A/N: Okay, so this is gonna be a long chapter. And the one you've all been waiting for: they meet again SQUEE. That was the little fangirl in me taking control for a moment SQUEE.
Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo & Viz Media; Disappear belongs to "Hoobastank" and The Island Def Jam Music Group. Also, Saiko Shimada belongs to the author Skeleton With Skin in her amazing, amazing story entitled Party in the Seireitei. Seriously? One of the funniest stories out there, and so poorly read. Go read it, everyone, because it is AMAZING. Literally.
On another note, I would like to announce that my mother and I recently dyed my very short hair red (last weekend), and since my bangs were already blond it made the front part a violent strawberry color and the rest kind of maroon. Anyway, the teachers at my (private) school got mad and said "You have a week to wash it out" blah blah blah. So I washed it until it turned pink, but they weren't satisfied. So my mom and I attempted to bleach it, ending in disaster. My hair is now a strange cross between white, pink, orange, maroon, and its natural color which is brown. It looks pretty awesomesauce and I just wanted to share that little tidbit with you so you could get a peek into my strange life.
nypsy: Yay! I'm glad you can't guess. I was afraid it would be very obvious. As for the Tôshirô thing, I think he is the hardest character for me to write. Out of any book, anime, movie, whatever. He comes off even worse in My Espada Boys, but there's a reason for that. And no, she doesn't have her hairpins – it's hard to mention that since she doesn't even know she used to have them. But yes, they are with Ichigo.
midnight03: Thank you! I'll keep you in mind.
himelove22: ICHIHIME ALERT: IN THIS CHAPTER THEY MEET hope you're happy…
Misha: Thanks for the love alert :)
makaykay: What kind of a question is that? DUH, he will prevail. What kind of an Ichihime fic would it be if there wasn't any Ichihime?
There's a pain that sleeps inside, it sleeps with just one eye and awakens the moment that you leave. Though I try to look away, the pain it still remains, only leaving when you're next to me…So I stand and look around, distracted by the soundsof everyone and everything I see. And I search through every facewithout a single trace of the person that I need. Do you know that every time you're near, everybody else seems far away? So can you come and make them disappear? Make them disappear, and we can stay…
She's surrounded by gray mist that envelops everything except the figure. She can't see the eyes of the person standing in front of her, because their head is bent. Their hair is black and spiky and short. Their mouth is open slightly, and they're breathing hard, hands on their thighs. They're dressed in a white button-down shirt with a red tie and a short gray skirt.
"Orihime!" the person gasps, and suddenly looks up. It's a girl – definitely a girl. She has black, anguished eyes. "Orihime, where are you? I've been looking everywhere. Where are you?"
"I'm right here," Sadako says, reaching out. "I'm right here."
But the girl looks away. Her eyes are darting wildly around, never making contact with Sadako's. "Orihime! Orihime, where are you! Come out! Come out where I can see you!"
"I'm right here!" Sadako cries, but the girl doesn't hear her. Sadako reaches out her hand to grab her shoulder, shake her, tell her she's right here, but her hand goes right through. Horrified, Sadako watches as the gray mist rolls forward, closing in on her as Tatsuki turns and runs away.
"SAAAA-DAAAA-KOOO!"
Sadako is jerked awake by Seiji's loud and annoying voice. Her futon bounces underneath her as the boy jumps on it violently, making her head jerk up and down. She shoves out with her hand and connects with something, closing her hand around it in a fist. She then hears a loud wail and the side of her body seems to explode with pain as Seiji falls on top of her, tripping because of her grip on his ankle.
"Oww!" she yells.
"Seiji!" Mai yells. "Not this early, butthole!"
"Sorry!" Seiji wails. "I just wanted to wake Sadako~!"
"Wake her up like a civilized person!" Mai shouts back at him. "Man, what went wrong with you? Your brother is so calm! And you're so, so screwed up!"
"Uhhh…" Ui yawns.
Sadako opens her eyes a crack. "Could you please get off me?" she squeaks.
"Yeah! Get off her!" Mai seconds. "Do you want me to call Ryuu?"
