AAAAHHH I FORGOT TO UPDATEEEEE! GOMENASAIIIIII! -goes into dark corner and bawls eyes out- fair warning to the people who are actually following the story: I'm on vacation for the next two weeks, therefore an update is highly unlikely. However you can look forwards to a double update when I get back
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach
alsooo, thanks to everyone who reviewed! It is loved and appreciated :)
CHAPTER 9
"N-no way…"
Orihime's eyes widen as she feels the five distinct reiatsu travelling deep within Las Noches, accompanied by three that she does not recognize. "Ishida-kun. Sado-kun. Kurosaki-kun!" she breathes immediately recognizing the three. Two others feel familiar as well, one that is cool, calm and collected, while the other feels wild, brash and something else that Orihime can't quite name. The three that she doesn't recognize puzzle her. They don't feel like a human's a Quincy's, or like Kurosaki-kun's rieatsu, but rather, Arrancar. But she's never felt reiatsu like their's before. During her stay, Orihime may not have met every Arrancar personally, but she has felt most of the reiatsu of most inhabitants of Las Noches.
"Minho-san?" She calls out hesitantly. She waits a moment and when no one answers she tries calling out again. "Minho-san?" Getting up she hesitantly walks towards the door and pushes against it. Orihime squeals in surprise when it unexpectedly opens, causing her to fall on the floor.
"Itai." She props herself up on her arms and looks around. "Where is everyone?" She asks no one in particular. Standing up she walks down the hall, her curiosity getting the better of her. Walking down the hallway, Orihime hums to herself, the hairs on her arms standing up for an unknown reason.
"Neowae, Neowae, downiya gibooni, Owae, owae, cheok hamyeon choek. Neowae neowae, neowae upiya gibooni, owae."
Orihime starts as a tenor voice echoes towards her from farther down the hall. Walking closer, she hears the voice repeat the words, in the same light and playful tone it was using earlier. Up ahead there is light coming from another room. Walking up the door, she peeks inside hesitantly to find Minho inside, sitting down with his back facing the door. Across from him is another male arrancar with brown hair that just brushes his neck, the tips changing to blonde. His mask fragment looks like some sort of headset that he's wearing on his left ear. However, unlike Minho who is sitting cross-legged, Orihime notices that he has his knees curled up against his chest.
"Ne, do you remember? Come on, you would always sing that song remember? Neowae, neowae, come one, you can do it. Come on, sing for your aniki." Minho's voice cracks on the last sentence, as he reaches out, rubbing the other arrancar's arm in a comforting manner. But instead of responding, he doesn't say a word, and just continues staring at Minho.
"No? Don't feel like singing that song today?" Minho asks, his voice returning to an easy and light tone. "How about Replay? Noona neomu yeppo…Come one Jjong."
"Is he your brother?"
Immediately after the question leaves Orihime's lips, she claps her hand over her mouth and hides behind the wall. She senses Minho's strange reiatsu spike and she glances cautiously to the side to find Minho staring her down ominously. "What are you doing?" He asks in a quiet and dangerous voice.
"I-I felt reiatsu that didn't belong to any arrancar living here, and I wanted to ask you or Yuki-chan, but neither of you were there, so I decided to leave to look for you and-"
"Forget it." Minho shakes his head and returns inside the room, leaving the door open. Taking this as an invitation to follow, Orihime steps inside the room and sits down beside him in front of his brother.
"Orihime-sama, this is my younger brother Morinozuka Jonghyung. Jjong, are you going to introduce yourself?" Minho ruffles his brother's hair and attempts to get his attention. Jonghyung doesn't respond at all, just continues to stare unwaveringly at a blank spot in the air.
"Hey there Jonghuyng, ohayo. How are you doing?" Orihime asks brushing his hair out of his eyes, and flinches backwards. Instead of brown eyes like his brother's, there are no pupils at all.
"Gomenasai. I forgot to tell you." Minho apologizes softly. "He used to have the most handsome eyes in all of Hueco Mundo, isn't that right Jjong? Pretty, bright blue eyes?" Jonghyung blinks once slowly, and Orihime watches Minho's face light up. "Aah. So you're agreeing with me, ne? Of course, that's what you'd always brag about, wasn't it Jjong?"
Minho continues to talk and joke one-sidedly with him as Orihime watches in curiosity. "Hey, Orihime-sama and I are going to head out alright? I'll come back later, alright Jjong?" Minho gets up, and Orihime stands along with him and they walk out the door together.
"Noona…neomu…yeppo."
Orihime bumps into the tall Arrancar's back as a soft and sweet voice rings out softly. Orihime hears Minho inhale a shaky breath.
"Noona…"
Orihime pulls on Minho's shirt uncertainly. "Minho-san. Who is 'Noona'?" She asks hesitantly.
He looks down over shoulder at her, "You." Orihime's mouth drops open in surprise. He smirks at you wryly. "Noona neomu yeppo. Older sister, you are so beautiful." Minho fully turns around and Orihime sees reserved hope glistening in his eyes. "Are you going to sing for her? Are you going to sing like how you used to?"
