...
"Your transformation is not a disease. You were just given the key to the door in front of you. There's no need to know the cause. No need for sorrow or sadness. What comes next is up to you. You can use your keys to open the door...or lock it tight. And if you do choose to open it...you can still decide not to pass through."
Hitsugaya Hiori could not remember ever being so frightened in her life, though the legitimacy of that statement could not really be counted on. Massive killing intent blazed brightly in the blue eyes of the boy standing in front of her, and Hiori vaguely wondered how this boy, her own spirit, could possibly be so set on having her dead. He stalked forward, his hand gripping the identical Zanpakuto readily, as if he was half-expecting her to attack. Hiori couldn't help but think that whatever fight was about to ensue was going to be extremely unfair, considering the fact that she still had absolutely no idea what so ever on how to weild a sword properly.
"What's your move, Hiori?" he asked, raising the large sword in front of his face. She paused, studying both his expression and his posture. Judging from the way he held himself on his legs, there was no doubt in her mind he was planning to lunge for her in the next minute or so. "You won't have me to give you instructions this time- I am your enemy."
"Look, I'm sorry I don't remember your name, but isn't this a bit extreme?" she asked, cringing as she heard her voice rise several octaves. He smirked, chuckling darkly as he took another step forward.
"Hardly," he murmured. "I'm going easy on you. At least I'm giving you a chance." Hiori opened her mouth to reply, but she was promptly cut off by the sword cutting into the rock beside her head. Her eyes widened as she scurried away- She had only just missed the blow by mere centimeters. "Is this seriously all you're going to do? How disappointing,"
Hiori felt her back press against the wall, her hand gripping the hilt of her Zanpakuto tightly. Her palms were sweating profusely, and it felt as if the sword might slip from her clutches at any moment. Suddenly, the boy's face was inches from her own, his hot breath washing over her and sending chills down her spine.
"You're slow." he whispered. Hiori reacted instinctively, moving her body in the nick of time, but still receiving a hefty gash in her side, right on top of the barely-healed scar from her brush with the Hollows the other day. She pushed him away roughly, catching her breath and clutching her side in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding.
What did he expect for her to do? Fight back? He should know, better than anyone, that she had no memories, much less any remnants of any previous talent that she may have once possessed. Sword wielding, Shunpo, Kido; All had been lost to her, along with memories of the girl that she had been and the people she had known. So how could this boy, who was a part of her, expect for her to be able to do much of anything in a situation like this?
"So you give up, then?" he asked, twirling the Zanpakuto effortlessly on one finger as he took a step back, observing her. "You really are very pessimistic... No. You're just lazy."
"Excuse me?" Hiori snapped, glowering up at the dark haired boy from where she crouched on the ground, her sword lay forgotten on the ground beside her. The boy smirked once again before putting on a mocking sort of expression.
"Oh, I'm Hiori, and I don't remember anything!" he sneered, prancing around, clearly trying his best to imitate her actions. Hiori's scowl only deepened, and her forehead was now beginning to hurt. "What can I do? Oh, I'm so pitiful and now I can't fight and my Zanpakuto spirit wants to kill me!" Hiori pushed herself up, groaning with both the effort and the pain, now clutching her sword tightly in her left hand. "Ichigo, save me!"
She'd had enough.
Hiori lunged, growling as she did so, the sound of metal hitting metal hitting her ears and making her cringe. Sparks flew into the air as she dragged her large blade down the identical one in front of her, and the dark haired boy was now smirking once again. She gritted her teeth with the effort it took to remain in the position, holding her sword with only one hand, as the other was still trying to quell the blood flow.
"I don't sound like that!" she growled as she pushed harder against the boy's sword.
"Do you think so?" he replied, combating the pressure she was exerting on him with a much more powerful one of his own. "Because I think you do. And so does Urahara, I might add. Even if he doesn't show it,"
"Well what else am I supposed to say?" she retorted, squeezing her eyes shut as she dug her toes into the ground. "I don't remember anything! And no one will tell me what it is I need to remember! So how the hell am I supposed to get anything done?" The boy scoffed, finally breaking their connection and pushing himself away from her, scraping his feet against the ground and sending up multiple clouds of dust.
"You didn't use to be this whiny." he muttered as Hiori cast him a hate filled glare. "You used to be a hell of a lot cooler."
"Sorry to disappoint you," she retorted, rolling her eyes in distaste.
"You shouldn't look away from an opponent." Hiori turned her gaze downward once again, only to be met with the icy blue eyes of her Zanpakuto spirit, and the next moment she felt her body hurdling across the open space of her inner world. She hit the opposite wall roughly, coughing up blood as she slumped to the ground. Her heart was pounding, and she could feel it in her head, and each time she breathed it felt as though someone three times her weight was laying on her chest.
