Not-so-Silent Night I
Christmas, according to idealists like Orihime and literally every overly-sappy television special and movie ever conceived in the history of man, was a time of togetherness for family and friends, a time for old feuds to temporarily be forgotten as enemies came together as friends to celebrate. It was supposedly a time of peace and joy, love and understanding between all men.
All across Karakura Town and the globe in general, that did indeed seem to be the case as families came together to laugh and celebrate what was generally considered to be the single most joyous time of year.
And then, there was Tyn and Tia.
The two arrancar sat on their couch, each on their respective ends and each as far away from the other as possible. The television remote sat on top of a couple of throw pillows that were piled up on the cushion in between them, the so-called No Man's Land. On the television itself was some ridiculous holiday programming that neither of them were paying any attention to; all they knew is that it was the third such movie to come on since they'd sat down.
They didn't dare speak to one another or even look in the other's direction, and the hostility in the air was palpable. There was no joy to be found here and if jolly old Saint Nick himself were to show up in an attempt to share the spirit of Christmas with them, he would likely meet an unspeakably gruesome end.
Eight months of hell, two and a half months of peace, and now it looked as if they were back at the beginning again.
It was the afternoon of Christmas Eve and the night was fast approaching; there was no joy in the apartment and even the Christmas Palm tree sat in the corner with its colorful lights shut off, almost as if it had been shoved away into the dark out of spite of the season. Halibel's present still sat underneath the tree, unopened and quite possibly unnoticed by the Shark Queen, the red Santa hat still laying on top of the box to cover up the cheerful wrapping and bright bow.
Neither had expected things to turn out quite the way they had, not after how well they had been getting along following their fight two months ago. Each had expected the holidays to be a semi-pleasant experience at worst, and something truly joyous and almost-human at best.
"Why are you acting this way?" Halibel asked finally, apparently tired of the maddening silence that was all too reminiscent of their earlier hatred for one another.
"Why are you?" countered Tyn coldly, his tone barely more civil than a snarl as he spared but a quick glance in her direction.
"I did nothing wrong!" she exclaimed. "You knew I was going out with Hiroki, and—"
"I thought you'd be home around one, as usual," growled Tyn. "I got worried when you were so late… And then, then when you do come home, you get pissy because Yoruichi was here with me. Why shouldn't I be upset?"
"Don't make this about me! I don't answer to you!" snapped the blonde, turning her body to fully face him. "And you, consorting with a Soul Reaper just because you're mad at me?! How childish can you be, Tyn?"
"We had a pizza and talked and she fell asleep on the couch; that's all! Nothing happened, and nothing will ever happen! Besides, you went out and slept with a filthy human!"
"Like I believe that!" she snorted. "I know how much you enjoy the taste of cats! And what if I did sleep with Hiroki? That's my decision—"
"So it's your business and yours alone if you sleep with a human, but if I were to choose to sleep with Yoruichi, that's also your business? Nice double standard you have."
"I didn't mean it like that…" said Tia, suddenly appearing unsure of herself. "I just…I'm trying to look out for you."
"And that's all I've been trying to do for you," said Tyn, looking away. "If anything hurt you…or any member of the pack, I don't know what I'd do. A human will end up hurting you eventually, Tia."
"You don't know that…you can't know that," she said, the hostility finally disappearing from her voice. "Hiroki's a good man, Tyn. You'd see that if you'd give him a chance."
Tyn grunted, folding his arms over his chest and refused to dignify her assumption with a response as she carefully reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder gently.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you I'd be late…" she apologized finally. "I didn't mean to worry you, but I can take care of myself, you know."
"Doesn't mean I'm not going to worry. Members of a pack should look after each other, individual strength be damned," he mumbled, omitting the fact that he felt she'd always be safer with him than with a fleshy mortal.
"You're right… Next time I'm going to be late, I'll call so you don't worry…" Tia said, pausing a moment before adding, "And if you do want to be with her, it's not my business. I won't act like that again; if you're happy with her, then that's all that matters."
