© Copyright 2011
Written work by MsMifuyu
A/N: This may just be the most awkward chapter I've ever had to write. Believe me, I feel more awkward then you do right now. Also, although it may seem like such a bludge right now, everything in this chapter is necessary for the continuing of the storyline. Thanks for sticking with me this entire time. :)
love,
Mifuyu
Sighing in relief, she laid her head down on the pillow. There was no pain through the whole healing process. Thinking back to what happened, she thought herself lucky. After the incident, she was put into the room Rukia had been treated in whilst Tessai went with Ururu to diligently mend the roof of the other room.
Chinatsu looked at nothing in particular as she replayed the healing scene in her head.
Tessai pulled on the gloves. After she'd questioned him, he'd immediately gotten to work, muttering incantations –kido? Before a glowing green light mended her skin. She watched incredulously as the edges of gashes slowly pulled towards each other. Her eyes skimmed back to Tessai's concentrating figure.
He licked his dry lips as tiny beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Was it really that much work? To heal? How did Unohana-taichou do it so flawlessly then? Chinatsu pondered many things whilst trying to ignore the ticklish feeling.
"Chinatsu-san." Tessai said, his eyes still firmly locked on what he was doing. She looked up at him alarmed by his sudden willingness to speak.
"Yes Tessai-san?"
"I'm very sorry for what I said,"
Chinatsu raised an eyebrow. What had he said in the silence prior to the start of the conversation that he thought might've offended her?
His eyes flickered to hers quickly before they were back on her bones re-joining at her hip.
"Whatever are you talking about?" Chinatsu asked.
"You were there when… when Urahara-san and I were talking," his face flushed in embarrassment.
Realising what he was talking about, Chinatsu's eyes lit up,
"Oooh! That. Don't worry! I don't mind." She smiled cheerfully.
He looked at her with certain degrees of chagrin in his eyes.
"It's just that," he continued, ignoring what she had said, "You are… well… you are… different. Urahara-san – he… doesn't know your capabilities. He doesn't know the destructive power. That is why I warned him to be rid of you."
At Chinatsu's even more confused face, he continued,
"We've been hunting people like you since we were captains. The royals insisted that your kind was a danger, and yes, you have proved to be dangerous over the years. I don't see why Urahara doesn't see that either…
"There was a case with another…whom at the time we didn't know of, and they massacred a whole district of soul society. All out of a hateful greed for power."
He looked down, his eyes gaining a hollow feeling they didn't have before, as if the memory itself had haunted him for his whole life.
"Tessai…san. I think you have the wrong person… I don't know why everyone keeps mistaking me for this mysterious girl. But it's not me…" Chinatsu fervently insisted. At his accusing face, she reddened with anger, "You saw me didn't you? You saw how I turned out. I'm human! For god sake! I was kicked around like a bloody beanbag and you still think I'm dangerous?"
Chinatsu's voice reached a higher pitch than it ever had.
"I heard the…"
"Don't use some random 'evidence' to make me her okay? I'm completely different. You all think I have some information on whatever crap this chick did. But I don't. Because it's not me. God." Her voice, although angry, had cracked slightly. Her body, having been temporarily paralysed stopped her from moving, allowing her to only look the other way as her vision blurred from the offended tears.
She felt Tessai's stare on her as she had her little hissy fit.
"My mistake Chinatsu-san." His voice had softened as he rolled her over to heal the bruises on her back and spine, "It's been many centuries since I've made such a … grave mistake."
A heavy feeling landed in Chinatsu's stomach. Why was he lying? Why did she know he was lying? She closed her eyes, hoping that when he was done, he'd realise her pretence of sleep and just leave her alone.
The door to her room slammed open.
"Oi! You're up?" Rukia yelled, half angered yet mostly excited that her friend was up and running again. "I was so worried."
Chinatsu immediately forgot her brooding silence and smiled a genuine smile at Rukia.
"How are you?" she asked, almost too politely. Rukia looked at her wide eyed and ran up to her in a bear hug.
"I can do this now, right? It doesn't hurt?"
When she didn't hear anything, she looked down at Chinatsu's pale, merging onto green face and immediately loosened her grip.
"Phew," Chinatsu puffed out. "So I guess you're alright."
"I was alright before you got your treatment."
