A/N: Wow. Ten months without internet, tv, game systems, or phone. That was awful. I moved 9 times. Blech. Please, enjoy the story. I've got most of the ending finished, I've just got some kinks in the middle. Expect it to be done by the end of the school year. Also, let me know if you see any character inconsisstencies. I seem to have a problem with those lately.
Chapter Two
As I entered the soul society, I was bombarded by spiritual pressure. It was difficult to breathe, to see, to hear, to think. I fought to get my own under control, to stop myself from feeling, absorbing theirs. The effort made me collapse. I was yanked too my feet in an almost gentle way, as Yamamoto watched me silently.
I breathed through my nose, focusing on the pain, then expelling it from my mind. Overcoming it. Moving above it. I wrapped my spiritual pressure around myself like a shield, and relaxed.
I stood up straight again, all the noise in my head gone for now, for as long as I could maintain control of it all.
"You will be staying at my manor. Come. I'll have a servant assist you with getting cleaned up before dinner, child." I nodded.
"Thank you, Master Yamamoto," I mumbled, feeling ashamed. He was taking care of me. I had tried too kill him. It didn't feel right.
I was escorted up the large banister stair case of the mansion by a pretty young servant boy. I asked him what his name was.
"Sergeant, milady," he said in an almost whisper. I nodded, almost bowing.
"I am Nemesis." He nodded.
"This way, milady," he said, opening a door for what would serve as my rooms for the next year and a half.
I entered, and he followed after me, shutting the large cedar-wood door behind himself.
"If you would go behind the curtain and undress, milady?" He asked, holding out a robe for me. My eyes widened, and my cheeks flushed in embarrassment. I silently nodded, accepting the robe with a few mumbled words of nonsense, and went behind the curtain. I silently took my clothes off, and put on the robe. Sergeant stopped just outside the curtain, and his shadow showed he was carrying a large bucket of water.
"I am decent," I mumbled out, uncomfortable. I didn't like the idea of a "servant", let alone a male one, or one my age. He was too young for this, if anything.
"If you would wash your body, I will assist you with your hair?" I nodded, but caught his wrist before he left. He flinched, and I ignored it.
"Why do you phrase everything as a question, and end it with milady?" I asked softly. His eyes were lowered. I realized he had never once looked upon my face, nor my body. Always my feet, or just past me, eyes lower than mine. "And you never meet my eyes?"
He bowed deeply. "My apologies milady, I am here only too serve you." The words came as a shock too me, a shock that jolted up my spine. My head shot up, eyes wide in surprise.
"Me?" I asked out, voice confused, frozen.
"Yes. Master Yamamoto appointed me as your "servant, friend, helper, and protector." He said I was too protect you and serve you with all my heart and life." I grit my teeth.
"Can I negate this order?" I asked. He shook his head. I sighed.
"Allright, just do what you need too do too avoid getting in trouble with anyone, and don't worry about me, okay? I'll be your friend, helper and protector too? We'll forget about the whole servant thing when we can." He nodded, still not meeting my eyes, the ghost of a smile on his small, fragile features. "Hey, look at me when I talk too you." I demanded. His large, chocolate, puppy-dog eyes met mine and I gave a foolish grin. "Not so bad, huh?" He smiled, a bright, little-boy smile, before disappearing on the other side of the curtain. I could hear him shuffling around with clothing.
"Please wash your body, milady!" He said, still ruffling clothes. I sighed, taking off the robe, hanging it on the top of the curtain. My mussed hair barely stuck over the top of it. I took the sponge from the water, put a little bit of soap on it, and began too wash my body.
"So how old are you?" I called out too Sergeant.
"Twelve," he replied in his soft voice. I had too strain my ears too hear him.
"Cool. I'm thirteen and a half." I replied, figuring he wouldn't ask me directly. "Do you have family?"
"Yes. Two elder sisters and a mother."
"Spiritual or blood family?"
"Spiritual, and blood for my twin."
"So you're a dead soul?"
"Yes. My sister and I died together in a car crash." I felt sorrow engulf me.
"I'm sorry. I'm a dead soul too. I died in a bombing… I think it was a war bomb." I felt a pause in the atmosphere, and waited. It felt like he was thinking.
"Perhaps it was in the Iraqi war? Your accent matches, but not your skin." He said. I shrugged.
"I don't know. I don't really have any family. How do you remember so much about the living world?" I asked. It was strange.
"I don't know, either. Master Yamamoto had me as a personal servant for many years because of my uncanny memory. He gave me too you for the same useful purpose." I nodded.
"Right. Gave you too me, huh? Wonderful. I got a twelve year old boy for a present," I mumbled off, grumpy. I sighed, closing my eyes, as I stepped into the basin, let the soapy sponge fall in, and took a bowl Sergeant had brought as well. I scooped some water, shivering as I poured it over me.
"Are you done yet, milady?" Sergeant asked softly, just on the other side of the curtain. I yelped in surprise, falling backwards out of the basin, luckily not spilling it. But I did land on my back, pain spasming throughout my body. I shrieked in pain, coughing violently.
Sergeants moved too check on me, but I stopped him with my voice. "Fine! Just fell!"
"Are you sure, milady?" His tone was terrified. Probably if I got hurt, he'd be punished for it.
"Yes, I'm sure! Just shocked me is all!" I didn't tell him that it hurt like hell, but it didn't seem that that would help the situation at all. I sighed, getting too my feet, wincing, and dried off with a towel Sergeant draped over the top of the curtain, before putting the robe back on. Sergeant came around, carrying a chair.
"Please sit, milady."
For the next hour, Sergeant cleaned my hair. By the time he was done, my black hair was revealed too be a bright, curly emerald green. He gasped at the color. I grumbled under my breath. It wasn't that great, and I was particularly grumpy right now.
Sergeant continuously complimented me for the next half hour as he braided the curls into a bun on the back of my head, the rest falling around my face and head too frame it.
"You look gorgeous, milady," he said, almost in awe. I flushed, glaring at my reflection.
"Just give me my clothes," I growled. Within seconds, the basin of water was gone, clothes were draped over the curtain's edge, and Sergeant waited patiently on the other side, his shadow still. It unnerved me slightly, but I ignored it, getting dressed in my pre-chosen clothes. It was a deep hazel kimono with a black obi, and black embroidery of trees and rivers along the hem, and front side. I sighed, walking around.
"Well? Think Master Yamamoto will like me?" I asked. Sergeant gave a hasty nod, gesturing for me too sit on my bed.
"Are we done?" Sergeant shook his head, grabbed a nearby bottle, and I was sprayed with a sudden onslaught of perfume. I coughed.
"Sheesh. Why do you guys have all this lady stuff on hand?"
"Master Yamamoto once had a daughter your age, but that was long before any of the servants here were even born."
I nodded, sullen now, as Sergeant led me down too the dining hall.
Fear gripped me.
What would come from the rest of my life, if it started like this?