Tyn turned his head slightly, cocking his head as he peered at her. It almost seemed as if she had been reluctant to say that last bit, like it pained her somehow, but that made no sense; why would it bother her? It had to have simply been his imagination.
"I don't want to be with her," he said gruffly, turning away again. "She's pretty attractive, yeah, and a good woman, for a Soul Reaper…a good friend, even. But that's all; I don't feel anything for her. Not my type, I guess."
"And what exactly is your type?"
"Why so interested?"
"I'm not," she said quickly, "I'm just making conversation."
"You're a terrible conversationalist…" commented Tyn dryly as he grabbed the remote and shut off the TV. "And I'm sick of all this feel-good Christmas crap; I think I'm just going to go to bed and you can wake me some time after New Year's."
"Why don't we go out instead?" asked Halibel. "When's the last time we went out and did something? We can go to the mall, wander around for a while before it closes…just something to get out of the apartment. It's been a few weeks since we've just gone out and done something."
"Do I have to?" whined the redhead. "It's cold and wet out there and I hate snow."
"Then be sure to dress warmly," said Tia, as if it were obvious. "If you hurry, I'll let you buy me dinner."
"Why the hell am I always the one buying dinner for everyone?"
Christmas dinner was sprawled out before him, covering the kitchen table from one end to the other with overflowing bowls, plates, and trays. There was enough food there to feed a dozen people, easily, and yet there was only the two of them; the leftovers would last for weeks, but Ulquiorra's appetite had long since evacuated the premises.
The food, every last bit of it, had red bean paste mixed in with it.
It was the bane of his existence, the most foul substance known to both man and hollow alike, and yet Orihime absolutely loved it.
He could stand the tofu, the vegetables, the slightly-overcooked ham, the too-cheesy macaroni, the overly-watery noodles, and the undercooked potatoes. He could even stand the disgusting-looking creamed corn that looked too much like bile to be healthy and the sickeningly-sweet chocolate candies that she'd made by hand if he had to.
Or rather, he could if she hadn't found a way to add the damned red bean paste to all of it.
All of it, including the candy…
Clearly, there was no God.
Ulquiorra could admit to himself that he enjoyed Orihime's company, that he valued her friendship and affection despite all of her strange little quirks that he'd yet to understand, but dinner with Orihime was a black hell from which there was no escape; he couldn't simply tell her that he hated red bean paste. He couldn't point out that it was indeed possible to have too much of a 'good' thing because he didn't want to hurt her feelings and be an ungrateful guest.
She had refused his offers to help cook the Christmas feast and he wondered if that was simply because she enjoyed cooking by herself too much, or if she had been afraid that he might 'accidentally' leave out her beloved red bean paste.
Most of it smelled delicious, but the past eleven months had taught him that he could never trust his nose where Orihime's cooking was concerned. Instead of craving the ham, Ulquiorra found himself longing for the Burger World chicken nuggets that weren't quite chicken, the questionable beef patties, the grease-soaked fries, and even the terrible, almost-unbearably dry and bland Turkey-Burgers.
"I forgot the dinner rolls!" cried Orihime, coming out of the kitchen in an apron splattered with various foodstuffs as she covered her face in shame. "We can't have a good dinner without dinner rolls!"
Dinner rolls, the one thing he could get away with eating without red bean paste…
This would not do, not at all.
"You have done enough for today; I will go to the store and fetch the rolls," he offered, standing up and striding over to the coat rack to grab his jacket before she could argue.
"Oh, thank you, Ulquiorra!" gushed the teen. "I'm so sorry for forgetting! I promise I'll make you my famous extra-special Red Bean Paste Chili Powder Enhanced Fish-Flavored Chocolate Tofu Pie for this!"
The cuarto was pretty sure that his pale face had just turned the same shade of green as his eyes.
