Okay, here's the shortest chapter of the whole fiction, but the most important one…JUST READ IT AND DECIDE IF YOU WANT TO KILL ME OR NOT AFTER THAT!
The Days of Life-draining Despair. The Moment of Life-giving Hope.
"Still not talking?" With the dark sunglasses on his nose all the time, Chad asked in his low voice.
Taki shook her head gravely. Ichigo's death had a great impact on her, and in just a single night, grey hairs could be spotted in the locks of her dark hair and her face sported a few wrinkles. She could not tell when she has gradually fallen in love with her apprentice and convict, emitting seductive charms at all times.
She has laughed with him, been in love with him, as well as hated him deeply in the guts. All those feelings of gratitude and resentment were gone with the wind. After losing such a loveable and hateful man, she was at a loss on the contrary. When she looked after Orihime, she then discovered that her bond with Ichigo has not severed through the girl. It was just she was sitting there like a sculpture, neither crying nor speaking for days long.
"Was Ishida Uryuu caught yet?" Taki regretted once the name flashed across her mind. She should not have let that demon meet and get into contact with Ichigo.
"Not yet." Chad's face betrayed no emotions. "He's planned and replayed the whole thing in his mind over and over again for years that it's flawlessly orchestrated accordingly. If he intentionally hides away from us, there's no way to seek and snatch him out from his hole."
With the creak of the door hinges, Orihime's pale face appeared and spoke her first words in days, "I'm going home."
Ignoring others' strong objections and turning down their offers to accompany her, she returned to the place she called "home" with Ichigo.
Realizing that all their convincing have fallen on deaf ears, Chad said with earnest sincerity, "Please take good care of yourself, Inoue. I strongly believe that both of you'll meet again in some place."
Her eyes were soulless and slack. "If only we can reach to the same 'place'."
Then she lived in the house silently without picking up any phone calls. She just gave short replies to Taki's messages and allowed her in to help her refill the fridge; she did not go to the supermarket for shopping anymore.
She had only gone out once, and that was for buying all the necessary tools for drawing, like paper and all sorts of pens. The amount was so enormous that the company offered willingly to give her discounts and deliver the goods for her at the same time. She only accepted the delivery; she did not quite mind about costs or discounts. Besides the drawing tools, she also bought a few gym equipments. After that, she locked herself in the house, drawing intently hours after hours. When she grew tired, she silently got onto the treadmill or the stationary bike for some hundred metres, or else practised her marksmanship.
She has secretly kept herself a beautiful Walther PPK, stolen from Kon before she left. The single shot was a special gift for a special someone.
She was expecting the time when Ishida Uryuu appear before her. Orihime understood clearly that he would not let anyone in the Kurosaki House live for a day longer. He was so full of himself that it was self-sympathy, feeling that he was the prince who has been subjected to unfair treatments. Anyone who stood in his way should be slain without mercy. That was why he killed the old monarch of the Kurosaki House, as well as the Dark Prince. He could do nothing to the tough jailed Princess, but he would surely seek her.
She waited with baited breath. Ishida Uryuu…what a poor man you are. You have an illness known as "delusion" and "revenge". You thought that your blood parents and adoptive parents are being unfair to you, so you are asking us the innocent to repay for your imaginary loss.
Except the gun that she kept by her side at all times, she lived in the house defencelessly. She kept working on the manga she has dreamt of completing, working nonstop for more than ten hours a day as she poured all the memories she has shared with Ichigo into it. The fragmented past used to be honey-sweet, but as the scenes flashed in her mind, she tasted bitterness.
None of the things in Ichigo's room has been moved. Sometimes when she felt like washing the pain away with her torrents of tears, she would lie on his bed and hid her face into his pillow.
Her tears have grown less than before. Is there even a quota for tears? If the vessel is emptied…what will be left to wash away the tormenting anguish?
Besides the strength of never-ending reminiscing, all of her positive and sunny characters vanished. If asked what her will of living on was, the answer would be a dead Ishida Uryuu before her, then leaving for her love with a smile.