"'I can't', 'I don't remember'... What's with you?"
"Well-"
"Suck it up, you self absorbed bitch." Hiori's eyebrows raised as far as they could go. She had never heard her Zanpakuto spirit get so riled up before. "How do you expect to get any memories back if you're just moping around all the time?" Hiori cast her eyes downward- He made a good point. Now that he said it, it did seem that she was repeating the same thing over and over. 'I can't remember'. "And even if, by some miracle, you got your memories back just by sitting around, who'd wanna be friends with you? You suck."
"Fuck you." she muttered, but that only caused the instigating spirit to laugh derisively. She knew that he was right. All she did was sit around and stew in her own juice, so to speak. She couldn't remember, but throwing fits about it certainly wasn't helping. Yoruichi had continuously tried to teach her, and each time she'd shot her down and quit after an hour or so. She really did suck.
"So I'm gonna make this easy for you." he murmured, and Hiori suddenly realized that he was standing directly above of her. "I'm gonna stab you, then you're gonna wake up, and I won't be here anymore- And then you can go back to leading a pathetic human life in that stupid Gigai of yours." Hiori's gray eyes darkened. "And you can just continue liking Kurosaki Ichigo from afar, and hating Inoue Orihime- Who, by the way, is training really hard right now to go to Soul Society with Ichigo." At this, something deep within Hiori ignited. She knew he was saying these things on purpose, it didn't matter how true they were. Allowing Inoue Orihime to beat her at something like this was something she could not allow. "But that's fine. I'll just end it now, and you can-"
"Shut up!" Hiori screamed, and in one fluid motion she pushed herself upwards, no longer caring about the blood spurting out of her side. She swung her sword through the air, and the boy ducked, but not in time to avoid having several chunks of hair sliced off by the heavy blade. A dull thud met her ears, her Zanpakuto now lodged in the rock wall behind her, having been swung in a semi circle in front of her. She was breathing heavily, her shoulders heaving up and down from both the lack of blood and pain coursing through her nerves.
"Oh? Have I upset you?"
"I... Won't lose..." The boy raised his eyebrows, cocking his head expectantly and leaning in.
"Hm? What's that you just said?" Hiori raised her head slowly, gray eyes meeting blue, and with a heave of her left arm she brought her sword out of the rock and shooting forward.
"I won't lose!" The Zanpakuto in her hand emitted a high pitched squeal, the sound of high pitched wailing filling her ears as she brought the sword full force towards her Zanpakuto spirit. His eyes widened, and for a moment Hiori was sure that she had him. She was wrong. At the last minute he ducked, leaving only a few strands of his wild black hair behind, having been sliced off by the edges of here blade.
"Hm... It seems you're-"
"No time for talking, you!" she bellowed, and a moment later her sword came crashing down right next to him. He dodged again, and although he wore a surprised expression, he still seemed to be avoiding her attacks with relative ease. Hiori glowered, brushing her bright red hair out of her eyes. She continued to lash out, sending heavy blows at the boy every which way, but none seemed to land. Panting heavily, she backed into the wall, attempting to catch her breath before she ran out of time. The boy took a few steps closer, making several 'tsk' sounds under his breath.
"You really are weak, Hiori-chan." he teased, which got to her immediately. He smirked to himself, wondering vaguely if she knew that this was what he had been aiming for. The bottoms of her sandals scraped against the ground as she sprinted towards him, snarling and baring her teeth. With a lazy flick of the wrist the boy stopped her, crushing the blunt end of the sword against her rib cage. After the initial shock of the force of the blow, the red haired girl smirked evilly.
"What the hell was that supposed to do?" she sneered, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter. "The tip of the sword's blunt, you idio-" Sudden pain shot through her body, and she ceased to speak immediately. It felt as though her entire body had been punctured by enormous needles, and no matter how much she gritted her teeth, the pain refused to subside.
"Don't be so stupid as to think I wouldn't know how to use this sword properly." the boy said, his voice laced with anger. His blue eyes were no longer goading, but more cold, calculating... Disappointed. "The moment this blunt end touched your skin, water passed through the semi-permeable membrane of your skin. You should know all about that, right? You attended high school," Hiori grimaced as her knees buckled, blood spraying from multiple open wounds all over her body. "And then it turned back into ice. Pretty sneaky, don't you think?"
Hiori didn't answer, instead coughing up a fair amount of blood. The pain was almost too much to comprehend, but even through that, she forced her frantic mind to work. She had initially wondered, upon first seeing her Zanpakuto, what use it was to have a sword with a blunt-cut tip. But now she saw the use clearly- Her Zanpakuto was really quite deceitful. One's first impression upon seeing it would simply be to avoid being sliced by the edges; It was a simple enough task. An opponent who had never been up against this Zanpakuto wouldn't suspect that, hidden in the blunt tip, there was a weapon just as effective as the tip of a sword, if not more so. She had been fooled.
