So, I'd like to send a belated thank you to Animaddie and Ayato-Sama for pointing out a couple of typos that I missed in the first chapter. They have since been corrected, so thank you to the both of you for helping to make this story a little bit better.
Also, just to clarify, this story takes place in a fictional universe made up of countries from different Anime. There are no real world locations. (I apparently made this fact too subtle. My bad, I guess.)
Anyway, let's get back to the story.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Rukia didn't know how far or for how long she ended up running, but it didn't matter. After all of her worst fears started coming true before her eye she just couldn't handle it anymore. Everyone hated her now, including the one person in the entire country, the entire world for that matter, who still mattered; her sister, the only family she had left.
It was her hate that hurt the most; everything after that had just been pouring salt in the wound.
She recalled the words the healer had spoken all those years ago….
"How come you live so far from the town?" Rukia asked, sitting on the bed next to her slumbering sister, "If you lived closer, it would be easier to help people, right?"
Unohana frowned, "I live so far from others because of my magic. Not everyone who is blessed with these powers uses them for good, and that has given the rest of us that do a stigma."
"But if you just tell them that you can heal people-"
"They still wouldn't trust the powers themselves." Unohana knelt down to Rukia's level, "Humans are scared of the things they don't understand, often without good reason."
Those words had stuck with her throughout her childhood and through her adolescence, only now she finally understood what the healer had been saying.
Her powers had always been the source of her anxiety after that fateful night. Ever since then she'd tried to refrain from using them, for the safety of everyone around her.
However it proved impossible when the powers themselves wouldn't be contained.
The king and queen burst through the doors of their adopted daughter's bedroom, only to stop in their tracks as they beheld what was inside; the entire room was covered in a thick layer of frost, with Rukia huddled in the corner, surrounded by a miniature blizzard.
"Oh my goodness…" the queen gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.
"I can't make it go away," the young girl whimpered, "Please, don't come any closer."
"Rukia…," the king said, stepping forward despite the warning.
"Mate!" she shouted, stopping her father right before a giant spike of ice rose from the floor directly in front of him. "Please stay back!" she pleaded, "I don't want to hurt you…"
"Don't worry, we'll stay right here," her father said, sitting next to the giant spike, motioning for his wife to join him, "we'll wait for you to come to us."
Soon after her parents come up with a solution.
"These are for you," the queen said, handing Rukia a pair of blue, fitted gloves. "They're to help you control your powers."
"Are they magic?" she asked, turning them over in her hands.
"No," the king answered, "but since you tend to freeze the things you touch, they'll act as a barrier between your skin and everything else; that way you can handle them without coating them in ice."
"Try them on, the queen urged.
Her adopted parents had always been there for her, even through her worst moments; they had been the one thing that could pierce through her angst and her fear and keep her sane.
Rukia clung to her mother's gown, "Do you really have to go?"
"I'm afraid so, dear," the queen said, rubbing Rukia's back tenderly, "the king of Fiore invited us to attend the special tournament he's hosting, and it would be rude of us to refuse the invitation."
"We won't be gone long," the king assured her, "we'll be back well inside of a fortnight, and you're a strong girl; it'll be like no time at all has passed once we return!"
It was not even a week later that an arriving merchant ship brought the new of a terrible shipwreck they passed. There were no survivors, and the flag they brought back bore the colors of the Kingdom of Snow. Rukia had been so distraught by the news that she locked herself in her room, refusing to attend the memorial service held for them, and hadn't visited their gravestones.
Rukia sat with her back against her door, staring off into nothing. She'd already cried all the tears she could, and now felt like doing nothing for the rest of her days.
A suddenly knock on the door jarred her out of her stupor, and she was about see who it was when she a voice on the other side.
"Rukia?" her sister asked, "Are you OK?"
She didn't answer, sinking back down to the floor. Of all the times for Orihime to seek her out, it would be the one time when she just wanted to be alone.
"Please come out?" she pleaded. "I want us to have fun like we used to when we were kids! We don't even have to do anything, we could- ...we could just talk."
Rukia stayed silent, trying to keep the new well of tears from bursting forth. She stared back into space, watching the snowflakes hang suspended in the air.