"That's not necessary, really…" he said stiffly, inching towards the door. "In fact, I insist upon it; you have worked entirely too much already. I will fetch the rolls and then we can sit down and enjoy this…wonderful meal."
"Are you sure?" she asked, smiling. "I really don't mind the extra work!"
"Positive," answered Ulquiorra as he opened the door and backed outside into the cold. "The pie can wait until later…perhaps at New Year's, when we have the others here with us to appreciate it."
He disappeared out the door and down the sidewalk before she could reply and insist on making the evil dessert that he could only refer to as "The Aizen-Killer Pie." Good lord, if she'd made such a monstrosity during her stay in Los Noches and successfully convinced Aizen to sample it, the war would have likely ended in a matter of minutes.
Ulquiorra shuddered at the mere thought of the death pie; no one, not even the creepy, squinty-eyed Gin Ichimaru deserved such a horrible fate.
Still, if he was going to suffer it, he was going to make damn sure the other Espada shared his pain.
While the Aizen-Killer was making the rest of the dinner suddenly sound delectable, Ulquiorra concluded that it may be best to take the 'scenic' route to the store; after all, absence supposedly made the human heart grow fonder and hopefully, it would make his stomach grow more desperate.
"You're serious? Grimmjow, our Grimmjow?"
"That's what Yoruichi told me," replied Tyn and Halibel broke down in laughter, wiping tears from her eyes at the thought of the mighty Grimmjow playing the role of a parental figure to a bunch of mangy strays.
"That's so…so…I don't even know what it is!" she laughed, trying to gain control of herself as they ambled through the nearly-deserted mall. "I just can't picture Grimmjow, of all people, having a soft spot for animals."
"Stranger things have happened…" Tyn mused. "Starrk becoming a responsible role-model for Lilynette, Lilynette being best-friends with Kurosaki's kid sister, Ulquiorra falling in love with Orihime…"
"He's admitted to it?" asked the blonde incredulously, abruptly halting her laughter in disbelief. "Stoic, stone-hearted Ulquiorra has admitted that he loves her?"
"Not in so many words…" said Tyn, scratching the back of his head. "I don't think he'll ever actually say it, but if you listen to the way he talks about her and observe how he reacts to her…"
"Things have changed so much, haven't they? Everyone is so different from the way we used to be… I have a hard time believing it sometimes. The others have all of that going on, I'm dating a human and you're…" she trailed off as Tyn looked away, realizing he was probably embarrassed by his own lack of progress.
"You had a hard time in exile, but you're making a lot of progress in recovering…" she offered weakly, smiling to take as much of the sting out of her words as possible. "Your time in the desert changed you…left you a little…unhinged, maybe."
"Thanks…" he said dryly. "That makes me feel so much better, really."
"I didn't mean it like that…" she said defensively. "Being alone was traumatic for you, and there's nothing wrong with admitting it. My point is that I know you'll be okay in time; soon, you'll be the Tyn I knew in Los Noches again, and when that happens—"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll become a different person. I get it," he said sourly.
"I miss him sometimes…" she said, not daring to look over at her companion as they walked. "He was the only male in all of Hueco Mundo that I could trust to never turn on me. I always felt comfortable around him, a lot like how I felt around my fracción."
"I'm still that person, dimwit," he growled.
"No, you're not…" she countered, refusing to let his insult bait her into an argument. "You're more confused than he was, more combative, and more desperate to fit in with the rest of us; the old Tyn just slid into place like he knew he belonged there and he questioned everyone else instead of himself. You look like him, sound like him, smell like him, but you're not him."
There was silence around them as they looked away from each other. It was a hard thing to tell him, but he had to know the truth before he could ever really recover. Once he was back to his old self, back to the former-sexta she remembered from Los Noches, maybe then things could be different. Maybe then, she could…
No, I can't think like that. I'm already involved with Hiroki.
She looked over at Tyn, catching his eye for a moment before looking away again. He didn't have the same look in his eyes as he'd had back then, and it was more than the simple matter of the gigai having green eyes rather than his natural amber-colored ones.
