Make Me Better
Chapter Three: And They Fall
…
One month.
Had it really been a month since she snuck her way into Los Noches?
Her aching joints screamed 'yes'.
Orihime buried her head further into her pillow, a low moan escaping her lips as her joints clicked in place, muscles stretched stiffly, and the entirety of her body rebelling against her as her brain automatically clicked 'awake'.
She was used to manual labor, but her training as a maiko was forcing Orihime to use muscles she rarely used for farm work.
Even the tips of her hair felt sore as Orihime slowly pushed her upper body upward to sit properly on her bed.
It was a hand-me-down from past trainees but still far nicer than anything she ever had the luxury of owning. Her and her brother slept on a straw-stuffed comforter and even then, when their sole cow was running low on food, they had to forsake their bedding to keep her alive.
Orihime quietly tiptoed over the other sleeping maikos to change into her work clothing.
Sleeping past the crack of dawn was a luxury for her and her brother.
The sun was barely a glimmer in the horizon when Orihime first stepped out of the yard, a cover thrown over her shoulders to keep her warm from the early chill. She sighed, her breath forming a small cloud, which caused her to briefly smile. In her hands was a large, empty pail to fill with water from the pump tucked in the far corner of the yard. As the newest and inadvertently the oldest trainee, Orihime was stacked with the duty of retrieving water to clean the floors.
She sighed, remembering her first morning with the other maikos in training.
The house of Las Noches was large and grand and for a second, Orihime was daunted by the sheer size of the establishment and the length of time it would take to clean it with its long winding halls, some leading to corridors that Orihime dared not venture merely due to instinct. These rooms were furthest from the windows, their halls lit softly by candles dipped in perfumed wax and oils, and curtains made from thick material to buffer any unwanted eyes or noise from the outside or in.
Another trainee noticed Orihime's inquiring gaze.
She smirked.
"That area of the house," said the trainee, Sung-Sun, a dark-haired girl whose lower half of her face was obscured with her long sleeve, "is the oiran side of Las Noches."
Orihime's eyebrows knitted together for a moment before it clicked, her eyes widening to resemble spheres.
"You don't mean…?"
"The men who seek pleasure from the bodies of women," Mila, another maiko, affirmed as she leisurely wrapped an arm around Orihime's shoulders. Her grin was half friendly, half like a feline.
A feline toying with a mouse.
Mila planted her chin on Orihime's shoulder, mostly using her as an item to rest on and a little because she, as the new girl, was already so interesting. "Our older sister Harribel is the number one oiran of Las Noches."
She grinned, her canines long, white and dangerous. "And she's only been considered a geisha for less than three years, and an oiran less than a year!"
Orihime blushed. She never met someone who was so blunt, so willing to verbally speak about the…desires of others before. "Tha-that is very interesting."
Mila leaned closer to Orihime, "So, newbie," her golden eyes narrowed as she murmured ominously. "I hear you're under the Ice Queen's tutelage."
"Ice Queen…?"
They couldn't mean-
"Ayame, number two geisha of Las Noches," Sung-Sun clarified, her eyes quirked to the side of the common room in the direction where Ayame's quarters were located. "She doesn't interact with many people unless they're clients. Even some of the long established geishas are rarely spoken to by her."
She leaned closer to Orihime and Mila, "She's always sends her newcomers running to the mistress begging her to switch older sisters." Her voice lowered to a low hush, "Some even quit the house and ask the mistress to trade them to another owner." She turned her eyes to look frankly at Orihime, the slightest hint of wonder in her voice," Surprisingly, you've lasted the longest with her."
Orihime bit her lips.
All the other girls – there eyes were all on her.
"Kaguya."
"Older sister," Orihime brightened at the familiar voice. Relief ran through her system like a hot cup of tea and she wanted nothing more to be near that voice. Simultaneously, the arm around her slackened enough so that she could duck and free herself from Mila's grip and move toward her sister.
Ayame appeared from her room and entered the small room where all the girls in training her frozen in shock. Her eyes narrowed at the group of gossiping maikos, particularly the ones surrounding Orihime. Even in her just awakened, sleep-ruffled state, the second most favored geisha in Las Noches stood before them as if she were gracing them in her finest silk robes. Still swathed in her white sleeping robes, only Ayame's long ebony hair was in disarray falling along her back like nightfall cresting against the snow.
