Disclaimer: I own nothing. Bleach and all of it's characters are property of Tite Kubo
And so the week finally came when Halibel and I would move into our new home. It was a cozy, two story house. The interior was mostly white, but we didn't mind all too much. We had a large den occupying the majority of the first floor which then connected to a small kitchen hidden behind a large counter. The living room had a few furnishings like a large sofa, two additional chairs and a small coffee table at the center. Tucked away in the corner of the living room was a beautiful, ebony piano with many other other assorted working instruments hung up on the wall by it. In the opposite corner was the spiraling stairwell that led to the upstairs. The upstairs had one large master bedroom that connected to a master bathroom and then a walk-in closet. Perpendicular to the entrance to master bedroom were two smaller bedrooms and then another bathroom next to them. I honestly had no idea what we'd do with all the room. I decided to take one of the smaller bedrooms because I really didn't need much and because I thought that Halibel would appreciate the room and separation the master bedroom gave. I was happy as long as I had a comfy place to rest my head at the end of the day.
All the furniture and such had already been moved in before we came and so we could just get in and adjust until Urahara dropped by and ran everything over with us. Just as I was about to thoroughly test the quality of the couch, the doorbell rang. "Dang neighbors and their obligations to welcome us," I thought as I peeled myself off of my second favorite piece of furniture.
When I opened the door I saw a tall, tan, muscular high schooler who I recognized as Yasutora Sado, one of Ichigo's friends who helped him storm Las Noches, and Ms. Orihime Inoue.
At first Orihime took a brief double take, but quickly recovered.
"Hello… Mr… umm… Starrk sir," she said unsure of how to address me.
"Just Starrk will be fine. I assume that since you aren't trying to kill me that you've been informed of the situation."
"Yes we have. I actually leave right down the street so we'll be neighbors," Orihime said.
"Well then, if you ever need anything from myself or Halibel, feel free to come over any time. Same goes for you, Sado," I said, pleased that the hadn't resulted in fisticuffs.
"Thank you. Also call me Chad. Everyone else does," he replied.
"Chad it is," I said as I reached out and shook his hand.
"Seeing as how you two went out of your way to stop by, can I offer you a drink or some food before you go?" I asked, intent on keeping my manners so that we all got off on the right foot.
"No thank you, we're going to be meeting up with Ichigo and Rukia pretty soon and we don't want to be late," Orihime answered.
"Alright, you kids take care." I said as I closed the door. I sighed in relief, thankful that the encounter went well.
"Good to know that Urahara has informed them of our situation," Halibel said from behind me.
"Yeah, for a second I was a bit worried. Because they can use their powers without having to go into a soul form, they could easily attack the house or us and we'd be nearly powerless to stop them until we eat a soul candy."
"That would've been quite problematic."
"So...um… how do you like the house?" I asked, trying to make small talk. If we had to live together, I'd rather we not live in silence during the rare moments when I'm awake.
"It's not displeasing. Lots of light, plenty of space and also it seems Urahara stocked you up on instruments. I hope you're good or else we might have some problems."
"I may be a bit rusty at first but I imagine, I should be able to get back in shape fairly quick. So what job did Urahara set you up with?"
"I'm going to be working at an instrumental repair shop"
"Interesting. I didn't know you could do that. Did you play play much?"
"Not really. Just learned a few things so that I wasn't completely musically illiterate. Why don't you start practicing now? I have some things I need to sort out on the computer and if you're as good as Urahara said you were, it would be nice to have it in the background." Unlike me, Halibel had made a very easy transition with the modern technology. To me it was baffling and confusing. For now we had come to the silent consensus that she would handle any and all thing technology related.
"Alright," I said getting up and moving over to the corner in which Urahara had put all the instruments.
Halibel POV
After I had gone and got the computer, Starrk was still standing in the corner choosing his instrument. After another six or seven minutes of thinking he finally chose the guitar. Ulike Starrk, who held the instrument like the complex contraption he had never seen it was, I had a died in a more recent time period and knew a bit more about music than I may have let on. Urahara had gotten him two guitars; one a black Gibson ES-335 and the other an Ibanez Iceman IC500. He had chosen the Gibson. Slowly he dragged his pick across each string and tuned them. He no longer held his usual look of lethargy. His eyes were hawk-like and his body was tense as he quickly looked over the fretboard, trying to figure out the instrument. Gradually he relaxed and started playing. It was a soft, slow open chord progression. He transitioned fluidly from each chord to the next. He then paused once again examining the instrument.
He then started another chord progression, but this one was different. It was dark and filled with angst. Occasionally he would break from the cords and do a quick riff and would quickly return to the chords. Gradually it became more reminiscent of a classical piece. His brow furrowed and he gradually sped up, his hand soaring up the neck. He then slowed and and kept the melody quiet and subdued. He continued playing this small, quiet, for another minute or so and then ended it on a tense minor chord. His eyes didn't brighten up, his brow didn't unfurrow. He slowly removed the instrument from his lap. He sat there, unmoving. He didn't twitch, he didn't blink and he barely moved.
"... Starrk?... Are you okay?" I asked quietly.
I got up and slowly walked over to him. I put my hand on his shoulder and jumped a bit and blinked, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"W-What?" he asked shakily.
"You spaced out there. What happened?" I was abit worried about him. Normally, Starrk was always calm, cool and collected. Even when the odds would suddenly turn against him, he would never be visibly shaken. It must have been something personal. Especially since he didn't seem like the type to get all mushy after a song.
"It was… nothing. Sorry if I worried you." He started to get up.
"You're holding back. What were you thinking about?"
"I'm sorry, but I really don't know what came over me. I guess I just spaced out. Sorry for worrying you."
