First songfic chapter! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Songfic song by Greenday.
Chapter 11. Wake Me Up When September Ends
The woman who was known as the Obaa-san of a little white haired boy and his friend was strolling through town that morning to gather something to eat for lunch that day for her grandson.
Once she had found what she was looking for, she purchased the food and began to walk back home. Her sandals patted along the pebbled path; it was a small path that only she really used, and no one else knew about it. Only she used it because it led to her house and nothing else, so no one else had any reason to use it except for the people that lived there, or used to live there.
As she heard a distant rumble of thunder, she knew that the Fall weather promised rain and she quickened her pace. Sprinkles of a drizzle fell down to the worlds below, and she heard another blast of thunder and saw a faint flash of lightning. She despaired, for she was still a ways from her home.
Then, she heard what she thought at first to be thunder, but then she came to realize that it was much deeper and longer than the blasts she had heard only moments ago. As she shook off the feeling that she was being watched, she heard the noise again and instantly knew it was not thunder.
She spun around as the growl came again, and saw a large shadowy figure looming over her.
She let out a short scream, but it was cut short as the bags she had been carrying fell to the ground and their contents splattered and broke.
A river of blood then trickled down the pathway, following and merging with the streams of the rain.
Hinamori sighed with relief as she entered her final class of the day; Kidou.
She walked into the courtyard and quickly spotted Renji, Kira and Rukia sitting together and she raced over to them. "Hi everyone! Does anyone know what today's lessons are?" She asked her friends.
"I think we're shooting at the targets again." Renji replied sounding a bit annoyed.
"Aw not that again! We've been doing that all week!" Hinamori pouted.
"Hey," Rukia spoke up. "We all know that you are a master at Kidou, but some of us still need a lot of practice." She laughed while jabbing Renji in his side with her elbow.
"Shut the Hell up Rukia!" He growled, and the other three laughed.
Just then, their sensei called for them to line up so that they could divide them into groups, and once that was finished the four friends met up again.
"What groups are you guys in?" Hinamori asked.
"One." Rukia told the others.
"Two." Renji said sounding bored.
"Three." Kira smiled.
"Aw! I'm in group 4!" Hinamori pouted again.
"Well now we can see each other go at separate turns." Rukia pointed out, and they nodded.
As the first group was called up, Hinamori sat and watched with the two boys as Rukia fired her shot at the target. It brushed the edge and destroyed an upper corner of it. And as Rukia walked over to them she smirked at Renji. "Ha! Beat that!"
"Shut up!" Renji hissed because he knew that he could not. He wound up firing a shot that looked like a drunken snake and almost hit a target six rows away from his own, and Rukia laughed hysterically.
Izuru did fairly well however, hitting the bull's-eye nearly in the center, as was expected from him.
And as the fourth group was called up, Hinamori took her stance and repeated the phrase. Her eyes followed the red shot she had fired, and they followed it all the way to the target, which was shattered into a million tiny pieces. Some students gasped, while others just looked static; by now they knew that it was normal for Hinamori to hit perfectly each time.
Rukia and Kira congratulated her while Renji gave a snort of jealousy.
"Hinamori!" Someone shouted her name and she spun around in surprise to face her sensei. She thought that she was about to get into trouble, but then the man motioned for her to follow him, and when he spoke, her heart almost stopped beating.
Seeing that she seemed on the verge of becoming sick, her three friends sprang up and dashed over to her.
"Hinamori-chan! Daijobu desu ka?" Rukia asked concerned while supporting her and trying to keep her from collapsing.
"O-Obaa-san is…" She began to shake and then suddenly she burst into tears, and she fell to her knees.
Her sensei gave a look of sympathy and then turned away to dismiss the crowd that was starting to form. Renji and Kira exchanged horrified glances and then stared down at their friend as Rukia knelt down next to her.
The chestnut-eyed girl threw herself into her friend's arms and sobbed uncontrollably. "Oh Kuchiki-san…" She managed to whimper before breaking into tears again.
And her three friends could only stay there by her side in her time of hurt and need.
Hinamori limped slowly down the path that had led to her old home, her old life, and her old family that was now split in half.
She wore a long, black kimono, and carried a bouquet of white daisies in her hands as the harsh, Autumn wind blew in the opposite direction of which she was headed. The world seemed to be darkened and melting in a dreary and miserable sadness bleeding gray and merging with the dead sky.
She soon found herself gazing at her old home; a small little cottage that got them by, or…had gotten them by.
Suddenly, she spotted a small boy standing on the porch in front of the house. He was wearing all black, just as she was, and they both looked proportionally deprived. When she was in sight, he seemed to sense her there and he lifted his head and their eyes met again, and although they had seen each other so many times, it was as if they had not seen the other in years.
