Heart and Soul — XXIV
Summer was disoriented when she woke up the next morning. The first thing she noticed when she sat was that it was pitch-black, and there was a strange noise coming from somewhere on her left. It sounded almost like someone snoring…
"Good luck getting back to sleep now." A low voice said. There was a clicking noise as a flashlight was turned on, illuminating the small cavern. Nanao was sitting on the edge of the bed, her eyes on Kyoraku, the source of the snoring. He was leaning against the wall next to the door, his arms crossed over his chest, one leg stretched out, the other bent, knee jutting out, head bowed. "I'll wake him up eventually." Nanao said with a shrug, resting her chin on her knees and setting the flashlight on the floor. She never took her eyes of Kyoraku. "Either that or someone will come to complain. Probably Abarai-kun, it's easy to annoy him."
Summer looked at the floor, not speaking. Nanao laid back on the bed, curling her arms under her head, staring at the ceiling.
"It's going to be a long day."
Nanao didn't speak again for a long time. "How did she do it?" Nanao asked finally. Summer raised an eyebrow at her.
"How'd who do what?"
"Rukia-san." Summer was surprised to hear the name. "How did she keep us from you for so long? How did she keep you from telling the Seekers?"
Summer regarded the question wearily. It sounded like a trap. Paranoid much? Rukia demanded. You going to start distrusting other souls now too?
I don't even trust the voice in my head, how am I suppose to trust people around me?
Paranoid, Rukia repeated. Summer imagined she would have roll her eyes, if it was possible.
If it keeps us alive, you got it.
The only person who wants to kill you right now is Ichigo, Summer shuddered, thinking of the murderous man.
Thank you so much for reminding me.
You're getting a little too good at sarcasm. It's starting to scare me.
Oh, the man she loves wants to kill us, and that's okay. But I'm a little sarcastic…
Point taken. And made, by the way. Honestly…
Summer managed to pull herself back to reality. Nanao was looking at her, obviously curious. "Whenever you stop talking you look like you're focusing on something." She observed. Summer groaned internally. Was she that transparent?
You have no acting skills.
I'm begging you. Be quiet.
"Are you talking to Rukia-san?" Summer noticed that Nanao was keeping her voice very quiet, as if she were afraid of the wrong thing being said — or maybe she was afraid of being overheard. "I heard, once, of host body's minds staying behind, even after a soul was inserted. And Rukia-san…well, I can't imagine she'd give up easily. Not when she knew what it would cost everyone. I imagine she'd try to stay, sabotage you, if it were possible."
Summer ducked her head, looking at the cave floor. It seemed to be all the answer Nanao needed. "She is still in there…isn't she?"
Summer hesitated for a moment. "She's very annoying sometimes." She muttered finally. Rukia scoffed silently. Summer ignored it. "When this first started she kind of made it a game to watch me fail. She liked it."
To Summer's surprise, Nanao laughed quietly. It was a tired sound. She's changed, Rukia realized. I don't know what happened, but, she's…different.
Older, Summer supplied the word for Rukia. She's got the look of a person who aged a lot in a short amount of time.
They both thought of Ichigo, silently agreeing that he probably had something to do with it. I'm going to have to hurt him someday, Rukia sighed. Either that or annoy you enough to get you to do it.
Yeah. Good luck with that.
"How did she keep you from finding out about us?" Nanao brought Summer back to reality once more. Summer sighed.
"Rukia is…strong. Strong enough to block me out of things she didn't want me to see. Sometimes I'd run into a place in her mind that was…just a wall. If she didn't want me to see it, I wouldn't." Summer thought of the many times she'd been disgraced by her lack of information. "Like I said, she liked to watch me fail. When I spoke to the Seeker and I couldn't tell him anything new, she enjoyed my humiliation."
You make me sound cruel. I just wanted a form of entertainment, your world is dead boring. I needed a little fun.
Yeah, that's not cruel.
"Are you talking to her now?" Nanao asked curiously.
"Yeah. She says I'm making her sound cruel. Of course, she's ignoring the fact that she is." Nanao laughed quietly.
"Humans aren't very good at admitting their faults, are they?" Summer laughed despite herself, then sighed.
"They're very…interesting."
