White Hibiscus~ホワイト・ハイビスカス
「八」 Of Water and Snow
Do you still remember?
That time when you had shorter hair; laughed very loudly; and spoke of meaningless things.
I don't think you do, for I had erased that bit of memory in you.
But you never did change a bit – you asked me the same questions; you had the same replies.
Just like how we had first met.
" Okay, you put on this suit like this, " Ichimaru-san was teaching me the how-tos of this weird invention, with the likes of wearing another layer of skin – with the exception that the skin color is now, pale beige.
" Ichimaru-san... "
" Hmm? "Ichimaru-san's eyebrow arched a little.
" What is this? "I lifted the weird suit's right hand.
" It's a Gigai, " Ichimaru-san's smile widened.
" And? "I realized that Ichimaru-san's smile had different meanings. If his smile were to arch further after a particular sentence, it meant that he had shortened his intended sentence. I did not like the feeling of hiding; I wanted to know what Ichimaru-san wanted to say.
" And... I took this from the 12th Division. Loaned to Ichimaru Gin on a permanent basis, "Ichimaru-san stuck out his tongue.
I let out a sigh – this bad habit of mine had rooted itself so deep inside me that I found it hard to quit it now.
Ichimaru-san studied my reactions with a puzzled look.
" What is wrong, Ulquiorra-kun? "
" Nothing, "
Stealing something from the Shinigamis to complete an Arrancar mission, it sure sounded funny enough.
" Oh, and you need this too, " Ichimaru-san handed me a packet of colored balls.
" Put this in your mouth and swallow it if you need to detach yourself from your Gigai, "
" Hai, "
Ichimaru-san frowned.
" Ano... There's another problem, "
I looked at that smiling mask one more time as I put on the remaining part of the suit.
The Gigai expanded and stretched, filling up every part of my skin. I did not have to move an inch – the Gigai found its way through; and covered every single pore flawlessly. It was like the suit fitted perfectly to my measurements; and it wasn't too bothered about concealing my sword either – even though my sword shook with discomfort and much annoyance when the Gigai came pouring over the handle.
" We haven't exactly tested with Arrancars to see if Gigais function the same way as they do with Shinigamis, " He shrugged.
That was when Ichimaru-san finally glanced at what was happening to me.
I am now an Arrancar residing within a Gigai meant for Shinigamis.
I felt like I was being fooled around by this smiling fox.
" Oh, " was all Ichimaru Gin said upon realizing that I have completed donning the human suit.
He just has to leave the most crucial sentence at the last.
" Maa~ I'm sure everything will turn out okay! "He made attempts to assure that things were going as planned.
The silvery haired tall man then stepped forward and made an opening with a slight movement using his hand.
" This is a Garganta. You can use this to travel to and from both worlds. It would be best if you come back only when you completed your mission, as quoted from your beloved Aizen-sama, "With that, Ichimaru-san placed both of his hands on my shoulder and pushed me towards the dark hole.
As I walked into the Garganta, I thought of questions.
The strange man disrupted my thoughts for a while.
" Have fun, Ulquiorra-kun. Bye bye~ "Ichimaru-san waved as the Garganta hole closed up.
Inside the Garganta, I had cautioned myself that should I lose my way, I should restart all over again with Hueco Mundo as the starting point. However, there's a possibility that I could ask for directions, if the creatures on Earth are able to understand what I'm talking about. The Garganta opened up all of a sudden, and I found myself falling from a height – I should have adjusted the alignment of the hole such that I will end up walking out, not dropping out of it.
It was about 5 seconds before I hit the ground with a muffled bump.
White, cold particles that turned into water the instance my hand came into contact with them.
What are these strange things called?
" Ah! "A small lady voiced out.
I looked at her large and round mercury-colored pupils that were expressing elements of surprise.
" Santa-san! "She exclaimed excitedly and stood up. This lady was a very tiny one; she was no taller than the plastic horse-on-a-metal-spring-statue that sat beside her. She began to run towards my direction. I could not detect that she was a threat, so I allowed her to brush off the white powder on my hair.
" Are you okay? It must have been painful to fall off from your sleigh, "She squatted down, and continued to pat my head with her thick black gloves. I was feeling a little less troubled that she was speaking in a language that I could converse in.
I continued to study her movements – she was concerned about the white powder that was all around me for some reason – for an instance, I had wondered if they were toxic.
" I'm okay, " I replied.