Orihime has self-consciously tugged at her own clothes. The rough cotton of the cleaning kimono scratched her skin. They were far nicer than the threadbare kimonos she wore at the farm. She was pretty sure the pitiful kimono she wore when she first begged Nelliel to allow her into the compound was even unsuitable to be thrown into the rag bin.
The only memento of her life before were the hairclips carefully wrapped in a clean linen cloth – lovingly tucked underneath her pillow within reach. It kept the night terrors at bay, especially the first night. Surrounded by the sound of horses pushing carriages and parties from the other side of the house echoing within the confines of the house, caused the loneliness to circle her, almost choking her with its strange, unfamiliar grip. The touch of the cool metal against her fingertips as she reached for her hairclips put her at ease enough for her to close her eyes.
Green eyes narrowed as Orihime nearly sprinted to her, "Walk slower."
Ayame pressed her fan against the side of Orihime's shoulders. The delicate fan a harsh sting against her skin as it rapped against it. Orihime automatically straightened her shoulders. "Your posture is wretched."
"Y-yes," Orihime furiously nodded, a blush covering the bridge of her nose as she bowed her head. Her chest clenched, shame sweeping throughout her system. She could imagine the knowing looks behind her. They were probably gloating; maybe even looks of sympathy due to her older sister reprimand her for mistakes, in public no less. However, when she turned around to bid her maiko-sisters farewell, they averted their eyes from her, namely, from Ayame in particular.
Perplexed, Orihime looked up toward her older sister.
Ayame's eyes flickered toward Orihime before she turned away. "Come, your maiko training begins today."
Obediently, she followed, not before waving good-bye at the other maikos before she quickly trailed after her older sister. The quiet left after Ayame's appearance was deafening.
Suffice it to say, Orihime's first morning with her fellow maiko-sisters had been nerve wracking and an eye-opener to say the least.
Presently, Orihime dumped her third pail of water in the cleaning water bin when she heard the slightest of sounds.
"Kaguya."
"Older sister," Orihime greeted. Contact with her older sister was minimal at best. Her first month here was dedicated to getting adjusted to the maiko life. It was a test of her adaptability. Only after Orihime was deemed a fit member of the household, would she be able to interact with her older sister. The one time, excluding introductions, Orihime ran into Ayame, was an eye-opener. Ayame had appeared behind her –quiet and unassuming like a shadow- and Orihime with her guard completely down, had shrieked and jumped at least two feet in the air. For someone like Ayame with a presence generally unavoidable to notice to seemingly filter through the house like a stray breeze was both awe-inspiring and humbling.
"Come."
Ayame turned away, leaving Orihime awestruck for several moments before she scurried after her and promptly into her room
Orihime automatically took a step back.
Not to protect herself from Ayame's penetrating gaze or the sterile state of the room. This was only her third time into the room, and the first two times were merely on the outskirts to fetch her belongings. To actually step into the room and stay was – was-
She couldn't allow herself to touch anything.
Despite the hours Orihime invested in the bathhouse, she could still feel the grit of poverty still underneath her fingertips.
It would be- Orihime just couldn't.
"Your name," Ayame finally said. She turned her cool stare toward Orihime, "Your family must have thought very highly of you to name you after the moon princess of legend." She slowly walked closer to Orihime, raising her hand to briefly touch Orihime's cheek, "Or did you give it to yourself?" She forced Orihime to look up at her, "A new start perhaps?"
Her parents named her after the thread weaving princess separated from her lover. Kaguya, Orihime recalled just after Nelliel asked for her name, was the beautiful princess living on the moon, watching the earth from her white, shining palace.
"I was my parents youngest child and only daughter," Orihime smiled softly. "I was their princess."
She could no longer be Orihime.
'Kaguya' would be the nostalgic reminder of a life she forsaked.
"A princess, huh?" Ayame leaned closer to Orihime, and suddenly it dawned on her how taller the other really was.
It wasn't just her imagination.
