Chapter 2
It was a strange feeling. There was darkness. In fact, the only thing Ayame was certain of was darkness. Concepts such as time, space and matter were nonexistent to her. That's all there was to the world. Darkness.
So it was even stranger when that began to change. As her mind did not yet understand what time was, she could not say when the images started, but that's when her cocoon of darkness began its metamorphosis. One could at first describe them as "phantom images." Just random lights flashing here and there...no meaning or proof that they were anything substantial.
But soon the concept of 'color' began to surface. Indistinguishable lights became 'blue' then 'red' then 'green.' Not long after, the colors mixed and gained texture...she could recall words like 'sky' and 'grass'...'tree' and 'water.' Objects...like 'house' and 'chair.'
That's when the more abstract concept of 'life' came to her, followed by images of...'people.' She saw 'faces' with 'smiles' on them...'children' in dirty tattered clothes, but nonetheless 'happy' circling around her feet. She saw there bright 'eyes' shining and filled with the colors she'd discovered not too long ago. Who are these children? And why are they so happy to see me?
Then another face popped into view...a waterfall of snow-white hair...two of these so-called 'eyes' filled with the color 'green' and something else Ayame didn't quite understand. At first words like 'warm' and 'comforting' and 'inviting' popped into her head...but then it hit like a bolt of lightning.
'Love.'
It was with that word that the darkness shattered and she was blinded with light. The feeling was like dunking one's head underwater for a few seconds too long and then rushing to the surface for a dramatic gulp of air. Only, for Ayame, she was gasping for more than air. When she awoke her body and her mind inhaled the world around her and her thoughts sprung to life after being dead for all those years.
The stimulus was too much. Her eyes were wide open and filled with terror...this was not like her cocoon of darkness where she could process the world little by little. She was hit like a wrecking ball...calling her disoriented would be an understatement. Glancing around wildly, Ayame saw that she was in a small room with wooden walls. Light shown in through the windows, revealing a sunny afternoon. Now looking down, she saw she was laying on a small futon, just large enough for her, with a thin blanket covering her.
She also noticed that although all she'd been doing was moving her head from side to side, the task wasn't easy. She felt heavy...like everything was asleep. She tried willing her body to sit up but nothing was happening. That's when she heard him.
"Ayame...? Are you...really awake?"
Ayame's head shoots in the direction of the voice and her eyes finally land on a disheveled man with scruffy blond hair and a tacky green-striped hat. She can hardly control her panic when she sees him.
Finally her body began to slowly catch up to her mind, and she causes her self to roll limply away from the map. She tries to yell but her tongue feels like nothing more than a dead piece of meat.
"Ayame, please calm down! I'm not going to hurt you...jeez why'd she have to wake up now, of all times?"
Why'd I have to wake up?
"Tessai! Please help miss Ayame, I need to go see Ichigo right now!" The striped hat man yells while a panic-stricken Ayame still struggles to get control of her body. She watches the strange man leave the room with an odd expression on his face. 'Guilt.' The word pops in Ayame's mind.
Shortly after, a large man with braids and glasses enters the room and another wave of panic washes over Ayame. She'd finally managed to sit up but at this point her legs were still useless. The new stranger speaks.
"Hello, miss Ayame. I am pleased to be at your service. Please do not panic and return to your bed, I have brought a special medicine that should allow your body to wake up much faster."
The man's voice was deep and oddly soothing. Ayame's panic wanes and she reluctantly-and rather awkwardly-shuffles her way back to the bed. Once she is in place, Tessai presents a tray to her.
It looks like...'tea'. Ayame thinks. Suddenly a memory of her and a gentle man with white hair flashes in her mind...they sit overlooking a green meadow while sipping from beautiful porcelain tea cups. The memory was so warm and pleasant. She doesn't hesitate when the large man offers her a sip.
He puts the cup to her lips and warm liquid fills her mouth and washes down her throat...it has an earthy taste. One that she felt she'd tasted countless times, but would never cease to amaze with its refreshing flavor. As the man had promised, the warmth was spreading from the pit of her stomach to her deadened limbs, forcing them to life. In seconds she was able to take hold of the tiny, smooth cup and sipped it several more times.
Once she finished her first cup she gestured for a second and third. By the fourth, she was able to speak.
"May I...have another?" The sound of her voice shocked her for a moment. Though hesitant, there was an undeniable strength to her tone. It was the voice of a woman who experienced true hardship. At the moment she could not remember anything about herself, but from the sound of her own voice, perhaps she had a past worth forgetting.
"Of course miss Ayame." Tessai answers. As he pours the cup, Ayame speaks again.
"Ayame...I am Ayame. Ayame...?" She tried to think of her surname but was once again drawing a blank.
"Ikeda. You are Ayame Ikeda." A now familiar voice answers from behind Tessai's large frame. Now nearly in full control, Ayame cranes her neck to see past Tessai and her eyes fall on the man from earlier. A strange emotion unfurls within Ayame at the sight of the man, but she does not have a name for it yet. She had already calmed herself down and decided to take in everything slowly, so she continues to look at the man curiously.
"I see my special tea has worked?" The man asks...his voice is filled with mischief and mystery. Ayame's mind no longer stumbles over these abstract concepts...there are only a few now she cannot name.
"Yes, I am capable of movement. My deepest appreciation goes to you-" The man cuts her off.
"There you go with the formalities again! There is no need to thank me," he says, that emotion Ayame detected earlier from him briefly filling his voice. " You are our honored guest for now, miss Ayame. Please drink a few more cups of the tea and you should be up and moving in no time." The scruffy man then bows, such an odd gesture for one who seemed so...how could Ayame put it? The exact opposite of formal...
" Likewise, there is no need for you to bow for me." For some strange reason this phrase stirs another image...a hazy face in the back of her mind with no name. She lets it go. " And how may I address you?"
The man hesitates for a moment. Wow...she really has lost most of her memories. "You may call me Kisuke. Kisuke Urahara. And this nice man here is Tessai." He says, gesturing to the large man with the braids. A certain relief washes over Kisuke when Ayame doesn't so much as flinch at the mention of his name. It didn't raise any memories. He could start with her on a clean slate.
Ayame looks to both men thoughtfully. "Well Kisuke, Tessai...thank you." She gives a smile containing warmth and gratitude. Kisuke found it almost unreal how a face that had been dead and empty for so long could so quickly regain life...how the still and lifeless body he'd been harboring for so many years contained a woman with such charisma and strength. It seemed his guilt wasn't going to leave overnight just because she finally woke up. No...this was not a quick-fix situation.
He decided he'd help this woman achieve the dream she so desperately wanted those years ago: to live as a simple human. He wouldn't tell her about her painful past, at least for as long as she couldn't remember it herself. Judging from her nearly nonexistent spiritual energy he doubted she'd be able to see or sense soul reapers and hollows. She'd live in the same blissful ignorance as all the other normal humans in the world of the living
Yes. He'd help her get on her feet and shield her from this world. Maybe this way she could be happy, and he could relieve himself of the guilt he'd held for so long.