"Interesting." Nanao repeated. "I suppose that's one way you could put it." She paused for a moment. "This must be very…frustrating for Rukia-san. Being trapped, watching, and not being able to do anything. I can't imagine…"
"It's frustrating." Summer agreed as Nanao's voice drifted off. "I can't really blame her for complaining the way she does, no matter how annoying it gets. She hates it. She hates me."
Summer was surprised to find how much that thought pained her. She was even more surprised when Rukia said, I don't hate you. Not really.
Summer was so stunned by the declaration that she couldn't speak. Luckily Nanao started talking, saving her from having to say anything. "This planet is…complicated, for sure. So many emotions, so strong…I don't know how humans lived this way for so long without driving themselves insane."
"Adaptation, I guess." Summer muttered, leaning back against the cave wall. In truth, she couldn't imagine living for so long with such wild emotions either. Never before had she encountered a species that was so entirely controlled by the way the body felt.
You make us sound like we have no thinking minds, Rukia griped.
Do you? She quickly went through yesterday's events, giving Rukia a new point of view of what had happened when they'd seen Ichigo. I might as well have not even been here, you wanted so entirely to go to him. You weren't using your head.
Well, I kind of was…
Oh, right, you wanted him to kill you. I forgot, a bit of acid leaked into Summer's mental voice, and Rukia winced.
I apologized for that.
You apologized for trying to get me killed, so that makes it okay.
Stop being sarcastic. If you're the sarcastic one, then I don't have a reason to exist.
"Talking to her?" Nanao asked, jerking Summer back to reality.
"Arguing, actually." Summer admitted with a sigh. "Slight disagreement over what humans really are."
Nanao smiled a bit. The smile didn't quite reach her eyes. What happened while I was gone? Rukia wondered idly.
I'm not sure I want to know.
"So where did Kurosaki say he was going?" Toushirou asked as he watched Momo finish brushing Hisana's hair. The girl was sitting in Momo's lap, playing with her teddy-bear.
"Go make sure the car was hidden and bring up whatever we left behind. We were in a bit of hurry to get out of the open yesterday, we were careless." Momo frowned, remembering why they had been in a hurry. "Hey…Hisana?"
"Hm?" The girl twisted around to look at Momo, her amber eyes sparkling. Toushirou made a face.
"You're not really going to…"
Momo ignored him, carefully lifting Hisana out of her lap, turned her around so they were facing each other, and set her down on the bed. "I want to talk to you about something. But it's kind of confusing, so if there's something you don't understand, tell me to stop so I can explain it to you. Okay?"
"'Tay Momo-san." Hisana nodded, smiling her brilliant smile. She liked it when people told her what was going on.
"You're never going to be able to make her understand." Toushirou said. "And Kurosaki will kill you—"
"Just hush." Momo waved Toushirou off. "Remember you asked once about Nanao-san, you wanted to know why her eyes glow when they're hit by light."
"Uh huh."
"Your parents never told you about that, did they?"
"Nuh uh."
"Momo—"
"Shirou-chan be quiet." Toushirou snapped his mouth shut, looking faintly annoyed. "You see, there's something in Nanao-san's head — something that makes her a different person. It's called a soul — they're put into people's heads, and they make a person someone else. Do you understand so far?" Hisana thought for a minute, then nodded. "That's why we live here. Because we don't want to be made into someone else."
"But if Nanao is alweady someone else, why is she here?" Momo blinked, amazed that Hisana had come so quickly to this conclusion. Smart little girl.
"Because…Nanao-san didn't like who she'd become."
"Oh."
Momo sighed. Now it was time for the really complicated part. "Hisana…you know how your mother disappeared, before, and your dad said it's because she was caught by the bad guys?" Hisana nodded, and Momo saw a flicker of pain in her eyes as she re-called that day. She still missed her mother. A lot. "Well…she's here." Hisana's eyes lit up. "But she's not really here." Momo continued quickly. "She's…well, she's like Nanao, now. She's a different person. She looks like your mother, and sounds like your mother, but she's not. Her name is Summer now."
Now Hisana looked confused. "But…then what happened to Mommy?"
Momo closed her eyes, then looked at Toushirou, who shrugged.
"We…don't really know, Hisana."
"Daddy told me she's gone. Is she really gone?"
Momo bit her lip. She was beginning to regret bringing this up.
It's always so dark here, Summer griped a bit as she followed Nanao's vague outline through the halls. Someone could be hiding here and you'd never know it.