"Did someone say my name?" says the deep voice of Mai's boyfriend, Ryuu. He appears in the doorway, rubbing sleep out of his ice-blue eyes, his black-red hair skewed. His pajama pants hang low on his hips, and his bare chest ripples with the movement of his muscles.
"N-no!" Seiji says anxiously.
Sadako pushes a little on Seiji. "Um…"
"Hey…where's Sadako?" Ui asks. "I don't see her…"
"Seiji…" Push. He isn't budging.
"What's going on here?"
Everyone freezes when they hear Ronin in the doorway. He does not sound happy. At all. Seiji is blocking his expression from Sadako, but she can guess that he looks super pissed.
"Seiji, would you please remove your behind from Sadako," Ronin says icily.
"Right away!" Seiji exclaims, and jumps off of Sadako. She quickly pulls up a bed sheet to cover herself – she doesn't think pajamas are really the best thing to be wearing in front of boys. If she'd known that everyone would be coming down, she would have woken herself up earlier and gotten dressed.
Ronin comes closer to her. "Are you okay?" he says, sounding worried. His chest is also bare, his pants low-slung. His hair is pulled into a quick ponytail, and it's a lot longer than when it's in the braid. It's got to be about 3/4 of the way down his back to his butt. Sadako blushes and tries to steer her thoughts away from his butt.
"Um…yeah, I'm fine."
"SADAKOOOO'S BLUSHINNGG," Seiji shouts.
"She's always blushing," Mai snaps, which is true. Sadako's been at the Academy for about a week now, and she finds herself blushing more than not.
"Well, everyone needs to get ready," Ryuu reminds everyone. "Today's our day off. We need to hurry if we want to make it to the markets before they sell out of all the good stuff."
Seiji cheers and runs out of the room, followed by Ryuu and Ronin. The latter turns and gives Sadako a parting look before following the others. She watches the stark contrast of his long hair against his toned back and shivers a little.
"So," Mai says, plopping down on Sadako's bed. "Seriously. You need to tell us."
"She needs to tell us what?" Ui says, confused.
"I need to tell you what?" Sadako seconds.
Mai rolls her eyes. "Duh," she says. "About Ronin."
Ui's eyes light up. "Yeah, yeah!" she chatters. "Oh, like what's going on between you and stuff."
Sadako fidgets. "We should probably get ready," she says. But Mai giggles. "Don't think you can get off that easy, Abarai Sadako," she says. "I want some gossip and I want it now."
Sadako slides off her bed and goes hunting for her uniform. "There's really nothing," she says. "Ronin and I are just friends. That's all."
Mai pushes out her lower lip. "Aww, come on. There must be something else."
"Nope," Sadako says. "Nothing."
Well, there isn't anything right now, at least. Yes, it's true that Sadako's dead heart kicks up whenever Ronin's around, and it's true that he's way more affectionate with her than he is with Ui or Mai. But that doesn't mean anything…does it?
She hears a loud sigh as she quickly slips out of her pajamas and into her uniform, still a little embarrassed of her anatomy. "Bor-ing," Mai huffs. "You are so boring."
"I'm sorry," Sadako says automatically, bending over to try to find her socks and sandals. She locates one sock and pulls it on, then gets on all fours to find the other one. She finally locates it and flips it right-side out before pulling it on as well, strapping on her sandals. She straightens to see Mai and Ui still sitting on their respective futons.
"You guys should probably get ready," she says, moving into the bathroom as they spring up and begin to get ready for the day.
Sadako brushes her teeth and then washes her face, falling into her routine. It's been two weeks now since she woke up in that alley. But what was she doing there? How did she get there?
Her heart rate accelerates as she thinks about her dreams. Nightmares, really. She had the third one just now, tonight. But what was it about? She can't remember for the life of her, and it is so frustrating.
She sighs, runs a brush through her hair, and pushes a headband that she borrowed from Ui into her hair. After looking hard at herself in the mirror (she finally found one), she pulls it out, brushes her hair again and pushes out past the other two girls and into the hall.
Yuuki is out there already. His nose is buried in a magazine as usual. He pushes his glasses up on his nose and says without looking up, "You look quite dashing in that uniform, Miss Sadako."
