The story of the hairpin

Miku stared up at Sora, her entire body trembling as she dropped the vase, the rest of it shattering as it hit the ground. Sora was staring back at her, and at that moment, Miku knew she was going to die.

But no matter how scared she was, she wasn't going to regret her actions.

She would die having tried to help someone.

Sora let out an angry cry and went in for the attack, but froze as blood began to spray everywhere, and piece by piece, his hands and arms fell to the floor. Chopped up. Miku broke away from her frozen fear to lunge out, managing to break Orihime's fall, however, this only caused both girls to topple over, but at least neither were hurt. "Do you know...why brothers were born first?" Ichigo spoke softly as he came up behind Sora, his sword stained with blood. "To protect...the little ones who come after them!" Miku stared, her heart pounding in her head. She was getting irritated with herself. Now was not the time for these thoughts, but she had to admit, Ichigo looked really cool. He pointed his sword at Sora, anger burning in his eyes. "What kind of brother says he'll kill his own sister?! Even a monster Shouldn't say that!"

"Ugh.." Sora let out a groan, and then a full out cry, like an animal. "GAROOOOOOO!"

"WHY?! WHY DO YOU STAND IN MY WAY, ICHIGO KUROSAKI!" Sora screeched, bloodied tears now streaking down his white mask, staining it with red. "When I was 15, my sister was born." He began suddenly, his voice dropping to just above a whisper. "She was more like a daughter to me than a sister. Our parents were truer monsters than I am now. The kind of monsters that would silence a babies cries with beatings. I hid her...I quieted her cries...where they wouldn't hear. In march, when I was 18, I...took my 3 year old sister...and fled that cursed house. After that..it was us against the world!"

Sora turned to face Ichigo, ignoring the bloody stumps that were once his hands, "Just the two of us! Forever! I raised Orihime! I protected her! She's mine! Nobody else can have her! Least of all you, Ichigo Kurosaki! You will never have her!" He then lunged at Ichigo without warning, his mouth wide open, going for the kill. Ichigo merely raised his sword, lodging it in Sora's teeth to block the attack. "As if," He snarled, "Captain Overbite. Orihime doesn't belong to anyone!" Sora ignored his words, though, or perhaps he was so far gone now that he couldn't even comprehend them. "She's mine! Her soul is mine! I lived for her, but she..won't live for me! Very well...THEN SHE WILL DIE FOR ME!"

Sora lunged.

And Orihime ran forward, embracing him, allowing him to bite down on her shoulder.

Both miku and Ichigo stared in absolute horror, unable to understand what was going on. Not at first, anyway. But the longer Miku stared at the scene before her, the more she understood.

Perhaps it was because, unlike Ichigo, who was the older brother, Miku was a little sister, like Orihime. A little sister who loved her big brother more than anything else in the world.

"ori...hime? Ori...-" Sora himself seemed to be an an utter loss over what was going on, but Orihime merely continued to hold his large head, ignoring the blood that seeped from her arm where Sora's teeth met the flesh. "I'm sorry...Sora..." Orihime muttered gently, nuzzling her older brothers face with her head. "I..wanted to share them...fun things at school...the happy stuff...things I liked..people I liked..." She then pulled her head away, staring at her brother as she fought back tears. "At first, all I did was pray everyday...but I thought that was wrong...I didn't want you to see my sadness. I didn't want you to feel my pain. So I hid it from you! I only shared my happiness with you! So you wouldn't suffer for me!"

Sora went completely silent now, staring at his little sister with wide eyes, her words finally reaching through to him.

"I...didn't realize I made you feel lonely..." Orihime was crying now, and Sora slowly released her, pulling away from her touch. "..I'm sorry I hurt you, Sora...I love you.." Orihime then collapsed onto the ground. Miku ran to her, not even caring about Sora anymore, and knelt down, taking the ginger into her arms. "She can still be saved!" Rukia hurried over to the two girls, determination on her face. "The Ina no kusari- the chain of fate-is still attached! As long as it's connected to her body she isn't really dead! I can use my kido to save her!" She then pushed Sora out of the way, and Sora let her, leaning down over his sister. When he spoke, his voice had returned to normal. "Orihime..sister..Orihime..I knew. That you stopped praying so you wouldn't worry me. But..I didn't want you to stop. When you were praying...your heart was all mine." 'The hairpin..that was a gift from you." Ichigo walked towards them, his movement almost silent. "She told me, it was the first gift you ever gave her. She still wears it today."