The two friends stood frozen there for a moment in time, before the boy jumped down and raced over to her. She dropped the daisies onto the ground, a pure, snow-white bundle splayed out on the colorlessly drained earth. She parted her arms and he threw himself into her warm embrace.
"Oh Momo-chan…" He whispered. She closed her arms around him as a teardrop trickled down her face.
"Toshiro." Then she collapsed to the ground with him and they both wept for what seemed to be an eternity; and it was as if neither one of them would ever get up again.
They were both crushed, but she was crushed because she knew that the woman she came to know to be her Obaa-san was really his Obaa-san. And she knew that her death caused him twice as much pain as it caused her.
But her heart was torn twice as much from that, because not only did she loose the sweet old lady who had cared for her all of that time and helped bring her friend into the world, she was also heartbroken because she knew that her friend would never be the same.
The girl and the boy stood side-by-side as the flower-encrusted casket was laid into the gray soil of the earth.
Only a few others who had known their Obaa-san had attended the funeral.
The rain that had started to fall on that dreadful day still drizzled down on them. It was just another sign of the harsh Autumn weather; it had also rained the day that their grandfather had died.
The little boy moved closer to his friend. "It's not fair." He whispered. "It wasn't fair then and it's not fair now. It's never fair. The people you care about can never live as long as they should, do they? Just because you care about them they die." He sniffed, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Don't say that Toshiro, you know it's not true." Hinamori tried to tell her friend, but she soon found herself doubting her own words, as his seemed to be all too true.
Summer has come and past
The innocent can never last
Wake me up
When September ends
"It just isn't right!" He cried. "Ojii-san passed away just this Spring, and now…and now it's Obaa-san. I only like Winter and Summer now. Winter was always my favorite, and I used to like Spring…but not anymore. Summer's already over and now it's Fall…It all happened too fast…"
Like my father's come to pass
Seven years has gone so fast
Wake me up
When September ends
The rain continued to patter ruthlessly down upon the heads of the girl and boy dressed in black.
"It was raining that day too…in Spring…" He squeezed the hand of the girl tighter and she winced. She had never seen him in so much pain before, she knew that he loved his Ojii-san, but she also knew that he was even closer to his Obaa-san.
Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are
The two friends watched helplessly as the casket was lowered into the earth and then finally rested and lay still.
And as the two of them watched as the person they thought they cherished the most the pain melted away slightly in knowing that she could now rest in peace forever.
And even though they were glad that all of her troubles were over, neither would ever forget her, nor any of the countless others who had left that world before her.
As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up
When September ends
Memories of that past Summer flowed through their minds, how the kind old woman would always tell them to go out and play on a bright day, to be careful when they ran through the forest, and the caring look in her eyes whenever they got scared or hurt.
Summer has come and past
The innocent can never last
Wake me up
When September ends
The soil began to slowly pile atop the casket covered in daisies, tulips, lilies, carnations, roses…
A low, monotonous drumming sounded from the large silver bells that dangled nearby in the cemetery.
It was just like the funeral two seasons ago…
Ring out the bells again
Like we did when Spring began
Wake me up
When September ends
The minutes slowly dragged on and united with hours, causing the shadows to become longer, darker, and sadder.
The stars began appearing steadily in the violet sky above, the moon shaded in behind the mist took on the form of a cat's claw. The rain continued to beat the damp and worn earth, which held so many forgotten and loved ones deep in its dark, lonely chambers.
Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are
As the last bit of soil covered the last visible part of their grandmother's final resting place, each of the children took one last look at the casket before it was completely covered and concealed, never to be seen ever again, nor was their Obaa-san.
"Oyasuminasai, Obaa-san." The white haired boy blinked and a crystal tear fell down and fertilized the soil that held such precious memories.
"Oyasuminasai." The girl repeated, as a tear of her own followed.
As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up
When September ends
The boy and the girl were the last to leave, and as they turned away from the newly upturned soil, the large, droning bell rang out again.
It sent vibrations that caused their hearts to shudder and the echoes rang out across all of Soul Society.
And as they both lay in their old bed, together that night, as neither had anywhere else to go at the time, a feeling of loneliness overcame them both. Memories of the long gone Summer ran through their heads and they could only wish that they could go back to those times.
But they knew that they could not, and the closest that they could ever come to going back to that time, was in their dreams.
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up
When September ends
Toshiro shifted in bed beside Momo and she heard him stifle a murmur.
"All right, you guys win, I'll do it. It was her last wish. I'll enter the Shinigami Academy."
The world outside kept turning, but their world had stopped turning a long time ago and they prayed that it stayed still forever. The rain pattered roughly onto the roof and covered the soaked windows in small rivers.
And a cruel Autumn breeze blew by, a loud crash of thunder blasted, and a flash of lightning lit up the world for a second; but only a second.
Like my father's come to pass
Twenty years has gone so fast
Wake me up
When September ends
Wake me up
When September ends
Wake me up
When September ends.
A/N: Please review.