"I suppose it is fitting that 'Ayame' means 'moon flower'," Ulquiorra quirked her eyebrow, "It will be my duty to make you a princess."
Her smile widened, shaking her head as she straightened her back, looking directly into Ayame's green eyes, "To my parents, I was already a princess."
"Was," Ayame breathed as she turned around.
For one excruciatingly long moment, Orihime felt her world close.
She thought she left-
These memories, they were returning.
Just like last time.
Her brother wasn't here anymore.
Sora was far away.
Everything else faded around her in a blur of grey, and Orihime saw-she saw oh so much red –she remembers furiously scrubbing her skin raw. She distantly felt her legs move of their volition; her mind still blank to everything but her brother and her faded memories of her parents.
Sora. Sora. Sora.
Big brother!
Orihime crumbled into the ground. She was somewhere quiet, somewhere where no one could find her. Alone.
She sobbed his name into her folded knees. Her body was wracked with tears and she just couldn't-
She didn't cry when she left home nor did she when she first slept on the streets of the city.
'I miss you, Sora.' Orihime whimpered into her sleeves, hot, salty tears running down her cheeks and staining the delicate cloth. The sweet smelling soaps, the ones that she eyed enviously, lingered on her body from her bath made breathing insufferable now. She coughed, her lungs desperately seeking for the fresh country air – the smell of new vegetable shoots, just broken free from the ground and searching for the sunlight.
Pressing her body closer into the small corner of Las Noches' compound, Orihime curled into herself, her fingers scratching at the still moist soil from yesterday night's rain. She buried her face against the ground, breathing in its musty, earthy scent.
It smelled like home.
.
"You broke her already, Ulquiorra," Nel commented more than questioned. Firmly shutting the tatami door behind her, she settled herself across from Ulquiorra and beside Orihime's fevered form.
Nel nearly spat out the sake she was drinking when Ulquiorra appeared in the house with Kaguya's unconsciouas form wrapped in Ayame's sleeping robe. He moved quickly and discretely from the expansive yard and into the private entrance meant for only Nel, Ulquiorra, and a few select others. This all further piqued Nel's curiosity.
The distinctively masculine figure sitting beside Kaguya's unconscious formed didn't respond. He still hadn't changed into Ayame's daywear yet. Instead, he dipped a clean cloth into a bowl of cool water, switching it for the one on Orihime's fevered head.
The soil from the yard was already wiped away.
There were still smudges of dirt from the yard on Ulquiorra's sleeves.
"Possibly."
"She lasted a whole month; a record. I commend you."
"The Ice Queen is finally in need of a new protégée?" A new voice appeared in the room.
"Shouldn't you be working, Hallibel?"
The blonde oiran didn't bother knocking as she peeked her head in through the partially opened tatami door. The blonde woman was quiet. Leaning in, her long hair in disarray, her kimono loose and disheveled; the conscious occupants of the room could smell the lingering visages of sex emanating from her body. "It ended quicker than he imagined." Hallibel coolly waved her hand, an eyebrow raised curiously in Kaguya's direction. She cocked her head to the side, "This little bird just made a record for herself."
Ulquiorra scoffed, "The girl is too soft."
"She must be rubbing off on you if you're here personally taking care of her," Hallibel replied before she disappeared into the hallway. She had a bath waiting and a new interesting story that was unfolding before her.
Nel chuckled as Ulquiorra turned away. "What did you say to her? Usually, the newcomers are screaming your name as they're crying and running away from your room."
"Oh?"
"She was muttering 'Sora' over and over again," Nel. "A beloved perhaps?"
"She's only twelve," Ulquiorra muttered, "What could she possibly know about love?"
"Enough," Nel replied, her gaze lingering on Orihime before she returned back to Ulquiorra. "You still want her?"
"I am not interested in children."
"Hmm, humor. She really is getting to you." Neliel chuckled, waving a hand at the unconscious girl. "Do you still want to be her mentor?"
"It depends on her."
"You're the only one who doesn't have a little bird under their wing."
"You were the one who gave her to me."
"You're the one who first showed interest." Neliel smirked, leaning closer to Ulquiorra until they were breathing the same air. "The one who pointed her out."