Finally Ichigo reached them, only taking his eyes off of Sora for a moment to glance down at Orihime, then at Miku, and his expression flickered to that of surprise, as if only now truly realizing that she was there. His sight quickly returned to Sora, though. "It's the same. Those who die and those who get left behind...they all feel alone!"

Ichigo's words hit Miku hard, and the image of her mother hanging there flashed in her mind.

Was...was that why she stayed behind? Even though she had taken her own life?

Did she feel...alone?

"You were so caught up in your own loneliness you forgot about hers!"

Each word Ichigo said rang in Miku's head, and she clutched Orihime closer to her chest. Was that..was that what was going on with herself? Had she been so blinded by her own loneliness, her own sadness, that she ignored the pain her mother felt?

The pain that led her to kill herself that day?

Was Miku no different than this monster Sora had become?

Miku snapped back to the present as Sora reached for Ichigo. She opened her mouth to warn him, but instead of attacking, Sora grabbed Ichigo's sword and stabbed himself in the head, cracking the mask. It split, falling to the ground with a clatter. Ichigo and Miku gawked at him. "Why did you do that?!" "It's alright..." Sora replied gently. "If I stayed as I am, I'd lose myself again, and attack Orihime. That's why now, in this moment of sanity, I want to pass on..." He then smiled down at Ichigo. The boy began to argue, but Rukia held up her hand, silencing him. "His decision is right. Hollows can never go back! Let him pass on...it's alright." She then raised her head, smiling at them all. A genuine smile. "To reap hollows is not really to kill them. Reaping merely frees them of sin. The Zanpaku-to cleanses them...so they can enter the soul society. That is the reason soul reapers exist." "Then...goodbye, Orihime."

Sora leaned over Miku, who had Orihime on her lap, and his little sister slowly opened her eyes.

"There's something I always wanted to tell you..Sora.."

"The hairpin you gave me. I never really liked it. We had a fight that day...and for the first time, we ate dinner without speaking, and I sat facing the wall all evening. Then..you went off to work the next day...I let you go without saying a word."

Miku could tell where this story was going, and tears stung her eyes. To lose her older brother in such a way...she couldn't even think of it...

"Why did it have to be that? Maybe it wouldn't have made any difference...but I've...always regretted not saying this." Orihime smiled gently at her big brother. "Sora...have a nice day." And with that, Sora suddenly shed his monster form, his hollow form, and standing over them was a young man, with kind eyes and messy black hair. He smiled to himself and closed his eyes before suddenly fading into the air, until he was gone completely. "He's gone." Rukia sighed, returning Orihime to her own body. The moment she was revived, Orihime sat up. "I have so many questions-"

And Rukia opened something in her face. A toy duck head popped out, releasing smoke, and knocked Orihime out. " A Kioku-chikane memory replacement. I erased tonight from her memory and gave her substitute memories. We can't let people know about us. Only, we can't choose the new memories. They're random. Hmm..she probably can't see anything, but just in case." Rukia thought for a moment and then turned to Miku. "And you. You go to our school, don't you. We're going to need to talk."

Miku's heart sunk, but then she relaxed when Rukia added, "But not until tomorrow. We all need to rest."

"No, for real! A Yakuza gunman totally came in and, like, blasted a huge hole in my wall!"

Everyone was trying not to giggle as Orihime explained what had happened to her the night before. "Whatever, space girl." One girl frowned. Another, a certain lesbian, giggled. "Orihime...that childlike mind of yours is really cute, princess!"

Miku took her seat, smiling as she overheard to conversation. For once it was nice to not only hear what was going on in the lives of others, but to have actually been there to see it too. Yeah, it had been the scariest thing she had ever seen, but Miku couldn't help but wonder if that was what it was like to have friends. But she didn't forget what Rukia had said, and she stiffened when she and Ichigo began to approach.