No, he was not the same creature he used to be, not yet, but at least he was getting there.
"Ho-fucking-ho, Merry Christmas!" called the token mall Santa from his tiny stage at the center of the mall. "Come on, brats; tell me what you want and let's get this shit over with!"
"I don't recall Santa being that…colorful," observed Tyn, seizing the opportunity to jump to a subject other than his own shortcomings.
"Doesn't he look familiar?" asked Tia, straining her eyes for a better look past the crowds.
"Merry-effin'-Christmas to one and all! Ho, ho-oh, fuck!" exclaimed Santa as he spied Tyn and Tia at the back of the crowd, effectively ending the guessing game as to who was underneath the fake beard and curly, white wig.
"Well, now we know why he was so upset about the deal Ulquiorra cut to keep him out of jail…" giggled Halibel, burying her face in Tyn's shoulder to stifle the deep belly laugh that was brewing at the sight of an embarrassed Grimmjow dressed as Santa Claus, his face nearly as red as the suit itself at having been caught by his peers.
"I hate to say it but I actually feel sorry for him…" remarked Tyn as the faux-Santa on the stage turned his back to the crowd to hide his face.
"I do, too, but…oh, God, it's too priceless! I would kill for a camera right now!" laughed Tia and Tyn grinned back at her, though his grin was driven more by her own expression of happiness rather than Grimmjow's misery.
"And I think he'd kill if you did have a camera," said Tyn and the tercera could only nod at him as she bit down on her tongue to try and stop laughing, grabbing his arm and steering him deeper into the mall and away from the sight of Santa Grimmjow.
The earlier troubles of the day were all but forgotten now, the anger and accusations all forgiven as the two shared a chuckle as the sexta's expense and then promising not to breathe a word of it to anyone else for his sake. What had started out as the worst possible experience imaginable for their first Christmas in Karakura was slowly but surely turning into a merry one.
Perhaps those sappy television specials hadn't been wrong after all; maybe there really was such a thing as a Christmas miracle, and maybe that was what they were experiencing now. Maybe—
"Hey, Tia…doesn't Hiroki work on Saturdays?" asked Tyn abruptly.
"Yes…" she answered slowly, unsure as to why he felt the need to ask a question whose answer he already knew. "Why?"
"Even today? He's working tonight, right?"
"Yes, he is… Tyn, what's with the questions?" asked Halibel, an uneasy knot forming in her stomach.
"Because I'm wondering why he's here," said Tyn, pointing at a figure further down the mall.
Tia followed his extended finger, her eyes focusing on the familiar man down at the far end of the building. She recognized him, all right; same short, well-combed dark hair, same handsome face, same winter coat…
"He must have gotten off early…" said Tia, a smile forming on her lips. "He's shopping for me… I told you he was a good man."
"Then who's that with him, his sister?" asked Tyn, peering at the petite woman beside him.
"Probably," said Tia, nodding. "They seem to have a similar nose, so-"
"Must be a real close family, then," quipped Tyn as Hiroki leaned over and kissed the woman on the lips deeply.
Tia froze, hoping her eyes were deceiving her. She blinked, rubbing away a lone tear that was obscuring her vision as she took another look, but nothing had changed; Hiroki was kissing another woman.
The rest of the world fell away, leaving Tia feeling so very cold and alone.
He should have felt good for finally finding and exposing Hiroki's flaw, for finally getting Tia to see that those outside the pack couldn't be trusted. It was a moment of triumph to watch her feelings for him crumble away into dust and Tyn had long thought he would enjoy this moment.
Why do I feel so miserable, then?
Halibel still stood by his side, her inner turmoil keeping her feet frozen to the ground and forcing her to watch the scene before them as she considered what to do. Tyn cautiously placed a hand on her shoulder to try and show her that he stood by her, but he was well aware that in her current state of mind the tercera could very well turn on him and everyone else in the mall.