"It's just as I thought. You aren't worthy of wielding me," he said, bending down, now won eye level with Hiori. "Not anymore. I'm going to finish this, and then you're going to have to watch as Inoue Orihime follows Kurosaki Ichigo off to Soul Society." Hiori's gaze hardened, and the boy didn't seem to notice as her grip on her Zanpakuto's hilt tightened. "All this trouble you've put me through... I think this should be enough pay ba-"
"Shut the fuck up!" Hiori screamed, and a moment later she sent the boy flying backwards, having hit him in the gut with the flat side of her sword. "I refuse to allow that! I want my memories back! I don't want to stay here!" she yelled. She was no longer thinking, only doing, and as she leapt for the boy she heard the noise of her Zanpakuto increase ten fold. She landed on top of the boy, straddling the boy's waist as she dug the sharp edge of her sword against his collar bone.
"You actually want to remember?"
"Of course I do!" she replied, leaning closer so she could look into his eyes. They had grown softer, more understanding, and that familiar feeling of comfort was slowly seeping back inside of her.
"I never heard you say it..."
"Well, I do!"
"Do what?" Hiori glowered, pressing her sword deeper into his skin, this time drawing blood. It seemed that her Zanpakuto spirit rather enjoyed being difficult, this much she had surmised, but the fact that he was clearly the teasing type really did her head in. She was hardly one to tease another so ruthlessly. But, then again, as Urahara had said... She used to be a "tease".
"I want to remember!" she said, and she felt something sting the corners of her eyes. "Why won't you just let me?"
"It's not entirely up to me."
"You have to be able to do something!" she protested, now beginning to feel rather desperate. Her Zanpakuto spirit could remember everything she couldn't, of that much she was sure. So why couldn't he just magically transfer every single memory that she was missing to her? Why did it all have to be so complicated. Hiori blinked, suddenly realizing just how close the boy's face was.
"Perhaps this will enlighten you."
"Huh?" she muttered, and she finally understood as the tip of the boy's nose touched her own. "H-hey! Wait, what're you-" A pair of lips suddenly crashed into hers, and she released the hilt of her Zanpakuto immediately, no utilizing all of her strength towards pushing the dark haired boy away. She felt her face heat up, which only caused her to increase her struggles- But that all stopped once a foggy memory appeared in her mind.
It was as if she was watching some sort of weird movie trailer. Hiori herself was standing in her own mind's eye, her red hair waving slightly in the breeze. Beside her stood a familiar-looking blonde, whose face was also turned towards the rising sun. It looked as if they were speaking about something, and both wore serious expressions. The man she now recognized as Urahara took out a lengthy Zanpakuto, balancing it carefully on the palm of his hand as he continued to speak with Hiori. She wished she knew what they had been talking about.
The scene changed suddenly, and Hiori now stood in the middle of an enormous wheat field, the golden expanse seeming to continue on into infinity. Across from her stood her Zanpakuto spirit, a serene expression on his face contrasting greatly with all others she had ever seen him wear. His lips moved, and even though she could not hear, she somehow knew what he was saying.
The pair broke apart, a triumphant looking smirk now decorating the face of the boy in front of her. Hiori was panting, though she told herself repeatedly that it was absolutely not because of the kiss. Was that sort of thing even allowed- A Zanpakuto spirit coming on to its master?
"I... You..." she whispered, touching her lips. "Name..." He smiled softly, pushing his upper half up slightly and propping himself up on his elbows.
"Did that help you out any?" Hiori said nothing, but merely continued to stare into the bottomless blue pools of the boy's eyes. Finally, she felt that she could speak without stuttering, and she carefully parted her lips.
"Name..." she whispered, leaning in despite herself. The boy made no move to get closer to her, and met her gaze unwaveringly. "Say your name." The boy paused, and a stream of rocky dust fell from the top of the cubic maze, landing in his hair. The pair ignored it, instead choosing to continue to gaze into each other's eyes.
"My name, huh?" he murmured softly, and Hiori slowly nodded. Her chest was beginning to hurt, and she figured that she was most likely holding her breath. She made no move to rectify this, however, and instead just kept staring. "... Amaterasu."
In this chapter, a short fight ensues, which mainly just consists of her Zanpakuto spirit goading her into fighting back. She learns several new things about her Zanpakuto itself, one being that the blunt cut tip is not as useless as it is often made out to be. After direct contact with her Zanpakuto spirit, she has two memories return to her, although she cannot hear what she or anyone else involved in said memories are saying to one another. And she finally learns her Zanpakuto's name.
Thanks for all the reviews, they are always much appreciated!