"It's fine. By the way, Urahara and Yoruichi are going to be coming over for dinner. They're going to be bringing Thai food, you should get dressed into something a bit more presentable." He looked down at himself. He was wearing a plain white tank top and some worn out jeans. I myself was wearing a white button-down shirt and a pair of black jeans.
"Whatever you say," he replied as he slowly got up to go change.
When Starrk came down again, he was wearing a silver button-down shirt and some jeans that were in better condition. He still managed to have his permanent "just got out of bed look", though to be honest, it suited him and if he didn't look like that then I would probably mistake him for a stranger.
"This better?" he asked as the doorbell rang.
"Doesn't matter if you weren't, since they're here," I said as I walked toward the door.
"That still isn't an answer!" he called.
"You're fine," I called back. I then swung open the door to see the smiling face of Yoruichi while Urahara was drowning in bags of Thai food. "Come on in you two."
"Thank you, Halibel," Yoruichi said as she came in and gawked over the house. I only half listened as she complimented it, not really caring about such things too much. I snapped out of when she yelled, " Come on, Kisuke. We didn't order that much food."
Urahara and Starrk were standing over by the counter next to ten large bags of Thai food.
"Yoruichi, I've done the math. If you keep making orders like these, you could put my shop out of business in around a week."
"Then just buy cheaper food."
"That's the thing, I did that calculation with prices from the cheapest restaurant in town."
"KISUKE! You're so mean! Don't you know it's not polite to talk about such things?"
"I figure you have the right to know why my shop could go out of business."
"Whatever. Let's just eat already. I'm sure Halibel and Starrk are starving."
"Alright."
We got out the food and ate. Yoruichi immediately descended upon the food and ate with the vigor of a ravenous wolf. Urahara would carefully grab a dish whenever he could before she could finish devouring the dish she was on. Starrk eventually caught onto the technique and was able to get his share. I however could not catch on and each time as I was about to get a dish, she would steal it right as I was about to clasp it. After seeing my failed attempts, Starrk snatched my a few containers for me. I gave him a silent thank-you and happily dug in.
"So, how are you two enjoying the house? Did we find a good one?" Urahara asked.
"I can't speak for Halibel, but I like it. Then again, I'm happy as long as there's a roof over my head."
"I also like it. It has a lot of room, lot's of natural light, and great acoustics."
"I take it that from the acoustics comment that Starrk lives up to his reputation?"Yoruichi asked.
"I would say so. He played beautifully today."
"What did he play on?"
"He played on of the guitars you gave him."
"And what kind of things did he play?"
"It's hard to say, but if I had to label it, then it sounded a lot like a classical piece."
"Wow Starrk, didn't know you play guitar too."
"I don't," he said flatly. He looked extremely uncomfortable. Like the talk of his prowess was driving a sword into his gut.
"What do you mean you don't?" Yoruichi pressed.
"I mean today was the first time I've ever played the guitar."
"Did it sound like he was playing for the first time, Halibel?" Urahara asked, starting to take some interest into the topic.
"If I hadn't seen him first examine the instrument with the scrutiny he used, the I would have thought he had been playing for years.
"I gave those guitars for him to gradually learn and eventually be able to teach more people if he wished. But to think he would already be so proficient at an instrument he just picked up… You truly are some thing thing else, Coyote Starrk."
"I'm flattered and all, but if we could change the topic that would be much appreciated," Starrk said with a look on his face like he was going to be sick and something told me that face wasn't from the food.
"No need to be so modest, Starrk. It's a wonderful skill. You should be proud of it," Yoruichi said.
"It's not so much that I'm ashamed of it. it's just that whenever I hear compliments about my music, I just start feeling sick to my stomach."
"It's probably best if we do switch topics then, Yoruichi. It would be quite rude of us to make him sick."
"Oh fine, Kisuke," she pouted. The rest of the meal was pleasantly fine. As we meandered around other various topics, both Starrk and myself would laugh at Urahara and Yoruichi's antics. As the night winded down, Urahara broke out the drinks. As we got a bit more tipsy I could see how everyone was affected different. Urahara became a bit more… snarky, Yoruichi became a bit more rambunctious, and Starrk… well… became a bit more like himself. He moved a bit more sluggishly, talked a bit slower, and despite the increased lethargy, he still seemed fully conscious of his surroundings and still actively participated in the conversation. Once Urahara and Yoruichi had gave their good-byes and left, I turned from the door to see Starrk face-down on the couch.
"You still awake, Starrk?" I asked.
"Mmmph," he grunted. I laughed. The way he acted was a lot more like a cat than the namesake of his zanpakuto. I grabbed a blanket that had been lying on the back of the couch and threw it over him. He quickly curled up into it and shuddered in bliss. I just couldn't help but smile at seeing him take such pleasure out of something so simple.
As I climbed the stairs I called out, "Sweet dreams, Starrk." To which I heard the faint reply,
"Goodnight, Halibel."
Another two weeks, another chapter. And so with the latest instalment we find that Starrk has an aversion to talking about his prowess and that Halibel also knows a thing or two about music. This chapter was pretty fun to write and it does seem kind of fitting that they have a dinner-party -get-together-thing around Thanksgiving which I just celebrated here in America. And now after being in a food coma for two days, I'm back. Though in all honesty, I'm almost not joking about the food coma. Whenever my mother cooks for our family get togethers, she makes enough food to feed a crowd two to three times as large. If only I had heard skill in cooking. When it comes time for me to host soon I'm afraid that I'll probably jst have to ask for a potluck. At any rate thank you all once again for the continued support and don't forget to Favorite, Follow, and Review since that helps me drag more people into the half-written mess this story may turn into(hopefully it won't be too bad though when all is said and done). I will see all you fantastic people in the next chapter.