"Umm, thank you, I actually think the red kind of clashes with my hair, but –" She stops. "Why do you say that?"
He pushes the magazine toward her. It's some kind of Academy catalog, or weekly publication or something. The publication date is today. She glances at the page he was on and then flips to the front cover.
There she is, on the front. She's got a handful of books propped on her shoulder, her training sword on her belt (she still hadn't made contact with her zanpaku-tô after nearly a week of training), and she's walking down the path from the dorms to the main campus. Next to her is Ronin, looking down at her, while her head is angled up at him. He's gesturing at something, making a point, his books tucked under his arm. Rubitori's hilt flashes at his waist, the golden spread wings catching the sun. The photographer had caught them in mid-step – one foot was in the air, and Ronin's long sleeves were swinging at his side.
Her mouth falls open.
"And of course, Mr. Ronin looks splendid as well," Yuuki murmurs.
Sadako's mouth opens and closes a few times. Yuuki slides the magazine out of her hands and starts reading again as the rest of their friends emerge.
"Let's go!" Seiji cheers, and all seven of them leave the dorms.
When they get outside to the market, finally, it's already hot. Sadako shades her eyes against the sun, looking at all the vendors and colored flags around her. She inhales deeply, smelling all the food.
"I really, really want some wasabi on toast right now," she says with her eyes closed. When no one responds, she opens her eyes to see all her friends staring at her.
"What?" she says.
Seiji makes a face. "Wasabi on toast?" he asks. "Groooooooss."
Sadako shrugs. "I'm just being honest," she says, and the subject drops.
They tour the stalls for about two hours. They have everything there: from jewelry to pastries, clothing, sandals, zanpaku-tô decorations, hairpieces, even pets. She has to drag Seiji away from an I –heart- Seireitei tunic multiple times. She and Mai and Ui ooh and aah over a book filled with illustrations of nineties-level Kidô in the works and they're about to buy a step-by-step instruction book when Ryuu comes over and informs them crossly that it's just a huge scam. The shopkeeper looks like he's about to scream and nearly beats Ryuu over the head with the book, but Ryuu ducks, and, laughing, they make their escape.
At noon, they fall into chairs, each clutching a large pastry. Just as Sadako is taking her first bite, there's a large commotion and the crowd suddenly floods the curbs. Sadako leans forward.
"What's going on?" Ronin asks, peering down the street with her.
"Looks like a procession of some sort," Mai, who's closest, says.
It is, indeed, a procession. A bunch of people are coming down the street, all dressed in the black robes of the Shinigami. In front is a man with black hair, strange tattoos on his face, and filmstrip on his neck and biceps. He looks strangely familiar to Sadako. She looks over at Ronin to ask him if he knows where she might have seen him, but Ronin is pale and breathing hard. Then she remembers – this is Shûhei Hisagi, Ronin's idol. He had a poster of him in his room.
"Lieutenant…Hisagi…" Ronin breathes as the man nears them. He seems to be with his subordinates, laughing with them. He looks over and catches sight of their group, his eyes narrowing when he sees them.
"Do I know you?" he calls lazily to Sadako.
"No, sir!" she shouts back promptly, her face coloring with embarrassment.
"You look kind of familiar," Hisagi says.
"I've never seen you before, sir!" she informs him. "Never in my entire death!"
Hisagi bursts out laughing and keeps walking on past them. The others stare at her in amazement.
"Wow~!" Ronin says, but is cut off by more commotion up ahead. Sadako can see a little bit of spiky red hair, bright, ruby red hair, and a few dashes of orange. She looks back at Ronin in amusement.
"You were saying?" she asks him, laughing. Her eyes sparkle. Ronin grins down at her.
"Looks like the Ninth Lieutenant has taken a liking to you," he says.
"Looks that –"
"ORIHIME!"
Sadako turns at the sound of the roar. Everyone in the market suddenly goes quiet as she sees a man with orange hair, a black shihakusho, and a zanpaku-tô nearly as long as his body. His eyes are locked on her and he's barreling through the crowd just as fast as his legs can carry him.