"Was just saying…" she looked out the door, "where's Ichigo? I thought you'd be glued to the hip by now considering you saw me…"
Chinatsu stopped as she watched Rukia look down with a slight grin. Her blush spread from her cheeks all the way through to her ears. Playing with her fingers in her lap, she kept her stare down. Why was everyone doing that to her these days?
"Ichigo's… showering,"
Chinatsu raised an eyebrow. Her eyes flickered from the sun that was seeping through the blinds and back to Rukia.
"Showering? Why would he need to shower? Did he fight someone? What time is it?"
Rukia looked at her incredulously. Chinatsu thought about it for a second. Shower. Midday. Rukia had seen her when she was perhaps at her worst…Blood… gore… emotions running high… good-chance-to-take-advantage-of-sad-girl opportunity for Ichigo…
Gasping in shock horror, or was it admiration? Amazement? As she looked at her friend in a whole new light.
"You… you didn't!" the words flew out of her mouth.
"I don't know! It just… happened!"
"Yooouuuu didn't!" Chinatsu's mouth hit the floor. They were the only words that she could muster in that moment. Her face became like a fish's. Her mouth constantly opening and closing, like a bubble of air would escape her mouth the next time it opened.
Rukia sat up, looking Chinatsu straight in the eyes,
"It felt right."
"What is right about that?" her eyes widened, "you know how I feel about… you know… before marriage!"
"But… we're going to…one day… when we're ready."
"No. NONONONONO! That's not how the system works!" Chinatsu's hands covered her ears. Her eyes pinched shut. Rukia grabbed her arm, trying to make her listen.
"You're the only one I've told. The only one I could trust…"
"You shouldn't have told me!"
"Why not?"
"Now I have to live with the burden of knowing that you're… you're…" Chinatsu shivered.
"What? I'm what, Chinatsu?" Rukia's voice turned ice cold. "I told you because I trusted you."
"Trusted me to what?"
"To not tell anyone. Just us girls … Girl talk. In my whole life… you're the only one I could have… you know… 'Girl talk' with."
Chinatsu shivered at the thought of having to discuss these things with Rukia for the rest of her unmarried life. She looked at Rukia, tears in her eyes as she thought of all the horrible possibilities that could happen. The goo of life. The pain of the abandonment of what would be just considered the thing that ruined Rukia's life. Her place in the gotei 13. Her competence to defend soul society. Her competence to protect the souls…
"I… I don't want that." Chinatsu's voice turned to a whisper. "You know… I told you. I told you what happened… what …mummy did… daddy…did… they…"
Rukia's eyes softened as she grabbed Chinatsu's sobbing form in a hug. The girls were almost exactly the same height so caressing her cheeks wasn't a great feat for Rukia. Chinatsu's blond white hair felt matted against her neck from lying down for so long.
"That won't happen." Rukia said in a firm voice, "The thing with shinigami is that… no matter what… it's not biologically possible unless you give up your shinigami position. The reiatsu fills … that place."
Looking down at Chinatsu, she had become the abandoned little kid she'd locked away again. Rukia brushed the hair away from her face, as she continued hushing her.
"I know what you're thinking…" Rukia looked away, letting Chinatsu lean on her shoulder as she mumbled out awkwardly, "I'll end up just like your parents. That I'd abandon the thing like… well…Even if I did… have it…It's never go through what you did. Okay? I can promise you that."
The silence that followed convinced Rukia that Chinatsu hadn't been listening, that she wasn't going to answer, or she didn't want to answer. She tensed up at the thought of this being her last moments as Chinatsu's 'friend' before she became the 'shinigami chick I used to know'.
"You … promise?" the whisper was almost inaudible, but she'd caught it just in time. Rukia's face lit up as she answered to the large pleading eyes staring up at her from her shoulder,
"Yes,"
As Chinatsu's eyes gradually closed, Rukia lay her down. Ichigo decided to walk in at that moment, a towel wrapped glued to his head as he rubbed his hair dry. His face was positively glowing as he looked at Rukia.
"Hey you-" he walked in for a kiss but was silenced by Rukia's forceful shush and index finger covering her mouth. Having noticed Chinatsu's tear smeared cheeks and Rukia's hovering, he slowly backed out.
Ururu came running into the barely lit room. Her feet made a pit and pat sound every tiny step she made. Chinatsu woke up feeling pathetically groggy. She could feel the familiar symptoms of a bad case of bedhead and eye booga. Rubbing her eyes, she tried to focus them on the formally dressed girl in front of her. She squinted to see through the darkness.