"That's fine," Orihime said after not receiving an answer, "you must still be pretty sad; I'll leave you alone until you feel better."
All these memories swirled around in Rukia's head as she continued to run forward, until finally she allowed herself to stop. After catching her breath she saw that in her frazzled haste she'd scaled partway up a mountain. Down below she could see the Kingdom of Snow spread out before her, with the palace and the town surrounding it looking like dollhouses in the distance.
They're better off without me, she reasoned, staring down at the place she used to call home. Without hesitation she unclasped the cape from her shoulders and threw it off the side of the mountain, a clear act of defiance against the people who rejected her. She was about to throw her tiara off as well, but thought better of it before it left her hand. It and her sole remaining glove were all she had left to remember her adopted parents by, and to throw them away so callously would be just as worse as if she'd spit on their graves.
She put the tiara back on, though in reverse as a constant symbol of her defiance, then she tucked her glove into her sleeve. With that done, she began gathering up magic around her dress, causing tiny ice crystals to form on it; what was once a dress of dull blue fabric now glistened and sparkled in the moonlight, more delicate and brilliant than silk. She directed some of the magic around the tiara, accenting it was shards of pointy ice.
The ledge she'd come to rest on was very wide, wide enough to build a small house on even. Stomping her foot down, she covered the surface of the ledge in ice, then she began forming the structure of her around her; a giant spire of ice, covered in facets and vertices, with many smaller spires at regular intervals. The entrance was formed with massive, functioning doors, and an elegant balcony above it to look out over the land. From the entrance to a point further down the mountain side was a gleaming staircase that put to shame anything in the Palace.
As Rukia stood atop her creation she fired blasts of magic energy into the forest, reveling in the freedom she now possessed in spades. Again and again she fired, finally allowing herself to laugh and let loose and just be herself! To be free of the fear, of the expectations, of the constant threat of suspicion, of those who considered her their queen turning against her….
It was the first time in years she'd felt human.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
For hours Orihime sat on the steps of the palace, turning her sister's glove over in her hands and wishing she could reverse time and take back the awful things she said. Thinking back on it, she shuddered at how hateful she sounded to her only remaining family.
She was still mulling things over when Aizen walked up to her. "How are you doing?"
"As well as I can be," she shrugged, "considering I pretty much caused my sister to hate me forever and also cause winter to come months early."
"I'm sure you didn't mean what you said," Aizen consoled, sitting beside her, "And deep down, I'm sure she knows it as well."
"If that's true, then it must be so deep that the light can't reach it." She let herself fall over onto Aizen's lap, turning so she was facing the sky. "I just wish I could apologize to her, but now she's gone..."
"Who's to say you can't?" he proposed. "She ran off on foot, right? You could probably catch up to her on a good horse."
Orihime suddenly shot up, determination shining in her eyes, "You're right! I shouldn't be moping around, feeling sorry for myself, I should be running after her!" She called over the nearest guard, "Have someone fetch my horse from the stables, I'm going after the queen."
"Are you sure that's wise your highness?" the guard asked cautiously. "The Queen was obviously upset when she ran off, and there's your own safety to think of."
"He makes a good point, Princess," agreed Aizen.
"It's no use trying to talk me out of it, this is something I need to do myself," she said resolutely, making her way to the town square. She turned to the guard again, "And make sure it's the fastest horse we have; the sooner I catch up to my sister the better."
When Orihime arrived at the square, with Aizen trailing in her wake, she found a crowd of people gathered around a man who was standing on the back of a cart, yelling some rather untrue things about his Queen.
"This is how it all starts," he yelled, "with the nasty creatures weaseling their way onto the throne before enslaving us for their own nefarious purposes! Why, I'll bet that it was the Witch Queen herself that caused the deaths of our last beloved King and Queen!"
"That's not true!" Orihime protested, pushing her way to the front of the crowd. "Rukia didn't cause my parent's ship to get caught in that storm, or for the storm to pop up in the first place; she was right here the whole time and she was devastated when she found out what happened!"