However, she seemed to have underestimated a bit of his patience. He has yet popped up as she was about to finish the entire story of El Modelo de Magia – the Magic Model, and it has been two months since they've last met. All the men from the Kurosaki House, previously on the alert mode, have all retreated. Even Chad believed that he has left Japan.
They were all wrong.
Not only has he come, he even pressed the doorbell to signify his arrival. Orihime opened the door wordlessly.
"It's been a while…what a cold day." He greeted merrily as if meeting an old friend. "How're you doing?"
"Still fine." Not speaking for so long, her voice has grown rasp and foreign.
"I've noticed you're staying indoors recently. What've you been doing for leisure?" He rubbed his hands for warmth. "Still drawing?"
She took out her work. "Working on this only."
"Oh gosh…it's so wonderful, as if Ichigo's reincarnated…" He exclaimed as he flipped through the master copy of her manga. "Now that I think of it, it's a pity to kill him."
Orihime smiled gently. Such a delicate jasmine originally, now it was tainted with a dreary beauty. Uryuu admired the frozen smile on that detached face, while struck a great resemblance to the one Ichigo had.
Kurosaki Ichigo was not dead. He left the world without any offspring, but he surprisingly passed his facial features onto Orihime, a glory that was now radiating from her.
"How about marrying to me, Orihime?" His eyes glinted with avarice like a child yearning for toys. "I'm the one who understands Ichigo's handsomeness and your delicacy the most. You're Ichigo's only successor; and I mean that ruthlessly glamorous fairness. No matter it's a boy or a girl, we can name our firstborn 'Ichigo' (1). You see, life is nothing but a long river, and we're just some of the gene-transmitting water droplets in it. I'm now the only man in the Kurosaki House. Only I have the power to cast the magic spell to bring Ichigo back to life."
"The surname of Ichigo's father ought to be Taniyama." Orihime smiled bleakly. "He's never related to you by blood. None can return the dead from Death, something that's unarguable. As for marrying to you…if you take me as your wife, you're asking for Death to knock on your doors. You'll need to worry that the person next to you in bed will kill you at anytime she wants."
"I'm not disturbed about that." His smile made Orihime felt that his madness was getting acute, as he looked at her earnestly. "You're my Fairy Princess, and I need you to purify my life full of sins. There's no better chance in claiming my life other than being by my side in bed. Please give a good thought to it. I'm afraid of nothing but not getting you." Indeed, he yearned fervently for this fragile little woman. She was the only one who could notice his melancholy, him being at loss and insanity. He has framed the drawing she gave him discreetly. The more he studied the sketch, the more he understood himself, and the more he craved for her.
What could he do, now that she resented him so much? It was never a problem. He was willing to spend his whole life in thawing her frosty heart, flourishing her with all sorts of beauty in this world, until she lay down her hatred. He did not mind the painful process; it satisfied him to see her having happiness.
"I'll give you my reply after I get changed with some make-up, alright?" She stood up.
"Don't try to escape, Orihime." He looked at her with tender affection. "That brainless brawn Sato's searched for me all over Japan only to retreat in the end. My men have surrounded the block. I'm afraid you won't be able to call too."
"If I'm afraid, I won't be staying here all alone." She dropped her eyes a little. "Yes, I've been waiting for you."
With that, she retreated to her own room and fitted herself into the gown with the train torn by Ichigo months ago. In numerous sleepless nights, she altered it into a size she could put on, sewing intently, thread by thread. She looked at her reflection and slowly put on make-up on her face.
Come back, Ichigo. I am waiting for your return. She applied a heavy make-up on her face, reconstructing his glories bit by bit, stroke by stroke.
Please give me the power I need through this armour of make-up. The day of our reunion draws near…
How she missed the days of quiet companion. She inclined to give up all she had—including her life—only to see Ichigo once more. She hoped to see him sitting in the living room and reading quietly, as well as the gentle glittering glow in his face as he lifted his head to look at her.
It was all going to be over.
It was all going to be over, be it the nightmares, the pain of grief, the longing.