He opened his mouth to speak, unsure of what to say but knowing he had to say something, but Tia was already pulling away from him and angrily storming down the mall. Tyn stood his ground for a moment, watching her clench and unclench her fists as she went.
Not good.
She had already grabbed hold of Hiroki and spun him around, demanding answers to a dozen different questions as Tyn finally moved to join her. He didn't know why she had to bother asking anything, though; to him, it was obvious that Hiroki had been using the excuse of working on Saturdays to juggle seeing two women at once.
"Tia, I…" he was stammering as Tyn finally joined them. "It's not what it looks like…"
"Who is this?" demanded the other woman, and Tyn looked away as the trio began to argue back and forth.
Drama… He hated drama. Hell, every time a drama show came on television, he always changed the channel in favor of something with more explosions and blood, but there was no remote here, no way to escape. And worst of all, this was the abominable "made for TV movie of the week" kind of drama!
Though, unlike those dramas, blood and explosions were a distinct possibility here.
That could be entertaining, at least.
The story, at least as far as he could decipher amongst the bickering, was that Hiroki had been dating another woman when he met Tia, having begun two-timing because he thought the first relationship was going downhill and he wanted a head start on the next. When that first one finally sank and freed up his Saturdays, he moved on to this new girl, Juri, because Halibel had been reluctant to sleep with him.
Also because her friends were all sociopaths, apparently.
The fool had gotten what he wanted last night and Tyn knew it, which effectively threw out the lame excuse of Tia not—
"I can't believe I almost… I felt guilty about backing out, you bastard!" Tia roared, and Tyn looked back at her.
Wait, does that mean…? But I could smell his scent!
He decided that he could ask questions later as he saw Tia was quivering with white-hot rage. Juri slapped Hiroki across the face brutally and stormed off and Tyn fully expected the menacing blonde to do the same.
Except that if Tia did it, it would literally tear Hiroki's head off. The gigai may have limited her strength to a tiny fraction of what it actually was, but that fraction was still more than enough to kill an ordinary human.
The raw anger shining in her green eyes was such that Tyn had never seen before, not back in Hueco Mundo and not even in the first few months they had lived together in Karakura. The smart thing to do would be to stop her, to keep her from lashing out and destroying their charade as humans, but he couldn't just deny her the right to revenge.
"I'm done…" she said slowly, backing far away from Hiroki. "We're done. If I ever see you again after tonight, I'll kill you."
Tyn watched the fool open his mouth to argue, but Tia wanted none of it as she turned and stalked away, striding for the exit quickly before her self-control completely disintegrated and she decided to destroy anything and everything. Hiroki stood there for a moment, watching her leave as he ran a hand through his now-frazzled hair and weighed his options.
And then he chose to give chase, running after Halibel and calling out for her to stop and wait.
Tyn casually meandered off in their general direction, rusty gears unused for too long turning in his head once more as he considered how best to handle the situation. There was no need for him to hurry after them; he knew, like all good predators knew, that sometimes it was better to let the prey exhaust themselves than to actively give chase.
He followed them outside, idly trailing Hiroki's footprints in the snow through the almost-deserted parking lot out to the street, well past the mall's security cameras. There Hiroki stood, leaning against a street sign and panting as the red taillights of Tia's car could be seen fading into the shadows of the night as the snow continued to fall.
Tyn felt mildly irritated that she'd forgot about him but all things considered, he thought that he could let it slide this time.
Besides, it was better this way.
"I knew better…" Hiroki was saying to himself, oblivious to Tyn's presence. "I knew better than to push my luck again…now I've lost both of them! This night couldn't possibly get any worse!"
He turned around to head back to the mall, and the color drained from his face as he realized that he wasn't alone in the dark. The toothy grin spreading across the redhead's face was best described as inhuman and as a hand shot out and clasped itself around his neck tightly, Hiroki would have sworn at that moment he was looking at a demon instead of a man, and he knew that he'd been wrong about tonight.
Things were about to get much worse.