He reaches Sadako and throws his arms around her. She stiffens in his unknown embrace and then gives a relieved sigh of thanks when he releases her, only to have him grasp her face firmly in his hands and, ignoring her friends' alarmed shouts, crushes her lips to his.
**!**
-Flash Back To This Morning-
"Look, Ichigo, I think we should just meet up with Shûhei and see what he says."
"But he already forgot, Renji. Are you stupid? Everyone forgot what she looked like - including you!"
Ichigo paced back and forth. They were deep in the squad 6 barracks, in Renji's room. It was Ichigo's first time being in Renji's room, even though the red-haired lieutenant had been in his own room multiple times, but he could poke around later. Right now he was walking back and forth and the foot of Renji's bed, chewing his thumbnail, his sandals making annoying squeaking sounds that were beginning to give Renji a headache. Tatsuki was standing in the corner, her arms crossed; and Renji himself was lying back on the bed, his arms crossed behind his head and his knees hanging off.
"It can't hurt." Tatsuki spoke up from the corner. "Look, Ichigo, we honestly have nothing to lose at this point. I hate to break it to you, but it's been a week. If this dude Shûhei can help us, that's great. If he can't, well, we need to come up with a new idea. But this is all we have right now."
There was a silence that was broken only by the squeak of Ichigo's sandals on the floor. Renji gritted his teeth.
"Why are we asking Shûhei for help, again?" Ichigo asked.
"I told you, he's in charge of the newspaper. Someone might have told him something. Plus, we can put an ad in the paper."
Tatsuki sighed. "Look, if you want to get to the market in time, you're going to have to hustle. He's going to be gone by the time we get there - you do realize that, right?"
She turned away and muttered "soul reaper newspaper" under her breath.
Ichigo kept pacing. Renji bolted upright. "STOP!" he yelled. "STOP SQUEAKING!"
Ichigo stopped. He looked at Renji. "What?"
"I said, stop!" Renji yelled. "That squeaking sound. It's annoying!"
Ichigo groaned in exasperation. "Okay! Fine. Let's go."
"Finally!" Tatsuki said, throwing up her hands. "Let's go."
As they left, they passed a white-haired girl in the hall. She was slender and had an eye patch on her left eye. "Hey, Abarai," she said "Can you -?"
"Not right now," Renji said. "Kind of in the middle of something. See you around."
"Just because you failed the best friend test doesn't mean you have to get all mean!" she shouted. Renji stiffened, but didn't look back.
"Who was that?" Tatsuki asked, once the girl was out of earshot.
Renji sighed. "My third seat. Saiko Shimada. Let's go." He didn't seem eager to discuss the subject, so Ichigo and Tatsuki decided to let it drop.
They burst out of the barracks and into the fresh air. Ichigo still was reluctant. He was gripping the handle of Zangetsu nervously like he was afraid someone was about to mug him. He also kept glancing around, making Tatsuki nervous as well, leaving her clenching and unclenching her fists like a nervous twitch. She glanced around a few more times, scratching her neck still.
It was just so hard to take in. She was in a whole 'nother world. A world where magic existed and people walked around talking to bits of metal like they were legit people. Or animals. Or other types of living things. Even Ichigo and that nutcase Renji did it – Renji more so, while Ichigo addressed his oversized man-hacker as simply "old man".
Bizarre, right?
And that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was how everyone took this so freaking seriously. It was like a military. Everyone had their place in the chaotic swirl of things. They were always right on schedule. Always. And they all had positions, and had to address each other by their ranks and whatnot. Seriously, it seemed like a lot of work just to keep the deaddies in line.
Well, she wasn't going to complain. This was the most interesting thing that had ever happened (except for when that butterfly man had attacked her hometown). She wasn't about to just give it up. The one thing that would make it better…is if Orihime were here with her.
But of course, that's what they were there for.
Tatsuki came out of her trance and saw that the other two had managed to get pretty far ahead of her. She shook her head and ran to catch up with them.
Renji had his finger out, and in a moment a black and red butterfly settled on it, opening and closing its wings slowly. Renji cupped it in his hands and murmured to it, and the butterfly fluttered away.
"What did you do that for?" Tatsuki asked.