"Ah, Princess Orihime, how does the Witch Queen's sister fare in the wake of this terrible reveal?" He then addressed the crowd again, "Or could it be that the two of them were in league with each other the whole time!" Murmurs circled through the crowd, discussing the validity of the man's accusation.
"My sister isn't a Witch," she insisted, "and neither am I! I'm surprised by everything that's happened so far just like the rest of you and no one's more sorry about it then me." She paused. "...Which is why I'm going after my sister to try and make things right."
This caused the crowd to gasp in shock, either protesting or phrasing against the Princess's rash action.
"I know it doesn't sound very safe," she said, "but it's my fault that Rukia got upset and all this happened in the first place, so I need to be the one to make this right."
"But...Your Highness," an elderly woman wondered, "if you go after the Queen, then who will sit on the throne in your absence?"
Orihime suddenly realized that in her haste to go after her sister, she would be leaving all her subject without a leader.
She didn't have to worry long, as the answer came to her as Aizen brought over the house she'd asked for.
"I won't try to stop you," he said as he helped her into the saddle, "but can I convince you to take some of the guards with you at least? I doubt the woods are that safe after dark."
"Do you really think she wants to see a bunch of soldiers riding up to her after everyone kept calling her a Witch?" Feeling her point was made she turned to the crowd. "Everyone, Aizen of the Southern Isles will act as Regent in my stead, until such time as I return," she announced, trying to sound official. With that Orihime snapped the reins and rode off to find her sister!
"Your Highness!" the guard called after her, pointing in the opposite direction, "the Queen went that way!"
"I knew that!" she said, pulling to a stop and turning around.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
It didn't take her long to realized that riding off into a forest she wasn't familiar with, on her own, in the dead of night, with next to no provisions, wasn't a very smart idea. In fact, it was probably the most foolish thing she'd ever in her short life.
It didn't help that everything was eerily silent, the unnaturally fallen snow muffling her horse's footsteps.
And that she hadn't been keeping track of where she was going.
The horse whinnied.
"It's OK boy," she told it (as much for her benefit), patting its neck, "it's just us out here." While the deafening silence around her seemed to support her claim, she knew that underneath it were the predators that came out at night to hunt.
Snow suddenly fell from a branch that had become too heavy, ringing out through the woods like a knell from a clocktower. The horse reared back, throwing Orihime to the ground, before bolting off into the dark.
"Wait, come back!" she called after the steed, as it soon disappeared from sight.
Now she was lost in the woods, in the dead of night, without a way to cover ground quickly.
She was about to despair when she saw a light in distance. She ran towards it, only to trip and fall down an embankment before coming to rest in a stream that hadn't yet frozen over.
"C-c-c-cold-d-d!" she shivered, standing back up and making her way to the light.
The light source turned out to be a trading post. She tried to climb up the steps, only to find that her dress had frozen solid, turning her skirt into a bell made of frozen water. After a little bit of effort she made it up the steps and in the door, relishing the feeling of heat of her cold skin.
"Welcome to Urahara's Trading Post & Mercantile!" a man sitting behind a counter greeted cheerfully, "May I interest you in any of our seasonal wares? We're currently have a Summer Blowout Sale!"
"Actually," she said as she waddled up to the counter, "you would-d-dn't happen to have any winter clothes, would you?"
"Right over there," the man (presumably Urahara himself) said, pointing to a small corner of the shop reserved for winter related garments and equipment. Fortunately, there was a winter coat and shawl that looked like it would fit her without too much trouble.
"So…," she said, casually leaning against the polished wooden surface, "you haven't by any chance seen, I don't know...the Queen, come by this way?"
"Young lady, the only people who ever come around this neck of the woods are me and my family," he jerked his thumb behind him to a small window. Orihime peeked inside and saw it was a sauna; a woman with exotic dark skin and beautiful ebony hair, a behemoth of a man with a thick mustache, a boy with almost iridescent red hair, and a girl with droopy eyes and bangs that were falling in front of her eyes all sat together, each wrapped in a towel. They all waved to her.
She turned back to Urahara (partially to give the motley crew some privacy) and scrutinized his appearance; he was a bit on the scrawny side, with gaunt looking features and nappy, sand colored hair.
