Disclaimer- neither I ( Nova Salvador ) or my friend ( Darkangelicdemon) own Bleach and will always regret that fact.


Chapter 2 : She Isn't Who I Thought She Was


Nicole's POV

It seemed like hours, sitting there on those steps trying to sort out the situation. Nothing came of it, of course, all I remembered was going for a walk with Anna-Kay. Then, after I'd given up on trying to figure out what happened, I excepted the fact that I had died. There was nothing to disprove the fact, it didn't feel anything like Florida. The climate wasn't humid and scorching like the summer that Florida had been experiencing, and not a rain cloud in sight. Instead, everything was dry and cool, with a nice breeze.

Obviously, as I was staring straight ahead over my knuckles, I was oblivious to anything other than my own thoughts for a long time. I finally remembered the old woman in the house, how I'd left her in there like that, and was about to get up and go apologize when, I heard my name, "Nicole?" I was a question, I looked up and around to see...Anna-Kay.

I stared for a moment, and she stared back, before I exclaimed, "What the hell?! You too?!"

Anna-Kay looked confused, "What do you mean 'You too'?"

I started massaging my temples, "I don't know how, but...we died."

She raised an eyebrow, " You're joking, right? You don't remember?"

"I wish I could say that I'm joking...I can't though." I said looking at her again.

"Well that makes perfect sense." She said sarcastically, rubbing her face with her hands, in frustration. A few moments later she sighed and her arms fell to her sides, "I know how we died."

I froze and looked up at Anna-Kay, she had this look of embarrassment on her face, "Do I even want to know?" I thought a moment then said, " No, I don't want too."

Anna-Kay had this exasperated look on her face, "Well, that's too bad, 'cause I'm gonna tell you anyway." She went into a long explanation, and by the end of it I was highly embarrassed, all that martial arts and self-defense training, and I was blind sided by some staggering moron with a pocket knife.

"Just some moron with a pocket knife?" I asked.

She nodded.

"We never speak of this again...agreed?" I proposed.

"Agreed." She said, nodding. She turned away and started looking around, "So, you have any idea where we are? Is this supposed to be heaven?"

"I don't know about heaven, it was introduced to me as Soul Society...Whatever that means." I replied.

Anna turned back to me, blinking, "You're joking, right?"

I shrugged, and started walking back into the house, motioning for Anna to follow me. The old woman was sitting in the same spot she was when I'd left, we sat down in front of her and introduced Anna.

"Hello, Ma'am. It's nice to meet you." Anna bowed in respect, I inwardly groaned at my early actions.

"Oh my, a young girl with manners, that's not something you see everyday." The old woman laughed long and hard. After she took a look at our faces, adorned with shock, she started laughing again. She eventually calmed herself down and said, "You may call me, Obaasan."

At this time Anna suddenly lost all semblance of manners, and said, "O-kay here's the deal. We were just sixteen..."

I cut her off, "Seventeen."

She glared at me hard, extremely annoyed, "Sixteen, and seventeen in her case. When we died at school. That's all pretty much crystal clear, but what I can't understand is how Soul Society exists. Can you...I don't know clarify that for me?"

There was a painfully long silence as Obaasan thought about it, she eventually said, "No, sorry."

Anna went red in the face and I smiled, shaking my head, 'This is gonna get ridiculous.' I thought, silently pleading the 5th.

"What about candy?" Anna asked.

"What's candy?" Obaasan asked sounding like she was joking.

Anna's left eye twitched, she apparently didn't get Obaasan's joke "Soda?"

Obaasan seemed genuinely confused at this point, "What's soda?"

"A carbonated beverage." Anna said, she looked hopeful as Obaasan thought about it.

"I've never heard about anything like that before."

Anna got up slowly, walked over to the wall, and began banging her head against it.

I shook my head at Anna, then looked back at Obaasan, "I apologize for my behavior earlier, and my friend's current behavior, Obaasan." She beamed when I called her Obaasan. "This ordeal has been...Stressful, to say the least." I was about to continue when Anna's banging increased in both volume and pace. "Aren't you finished yet?" I yelled, annoyed.

Anna's paced slowed to the point where she'd bang her head between each word. "No,thump I thump won't thump be thump finished thump until thump I thump forget thump this thump whole thump situation!" thump thump thump

I stood up and pulled her away from the wall. "Enough Anna! Your thick head is going to damage the wall!"

"Leave me to my misery!" She cried as she struggled to escape from my hold. I held fast and dragged her to her seat. She huffed and glared at me, I glared right back.

Obaasan cleared her throat to gain our attention, "I will have the servants set up rooms for the two of you ans arrange for a doctor to come by and have a look at you both, but before that, I want you to tell me your names and ages clearly."

I looked around at the shack then at Anna, finally back at Obaasan, and said, "Nicole, age seventeen."

Anna was pouting next to me, but said, "Anna-kay, age sixteen."

Obaasan looked at us for a long time before saying, "You will be staying in my household, as my granddaughters." She clapped her hands, and a hidden door in the floor opened, allowing two women to emerge. Obaasan gestured at us, smiling warmly, "My granddaughters. Prepare them rooms and get them cleaned up."

The servants bowed and led us through the door and down into a huge and ornate complex. It was like a maze and was extremely beautiful.

We were led to the baths and cleaned up. Afterwards, the same two women, who refused to speak, dressed us. We were dressed in kimonos. Anna's was dark blue with different colored butterflies winding there way up around her, mine was a dark red with black and creme colored butterflies scattered around randomly.

After, what I fell was a very long and thought out preparation, we were brought to what was a dining hall, and left there. I looked at Anna, then at the luxuriously decorated dining hall. "I don't know what to think anymore, but she is not just some old woman who lives in a tiny wooden house."

"No kidding." Anna said looking around the hall as well.

"Who is she?" I asked, as a door slid open on the other side of the hall.


Nova Salvador: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Hopefully it won't take as long to get the next chapter up. We'd love to get reviews to see what you, the readers like, or don't like, about the story.