled at the blue eyed girl before him and walked on leaving s lightly confused blonde behind, but as he walked he wasn't looking where he was going and his face collide with a pole. There was a brief moment of silence as both teens took in what had happened and then a light and breezy laugh was heard. Mai couldn't hold in the laughing fit she had as she had not seen the pole coming herself and the shock of the whole Ichigo - face-planting incident made her laugh even harder.
The brown eyed male had just pushed himself away from the pole and began to rub the spot on his forehead which hurt the most and he began to glare at the blonde girl beside him yet she was oblivious to his glare, and after a while her laughing had died down and Mai was trying to regain her composure. But the look on Ichigo's face and now red forehead had the small girl laughing all over again and Ichigo sighed before walking away from the girl slightly while glaring at the floor with one of his hands on his head still rubbing the same spot.
"You have to admit Ichigo that it was funny," Mai said quietly while they walked side by side, neither of them looking away from the path that they followed, Ichigo glanced in the blue eyed teens direction and saw a small pink tint to her cheeks from her previous laughing, and he would have to admit that if it didn't hurt quite as much as it did he may have found it funny or even if it had happened to her. Soon after that they had arrived at their destination. Karakura High School. Ichigo sighed and dropped his head as he mentally prepared himself for the day ahead with his friends pestering him about what he did over summer, while Mai stood there looking back at Ichigo waiting for him to walk with her into school - she personally didn't worry about school as she had Orihime and Tatsuki and no one really bothered her around here.
Quickly shaking her head Mai began to walk further into the school with Ichigo hot on her tail as he sulked lightly over the fact he had annoying friends, as soon as they had set foot in the classroom they had both been bombarded by their friends, Mai being polite smiled at everyone who called her name, and she hugged the people back who had hugged her. The young blonde was too rusting for her own good, Ichigo thought as he watched the blue eyed teen be dragged away by the crowed of people that he surrounded her.
"Mai! I've missed you!" a high voice called out, the blue eyed teen turned around and found Orihime running to her with her arms out wide, Mai couldn't help the large smile that came to her face as she opened her arms for the grey eyed girl to run into them and rap her own arms around Mai's neck. The blonde female was not surprised at all by Orihime, she always was kind to her and she always excepted the brown eyed girls hugs as they were so warm and welcoming, both girls then stood there holding each other for a few seconds before Mai pulled away slightly and began mindless chatter with the orange haired female before her.
This then lasted most of the day as they both caught up with everything that they had missed about each other over the summer. Orihime then making Mai feel a little queasy with the new combinations of food that the gray eyed girl had come up with, and always trying to get Mai to try them, each time she kindly declined or came up with an excuse as to why she couldnt eat the strange things that Orihime had come up with because they sounded as though they would kill her if she put it in her mouth.
The day went by quickly for Mai, she had been catching up with her closest friends and watching how new people interacted and got into the flow of school, but something seemed different, she kept hearing things. At first it was like a buzzing that wouldn't go away but by the end of the school day when she was walking to work she heard louder noises. All through her work shift she had heard these strange sounds and they were worrying her, no one in the restaurant seemed as if they could hear them so she pushed it to the back of her mind, but she was beginning to feel uneasy.
Mai quickly pulled her curled hair into a high pony tail and carried on with her job while ignoring the increasingly load noises from around her, and by the end of the night the small blonde had been shaking non-stop so when she finally got let off from work she became worried, she quickly grabbed her bag and school books before running from the restaurant. With every step that she took she heard more roars, not just any roars, loud ones, ones that sounded close, and hungry. The blue eyed girl had never heard anything like this in her life, she wanted to tell her father but she didn't want him to think she was crazy, so she tucked her head down and wrapped her arms tighter around her books, wishing she was already in the confinements of her home. Closing her eyes she picked up her speed and was almost running home.
A loud crash suddenly pulled Mai from her running, it sounded close but she had no idea what it could have been, but it sounded as if something like a body had been thrown into a solid object. The young blonde was pulled from her thoughts when the ground suddenly shook, the force made the girl freeze and drop her books and when she looked for the source she had found a beast standing before her. The beast had a white mask and what appeared to be the body of a lizard but it had a hole through its chest so that she could clearly see through this thing before, meaning she could see everything that was behind this beast.
The blue eyed girl shook, she couldn't move, she couldn't make a noise, she was too scared to run. Her very blood running cold at the sight, the pure fear that ran through her bones was enough to make her knees shake and her heart to momentarily stop beating. Mai had been staring for what felt like years when suddenly the beast stepped forward, the movement jolted her and gave the blonde movement back. Mai didn't have to think twice before she took off running in the opposite direction. The shaking of the ground behind her confirmed that the beast was still chasing her and the small blue eyed teen made the mistake of looking over her shoulder making her loose concentration momentarily making her fall and skid across the floor grazing her arm and legs up.
Mai panted as she held her arm, the shaking momentarily stopped but before she could turn and inspect what had happened, she felt a cold hand wrap around her body, the very same hands that belonged to the beast that had been chasing her. Mai screamed as she faced the monster in the white mask and the beast simply smiled, or what the blonde teen thought was a smile. She severely hoped that she would soon wake up, wishing this was all a bad nightmare and at any moment her father would come into her room and wake her up and comfort her the way that always made her feel better.
The small teen quickly closed her eyes and hoped that it would all be over soon or by some miracle she would be saved, Mai thought that for sure this would be the end of her but by the luck of the gods she heard something, her blue orbs opened and stared around her, she had felt something in the air and as she looked above her she saw something, she saw someone. A girl around the same age and height as herself holding a sword that seemed to glisten in the moonlight, Mai didn't have very much time to asses the girl as a sword came awfully close to the blonde teen cutting straight through the beasts arm and sending Mai hurtling towards the ground, she screamed but her fear was short lived as she hit the ground with a thud and became instantly unconscious.
Unbeknown to Mai, her father soon showed up wearing an identical uniform to the girl that had saved the blonde that lay not 20 feet away. Itachi knew what had happened and knew that he was running out of time to tell his daughter the truth. He looked to the girl in question and saw her breathing steadily while her hair lay around her like a shining halo, showing the pure innocence of the young girl.
A/N - I am so glad I've done this, I feel so much better about this chapter now :3 and I hope you liked it as well and leave a comment or a favourite maybe, but I promise I will do this update as fast as I can and will continue with the normal story line when I am done.