Jonghyung blinks slowly again, then curls up into a ball, and the hopeful look on Minho's face disappears. "Come on." He murmurs and leads Orihime back into her room.
"You're brother seems, nice." Orihime comments softly as they walk down the hallway and back into her room.
Minho laughs bitterly. "Nice. You should've seen him before."
Orihime walks to the couch and sits down, patting a spot beside her. "Did you want to talk about it?"
"It's a long story."
Orihime raises her eyebrows, and pats the spot again. Sighing, Minho sits down and leans back against the couch.
"He may look pretty responsible, but most of the time he acted like a kid." Minho starts, staring at the ceiling as Orihime listens quietly. "We didn't end up being Espada, because we weren't quite strong enough, but we didn't get chosen as Fraccion because most of them either weren't interested or thought that we were a hazard to keep around. We were too strong, see." He explains, after getting a curious look from Orihime. "We were turned into Arrancar while in Adjucha state. I may be the older brother, but Jonghyung was the one with the more powerful release. We didn't care though. I didn't. He started when she showed up though."
Minho's face takes on a bitter and almost disgusted expression. "Anónimo. Do you know what that means?" He asks. Orihime shakes her head in response, "Nameless. It literally means 'nameless'. I didn't understand. I still don't understand why he had this fascination with her. Always following her around. Always guiding her wherever she needed to go. And she clung to him just as much. Maybe more. I didn't like it. I didn't like the weird, blind girl with colourless hair and no eyes. Jonghyung did. He adored her. He'd always sing for her. What you heard in the room. Nothing close to what he used to sound like when he would sing."
"It all changed when he started training with her. I didn't notice at the time, but he became more irresponsible than normal then. Always forgetting things. First it was trivial things. Like where he had left his jacket. Or if he did something or not. But then it changed. He started forgetting other things. Like what the colour blue was. Or where our room was. What my name was…" Minho leans forward and his hair falls into his face, hiding his eyes. "What his name was. He forgot every. Single. Thing. That made him who he way. Gone. Stolen. And do you know what the cruelest thing was? She even stole the one thing that made him who he was. Can you guess, Orihime-sama?" he asks, finally meeting her eyes. Orihime shakes her head slowly, the anger, hate, and despair in his eyes causing herself to freeze on the spot.
"His eyes. Jonghyung was the only person I've ever seen with blue eyes like that. The colour of blue ice. Your eyes are what make you, you. No one will have the same coloured or shaped eyes as you. She took them, and erased Morinozuka Jonghyung. And he's not going to come back." He finishes bitterly, standing up, and walking towards the door. "I don't know what you did to have something like this happen to you. But you don't deserve it Orihime-sama. Whatever you do, don't let her have her way. Because you won't be the one who suffers. It'll be the ones whom you leave behind."
:-:-:-:-:
Orihime sits in silence as she stares at the blank sheet of paper that lies in her lap. Her shark fountain pen lies on the couch beside her as she struggles to figure out what to write. Picking it up gently, she writes in a delicate hand, much more slowly and neatly than usual.
Dear Cuatra,
Orihime stares at the two words on the paper, before stuffing it underneath the couch. Sighing she flops down on the couch and stares up at the ceiling. "Stupid pride." She mutters to herself, turning her head to stare at the wall. "I guess…that's what I get from spending too much time with Grimmjow-niisan. Anónimo, what am I supposed to believe?" Orihime lies in silence as she waits for an answer that she knows won't come. "Tsubaki…"
Poof!
"ALRIGHT, WHO'S THE BASTARD TRYING TO ATTACK HIME-SAMA-! Hold up…" the little fairy who originally had materialized fully ready to fight someone freezes in mid kick, then rounds onto Orihime, grabbing and pulling on her hair furiously.
"BAKA! WHAT THE HELL?! HAVEN'T I ALREADY TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ON ME UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NESSISARY?!"
Orihime covers her head and shouts in pain and surprise. "Itai! That hurts Tsubaki!" the fairy crosses his arms stubbornly.
"That's beside the point. Why the hell did you summon me?" he demands, crossing his legs and as he hovers in midair in front of Orihime face.
Orihime laces her fingers together. "I, I wanted to ask you something." Tsubaki arches an eyebrow and gestures for her to continue. "If, if I don't know who to trust. If I don't know what's the truth, who do I trust. Who can I trust?" She asks quietly, not meeting his gaze.
Tsubaki doesn't answer immediately. Scratching the back of his neck he sighs tiredly and leans back. "Who else? Yourself."
Orihime's head snaps up and she stares at him in disbelief. "N-nani? What do you mean?"
Tsubaki stands up and stretches. "Trust your gut." He says simply, before returning to his place on her pins.
Orihime sits in stunned silence as she mulls over their short conversation. "Trust my gut…?"
Mehmp...So...what do you guys think? Reviews are loved and appreciated!
-moony