She could just make out the glittering pink clip brooch on the girl's glittery light pink attire. How old was she? Wasn't she around thirteen or something? Pink? Really?
"Chinatsu-san," her shy voice was not shy anymore as she held out the coat hanger in front of her. The black and white gown hanging on it was quite exquisite. Something you would only see in old English movies or fashion runways. Rukia's voice came from behind Ururu,
"Put that on and I'll put your make up on,"
Trying to recollect what happened. The Tessai accusation, the Rukia talk, the crying… Why so much crying? Then the sleeping… Her voice came out in a dried croak,
"How long have I been… out?"
"Oh… not long." Rukia shrugged. There was no trust when it came to time with Rukia. So Chinatsu was left to ask with a raised eyebrow,
"How long?"
"Just two weeks."
Oh. It had only been two weeks. Before the thought processed, Chinatsu looked at nothing in particularly glumly before her eyes widened and she jumped up from the futon.
"Two weeks?"
"You were exhausted. You didn't tell me you hadn't slept after Tessai's healing. I shouldn't have…got you so worked up." She looked away guiltily.
"Oh. Okay." Chinatsu rolled her eyes, "I'm just going to accept the fact that I slept for two weeks without being so much as stirred from all the racket that goes on around here."
"You did… Tessai silenced the area around the futon until you woke up on your own. In fact, all humans would be able to sleep as long as you if there wasn't so much noise pollution."
"…"
"Here," she grabbed the coat hanger from Ururu, who immediately left, and shoved it into Chinatsu's lap, "put this on and come outside when you're ready."
"What's happening?"
"It's a surprise." Was all Rukia said as she left. The light from outside shone onto Rukia's figure, but before Chinatsu could catch a glimpse at what she was wearing, the sliding door slid shut.
She cursed the whole time, trying to fit the outrageous length of what felt like fluff on her skin, the layers upon layers of material getting tangled and mixed. What was happening anyway? She bit her tongue when she tripped over an edge of the thing.
"Argh!" she yelled out in frustration. There was a tap on the door. Rukia's laughing followed by an,
"Are you okay?"
Chinatsu felt like snapping at her. Like using her friend's secret, could it really be considered that? To guilt trip her every single day for the rest of her life.
The darkness made the whole process so much harder than it needed to be. But finally, after what seemed like forever, she requested Rukia's help in zipping up the bodice from the back.
"Took your time," Rukia scolded, "you still need to do you make up… we're gonna be late."
"For what?" Chinatsu had calmed down, enjoying the silky feeling of the dress hugging her skin.
"It's the annual thing I've been telling you about for ages… You said you'd come…!"
"…"
Chinatsu mulled over it for a moment as she stood there. She vaguely remembered Rukia gushing over some shinigami underworld party that was of equivalent importance of an aristocrat ball from centuries ago.
"Oh."
"Don't 'oh' me. Let's go."
As Rukia emerged into the light, her purple dress twisted around her so elegantly, Chinatsu let out an amazed gasp. The folds and texture had her eyes glued to the gown. Her hair was tied up with sparkling jewelled lace that seemed to float in the air and around her neck, on her ears and tied onto her wrist were diamonds of all shapes and sizes. Her long fringe framed the side of her slender face.
"You look … beautiful." Chinatsu's eyes were glued to her. Rukia laughed at this.
"Trust me. Nobody will be looking at me tonight once I'm done with you."
She dragged her down the hall where the make-up was all set up around a mirror Chinatsu had never seen.
"When did…?" Two weeks rang through her mind loud and clear.
Rukia pulled out an array of different tools Chinatsu couldn't recognise. She'd never studied make-up before. It was a weak point in her database that she never intended to strengthen.
"What, this out of all times it the time you choose to be questionless?" Rukia chided, rolling her eyes, "The one thing I'm good at…"
"Okay!" Chinatsu caved immediately. "But tell me one thing…"
"Hm?" Rukia worked at her face immediately.
"Is… Urahara…san going to be there?"
"Of course!"
"Oh… okay,"
Rukia mightn't have noticed it, but Chinatsu's cheeks had turned a light shade of pink as the substances were being applied onto her face.
A/N: P.S. "Urahara Kisuke" chapter (next chapter) will be coming real soon. I'm possibly going to enjoy writing this chapter the most ... !