Every night, she found herself woke up from haunting nightmares, sweat covering every inch of her skin. Her heart thumbed so quickly that she felt dizzy, but as she closed her eyes trying to drive away the dizziness, the scene of a falling Ichigo replayed again and again. She would sometimes cry, and how she hoped that when she woke up, Ichigo would be in front of her bed, prying her hands away from her face gently and telling her it was going to be alright…
However, when she did wake up, the cruelty of truth throttled her.
Sighing, she pulled the curtains open to let the moonlight in. It was a new moon today, and its coldness brought peace and serenity to her chaotic emotions. They said the dead becomes the stars in the heavens, so where would Ichigo be? A piece of cloud veiled the silver arch, leaving the stars to shine. It was not as marvellous as Orihime has originally thought to be, and she could not help but remember a small flash of memory…
* Flashback *
"Take it, though I doubt it'll be of any good." Ichigo handed a plank of wood to Orihime as they were about to leave their house for the Kurosaki Chateau. Taking a moment, she admired the design. Hexagon in shape, it had a severed black new moon behind the clouds (2) and on the other side was Ichigo's surname.
"It's a House Badge that those closely related to the House could own." He explained. "It doesn't have much use than an unreliable way of identification, so this one's probably the last."
"Here I thought that it should be a mountain or a cape (3)…" She said with a small frown. "Why a moon?"
"Who knows?" He shrugged. "I heard from Kon that the designer thought that the moon's like a ninja or an assassin something-like-that in the dark, somehow like us—but I don't agree. He wanted to add a few stars, but rejected the idea as he thought that they looked like tears in the night—something that's totally unwanted for tough members of the House."
"Eh? I think that stars are like diamonds…so beautiful…" She mumbled.
"Anyhow, we need to go, so think about that later." With a small smirk, he flicked on her forehead to see her pout.
* Flashback *
Hardening her heart and resolves, she walked downstairs to where Uryuu was. The smoky grey eyes and the frostily cold expression made anyone to believe that this was a small-sized Kurosaki Ichigo, the illustrious "El Modelo de Magia".
"This…" In a blink, the room's filled with the stink of sulphur from gunpowder. "Is my answer!"
Just as she triumphed that her hard work has paid off by shooting right into Uryuu's chest, in the next second the gun was flown out of her hand, and her arms were twisted to her back in a slightly-painful position.
"Your marksmanship's getting better. I'm sure that despite the flak vest, I'll still get a terrible bruise." He edged closer to her ear as she seethed. "It's better for you to marry to me, and then you'll have loads of chances to do it…"
"You can dream about that in great details as you're in the fifth layer of Hell (4), scum." The cold blade of a dagger was latched on his neck as a glacial voice drummed their ears. "Let go of my wife right now. Or you want to die instantly?"
A trickle of blood appeared as the tip bit into Uryuu's neck and he loosened his grip slightly. A troop of men rushed into the living room from all sides and shackled his arms and legs.
Orihime swirled around to understand the situation and her eyes widened as they lay on a particular individual…
…Ichigo!
"I'm back." The frost on his face thawed like the fast-forwarded shots in documentaries. His eyes turned from cold hard ambers into liquefied honey in the golden sun. "I've stormed back from the Netherworld…for you, Orihime."
Her legs grew weaker as the man approached her. With a heart-wrenching wail, she closed the tiny space between them with a dash and collided into his chest. The reservoir of tears—which she believed to be dried up—had the gates opened, along with the sentiments she has collected in those two hellish months.
Clear tear droplets rolled out from Ichigo's eyes as he stroked her hair.
Explanations:
(1) Well, I guess that if it's a boy, then it'll be absolutely the same writing and reading; if a girl, then most likely to be strawberry-related.
(2) Yeah, if you've read my other fiction The Moth Goddess and the Moon Warrior, you'll realize the badge here is totally the same.
(3) I've explained that in the previous chapter about the problem of surnames.
(4) It's a well-known Asian myth that there're 18 layers of Hell, but here I'm making a reference to Bleach the Movie: The Hell Verse.
Author Speaking:
YES! Now we're going to have a happy ending!
Do I still get a beating? Anyway… (Flees for safety…)
Kuroi Kokoro 09