" Uwaa! I'm talking to Santa! "She covered her mouth, which made her eyes bigger than they had been.
" I'm not Santa, " I shrugged. Who on earth was this Santa guy anyway?
" Then what's your name? "She pointed her petite finger and demanded a self-introduction.
" Ul... "Somehow the name could not come out as freely as I had wanted it to. It was very much unlike Hueco Mundo where I went around revealing my name to the Espadas. Ichimaru-san did not want me to say out this name to the creatures here, I suppose.
" Hmm? You don't have a name? "She went closer and looked into my eyes.
That's right, what came next was that.
That question that came out from those pink lips of yours.
It was this question that sent a chill down my back. Although I had no idea what that meant,
But the atmosphere grew colder at that moment.
" Ne ne, why are you crying? "The tiny lady asked a very peculiar question. She took off her black glove and reached her freezing fingers at my eye. I could not move away; I felt like I've been frozen to the ground.
" Because you don't have a name? Its okay, "She looked to the white floor and smiled.
" I'll give you one! "She beamed at my eyes.
" Hmm... I found you on a bed of snow, and you look like you are crying, "
So the white particles are called snow...
" Mizore! A combination of snow and water, Mizore! "
Mizore sounded like a girl's name, yet somehow the syllables rang loudly in my ear. It felt like I was getting accustomed to this weird word. The Gigai's ears trembled every time it heard her frequency pronouncing the name.
" Mi..zo...re? "Strangely enough, I could breathe out the words effortlessly.
" Un! Un! You may be a guy, but! "The tiny girl slapped both hands gently on my cheeks.
" You look pretty for a guy! "She laughed out in a high pitched tone.
Somehow, I felt heavier wearing this Gigai suit; it was much difficult to stand up than I could back in the monochrome world. The tiny lady helped me up with her small palms and asked me another puzzling question.
" Mizore-nii chan, where do you come from? "
I could tell her the place I came from, but I doubted if she will ever understand. Besides, I think Ichimaru-san silenced a part of my vocabulary bank to prevent me from divulging too much. As I was not able to provide an answer to her question, I decided to let her know where I intend to head to.
" I want to go to this place, " I showed her what Ichimaru-san wrote on the piece of paper.
" This place? Sora-nii chan said we are moving to this place tomorrow! I'm going to elementary school there! "The petite build girl raised her left hand; that had barely reached my waist.
" You have to take the train! "She voiced out another foreign word.
" Train? "
" That's right, it's at the end of this place, " The small built lady pointed far – the trains were located after the long row of houses.
I kept the white paper under the jacket and faced towards the direction that the lady had identified. As I was about to step forward, she tugged my white jacket.
" I will see you again right, Mizore nii-chan? "She gave me a very sad look.
" Perhaps, " I replied her coldly.
" Really? That's good, "She smiled a little before she put on her glove again. Her eyes were still sad and looked like they were shifting, as if she too, was confused why she was feeling in this manner. She was probably too young to understand why.
" I don't like to say goodbye. So, "I observed her as she brushed off the snow on her fragile knees.
" See you soon, Mizore nii-chan!! "She waved her hand in the air with a drop of water at the end of right eye. She ran in the other direction. I watched as her head diminished in size with every dainty step she took off.
See you soon, Orange-haired lady.
Unknowingly, I placed my right hand into the pocket of the white jacket. Little did I know it was the last part of me the little lady had touched before she left me; and that it developed into another bad habit of mine.
yu-pon's note:
Yay another entry! I made it short because 7 and 8 are like transition chapters from Hueco Mundo to Earth.
Finally it's Friday! Well I thought of this when I was daydreaming this morning, so tadaa~!
Whew I can take my weekends off~ tra la la la la~
No prezzies on who this girl is. (No, she's not an original character heehee.)
Translation notes - nii-chan means "elder brother".
Usually, kids or very cute characters call their elder brother/seniors in this manner.
I haven't looked into my inbox but I think I saw reviews! Thank you!!!
*cryptic message*
I might have disappointed some that this fic is turning into a U x O story..
or I might have made more people curious/excited..
well... if you had taken some time to decipher why I had called this fic " White Hibiscus ", you might have known oops.
it's just that this fic won't be entirely on that.. because.. I've never meant it to be in the first place.
She's an important character though.
woohoo! that's about it!
we shall meet again in the next chapter okay!
Till Chapter 9,
ほなおつー