Knock it off, Rukia ordered firmly. Anyways you heard Ukitake, Ichigo's not here right now. Summer felt a slight tug of pain at these words. It wasn't her pain. She tried to ignore it. It's safe for you to be wandering around a bit.
Summer remembered Renji. What about him? Am I safe from him?
You don't trust me, so why should I bother answering?
Summer sighed. She didn't like this not trusting thing. She was soul, after all, she was supposed to be trusting by nature. But that was hard when she stopped to think about the fact that Rukia had dragged her off to die once — what was stopping her from doing it again?
Compassion, Rukia grumbled. Believe it or not I do have a little.
You'll have to excuse me if I go for 'or not.'
Rukia sighed. Summer started to say something, but stopped dead when she saw a light swiveling down the hall towards them. She nearly crashed into Nanao, who had stopped walking. "Who's there?" Kyoraku, who had been leading the way, called.
"It's me." Hinamori's quiet voice replied. Summer saw, after a moment, that there were three shadows. Two were the same size — Hinamori and Hitsugaya, she assumed. The third one was considerably smaller. A bolt of shock — Rukia's shock — went through Summer's body.
No, Rukia whispered, almost inaudibly.
"Hinamori…" Kyoraku seemed to have realized the same thing Rukia had. His voice was cautious, like he was trying to warn her.
What's going on? Summer demanded, not liking being out of the loop. But a second later it didn't matter, as the light turned the corner, and Summer was able to put faces with the three shadows.
Two of them were Hinamori had Hitsugaya, as she had guessed. The third was half-hidden behind Hinamori, one wide amber eye peaking out from around her leg.
Summer felt as if the floor had given out from beneath her. Hisana, she whispered silently. Rukia was shocked beyond words.
"Hinamori, what are you—"
"It didn't seem right to keep it from her." Hinamori said quietly. "I told her, and I gave her the choice. She wanted to come see."
"She can't possibly understand—"
"She's a lot smarter then you think."
Hisana carefully edged out from behind Hinamori, her eyes locked on Summer, who felt as if the gaze was weighing her down, keeping her from running away, which was what she wanted more then anything at that moment. Rukia was less then present in her mind right then; she was too busy reeling from the shock of being allowed to see the child.
After a minute Hisana walked over to Summer. Nanao tried to stop her, but Momo grabbed Nanao's wrist, effectively freezing her in place.
"Just wait."
Hisana looked up at Summer, and their eyes met. Silence rang in the cavern.
"Hi."
That one, simple word seemed drain all the tension that had slowly been building. Summer's breath came out in a long huff of air. "Hello." She managed to say. Her voice sounded strangle. She knelt down so she was eye to eye with Hisana. The girl's eyes were guarded, though curious, very curious. Summer wondered exactly what Hinamori had told her.
"What's your name?" Hisana asked, cocking her head. She had the look of person who was trying to make a new friend. She was so…innocent.
She's three, Rukia scoffed. What were you expecting, a serial killer?
Wondering when you were going to speak up.
"Summer." Summer said quietly, her eyes flitting around, pausing for a moment on Hinamori, who nodded in encouragement. There was a slight smile pulling at her lips.
"I like that name." Hisana said quietly. "I'm Hisana."
Summer couldn't help but smile a little as well. "I know."
Hisana's eyes lit up a bit. "You do? How—?"
"What the hell," a new voice interrupted, "is going on?"
Summer jerked upright, feeling as if a shock had run through her body, and everyone else looked around at Ichigo, who was standing just behind Hitsugaya and Hinamori, his face livid.
Rukia squirmed uncomfortably in the back of Summer's mind. Uh oh, she finally managed to say. Summer didn't even bother coming up with a response.
We're dead.
Author's Note: Hmn…are they? I dunno, do I? Oh, should I know? Well uh…yeah. Anyways, I'm amazed and dumbfounded by how many people assumed last chapter that Summer and Renji are going to get together. Wow people! And I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just…wow. Every other review I read asked if I was going to make a Renji/Summer pairing. I mean, it's a good idea, and if I wasn't worried about this turning into a "Bleach" version of "The Host" I would totally do that, but I'm trying very hard to keep this my own idea (while borrowing upon the ideas of others, it's true, but still). So no, there will be no Renji/Summer pairing. After all, in my head, Renji and Rukia were always like brother and sister. That's how Renji will eventually come to view Summer (kind of like Jamie and Wanda from "The Host"). So with that said…Review please! — Sam