"She's skinny," Ulquiorra turned away. "She is still not eating properly, possibly due to living with such meager means in her last home. Combined that with the excitement of those gossiping girls, the city and Hueco Mundo and the exertion of her training. It's no wonder a country girl such as herself would faint."
"So," Neliel rose from her position, dusting off the non-existent dust that had gathered on her kimono. "That means you've been watching her very carefully." She paused before smiling, "She's in good hands then."
Ulquiorra stopped her just as she was about to slide open the tatami door.
"I will not be working today."
"Is that so?"
"I received a chill from last night." Ulquiorra pointedly glanced at Nelleil, "The owner has yet to fix the windows in my hallway leading to my room. It's drafty."
Nelleil turned away, just before disappearing into her own chambers, "I'll have it fixed soon. I wouldn't want any little birds to become more ill."
He listened to her fading footsteps until silence reined throughout the room.
Beside him, Kaguya wheezed, "Sora…" She turned over on the bed, her hand slipping under her pillow. The amber haired girl abruptly rose from the bed, "M-my hair clips!"
"Your what?"
Tear-filled eyes stared at him, "M-my hair clips. They're supposed to be under my pillow! He g-gave them to me!"
With a sob, tears finally erupted, running down her cheeks in torrents and onto the pillow, her fingers grasping blindly at the pillow for an item that wasn't there.
Ulquiorra, distinctly aware that he was not adequately dressed as Ayame, hesitantly reached for her sobbing shoulder. She flinched with his touch, but…but her sobbing was slowly subsiding. He kept the palm of his hand on her shoulder until her sobs quieted and only heavy breathing could be heard in the room.
"Annoying girl." He sighed.
Throwing a wrap around himself, making sure it obscured his broad shoulders and part of his face, he smeared gloss on his lips and a little blush – something to keep the ruse that he was Ayame from the entirety of the house – before disappearing into the hallway.
Today was not his day.
"Ayame!"
"Oh my gosh, excuse me big sister."
"You're still in your nightwear, Ayame?"
"Ack, older sister! Uhh…"
Ulquiorra glanced at the faces around her, ignoring some while gracing the ones that mattered with a slight tilt of the head.
"Older sister!" Loly stood before Ulquiorra, shell-shocked. She suddenly lurched forward, a blonde head colliding into her back, just barely colliding into the stoic geisha.
"Why the hell did you stop, Loly?" Menoly sniped, shoulder checking the other in the shoulder until she realized they were in front of company. Her eyes visibly widened, "Oh."
"Out of my way," Ulquiorra murmured, Ayame's husky voice leaving his lips. His grip on his cover minutely tightened, "Now."
Menoly and Loly scrambled away from the door, watching after Ulquiorra curiously as he walked into the room. Looking around, the large sleeping area clean and the belongings of the maikos already stored away in the wall cabinets.
"Where are Kaguya's belongings?"
"Why would you expect us to know?" Loly crossed her arms, daring to talk back to the older woman. "She's just a newcomer."
"Do not make me repeat myself," Ulquiorra turned around to face the two, causing them to visibly shrink back.
"She doesn't have much," murmured Menoly. "But her sleeping futon is the bottommost drawer."
Ulquiorra quickly located the sleeping futon, taking note that it was one of the older, shabbier futons given to the maikos. Parting the folded bedspread, he noticed a cream, threadbare linen piece of cloth. It was obviously well taken care of. He frowned, picking up the small parcel. He could feel something thin, firm, and slightly rounded within the confines of the cloth.
'This worthless thing…?'
He unwrapped a corner, curious.
Oh, he thought.
Sighing, he tucked it within his pocket and left as quickly as he arrived.
Kaguya was still asleep, thankfully. Neliel would probably have another laugh on his sake if Orihime woke up and attempted to run away again.
Placing the parcel beside her, Kaguya immediately opened her bleary, bloodshot eyes. Weakly, she turned around and grabbed the parcel, holding it close to her chest as she folded herself around the meager item.
She looked up, smiling against her fever and weariness and for a moment, Ulquiorra felt his breath stall in his throat.
"Thank you."
…
SS: Awesome, I updated. Celebratory ice cream sandwich is totally due now.