"That was a hell butterfly," Renji said. "It can send messages to anyone in Seireitei as well as transport Shinigami through the portal world. I just now sent a message to Shûhei to let him know we were coming."
Tatsuki looked up. Above her, she could still see the butterfly, flying peaceably away, trailing small amounts of glitter from its black wings.
They walked for a long time. The sun had risen steadily to almost directly above them when they finally caught sight of the marketplace. Tatsuki's feet were aching but she didn't dare say anything about the sandals, afraid that it might offend someone. She hobbled up to the crest of the hill with Ichigo and Renji and looked out over the market.
It seemed to be set up for some kind of festival. Tatsuki could see, from her viewpoint, from one end to the other. There were hundreds of square white tents that had been set up and had vendors inside selling goods. The majority of the people had on white tops and either gray or red bottoms. They all scampered and scurried around just like normal living teenagers. In the distance, she could see a large campus-like arrangement of buildings. Behind them, she could just make out the white tower that Rukia was held in against the blue of the summer sky.
"Who're the people in the white, gray and red uniforms?" she asked Renji.
"Students at the Shinigami Academy," Renji said, pointing to the campus-like buildings. "The ones in gray are the boys, and the ones in red are the girls. They must have the day off today for the festivities."
"Did you go there?" Ichigo asked.
"Yep, sure did – that's where I met Izuru, Momo, Shûhei… and Aizen," he added. "Mind, he wasn't a student at the time – he was already a captain. Gin Ichimaru was his lieutenant."
"Aizen…that's the purple butterfly, right?" Tatsuki confirmed. When Renji burst out laughing, she took it as a confirmation.
"Let's go down," Renji said, pointing once he'd recovered. "There's Shûhei's procession already. If we hurry we may be able to catch him at the end."
They ran together down the hill and paused at the entrance to the market. People swarmed around, jostling around vendors. Ichigo ran in quickly and came out with some pastries, which they each basically inhaled. Then they set out to meet Shûhei where their paths might cross.
Finally they caught sight of him. There was a small lull as he stopped to talk to someone briefly at the curb. He then saw them and hurried to catch up and say hello while Ichigo strained to see who he'd been talking to.
"Hey, Abarai, Kurosaki. And you're…?"
"Arisawa Tatsuki," Tatsuki said.
"Are you in the Gotei 13?...I don't remember seeing you around."
"No, I'm one of Inoue's friends from the World of the Living," Tatsuki said, stretching a smile on her face.
It was then that Ichigo saw who it was that Shûhei had been talking to.
All sound and other movement ceased. His vision seemed to focus on that one object steadily, unwavering in his astonishment. She was dressed like a student: clad in those red pants that went beautifully with her long orange hair. She was talking to someone, but Ichigo couldn't tell who. Blood was roaring in his ears when he heard Shûhei say:
"Hey, there's a pretty redhead back there you might be interested in…"
Ichigo barely heard him. It seemed as though everything began to happen in slow motion. He pushed past Tatsuki, felt his mouth open. Heard her name leave his throat in a roar. Saw her turn her head, her beautiful gray eyes widening in bewilderment. He ran, ran so fast, though it felt like he was moving through molasses.
Finally he reached her. He didn't wait, didn't hesitate: he swept her up in a fierce embrace, clutching her to him; letting his muscles remember, his mind finally relaxing, letting it go with an Aahh…of relief.
Do it.
He didn't stop to think twice. He let her go for an instant, but then grasped her face with his hands and slammed his mouth on hers. He felt her eyes go even wider, felt her attempt to struggle and immediately released her, frowning. Why did she resist? She had said she loved him, after all…
"I missed you so much," he said, sweeping her into another frantic hug. When she pushed at him again, he released her once more. He opened his mouth to ask her the matter, but her gray eyes stopped him in his tracks. She opened her pink mouth, the one he'd been waiting to see, waiting to kiss since the day of her death.
The worlds she emitted made him feel as if she had just died all over again.
"Who are you?"
Holy cheezits :-O Epic reunion…
Oh, and P.S.: Did anyone go trick-or-treating? I did. I went as L from Death Note. So awesome…No one recognized me…-sobs-
R&R, maybe?