"We may not be related by blood," he said, "but that doesn't mean we don't love and care for each other. Regardless, you're probably the only person I know who would be crazy enough to be out in this surprise winter."
Which is when the door slammed open, revealing a figured standing there, coated from head to toe in powdery snow.
"Well, you and this fellow here," he amended. A split second later he was playing the salesman again, "Welcome to Urahara's Trading Post & Mercantile! We're having a Summer Blowout-"
"Move," the figure said to Orihime, completely ignoring the storekeeper.
"Umm…" Orihime probably would have been more outraged at how rude this person was being...if he weren't so intimidating. As it was she stood transfixed, praying the storekeeper would intervene if this man had less than savory motives.
"You're standing in front of the carrots," the man said, unwrapping his scarf from around his face. He then shoved her to the side and picked up a bundle of carrots and dropping them unceremoniously on the counter.
"Pleasure to see you again, Ichigo!" Urahara said, as "Ichigo" then removed his hat, revealing his wild orange hair, "You here alone or is your brother with you?"
"He's outside," Ichigo said, tossing his hat next to the carrots and walking over to the "winter" section of the store. He grabbed a length of rope and a couple pickaxes from the wall and added them to his pile. He took stock of the rest of the wares and added a couple small bags of herbs to the rest.
"Is that all?" Urahara asked.
"Just tell me how much this will cost," the orange haired young man griped.
"About 65 Jewels in all," the storekeeper calculated. "That's including tax."
"What?! There's no way I can afford that!" He dug around in his pockets and dropped some coins on the counter. "I've got 10 Jewels, that's more than fair."
"Sorry, but 65 is as low as I can go," Urahara explained, "Winter was supposed to be a few more months away, so I've got to raise prices on my non-seasonal items."
"You think you have it ba- Have you even looked outside?" Ichigo gestured hotly at the door. "I sell ice for a living. How am I gonna do that now?"
"Maybe you could say it's special ice," Orihime suggested, "You could carve some designs in them- Ooh! Maybe you could make little statues! I mean, I know I'd like it if I wanted a cold drink, and inside was a little-"
She noticed Ichigo glaring pointedly at her.
"So, uh...I'll shut up now…."
"Seriously," he turned back to Urahara, "ever since that storm sprung up in the northern mountains-"
"Wait, did you see the queen?" Orihime asked, feeling she'd found a lead to her sister, "Can you take me there?"
"Don't you have something better to do?" he asked insensitively, "Last time I checked, chasing after runaway queens wasn't something delicate little girls did in their spare time."
"Please take me up the mountain?" she pleaded, "I'll make it worth your while!"
"Look, if you want to ask someone for help, try the soldiers or find yourself a Knight and let me deal with this crook here."
"I wholly resent that implication, my dear boy," Urahara said, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to throw you out of my store."
"You and what army?" Ichigo argued, "You don't look like you've done a day of real work in your life!"
"Oh, I never said I would be the one to do the throwing." The nappy man cupped his hands over his mouth and turned towards the sauna, "Oh Tessai!"
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Uryu was sitting with the sled outside the trading post, waiting for his rash brother to come back with the supplies. This freak winter had left them unprepared and understocked on a few things, hence why they were all the way out here in the first place when they could have been snug at home with a mug of his favorite drink for cold night: melted chocolate with milk, plus a drop or two of rum for warmth.
But no, his brother had pressured him (like he always did) to come with him to the trading post so they could stock up on things they would need now that winter was upon them in the end of summer.
"Ichigo's taking a while," he said to no one in particular. Well, there was their reindeer, but those creatures had yet to learn the ability to speak, and he needed to something to stave off his boredom, even if that meant listening to his own voice. "...Which probably means he's arguing with Urahara about something stupid." He held up his hand and began counting down on his fingers, "Five, four, three, two…."
A second later Ichigo was thrown through the door of the trading post by Urahara's brother, Tessai (who was wrapped in nothing but a towel at the moment), landing in a rather undignified position. Well, more undignified than Ichigo usually was…
"I always forget about him," Ichigo stated, his voice muffled slightly by the snow.
"I take it by the fact that your rear end is sticking in the air that you didn't get the equipment we need?" Uryu said, more as a statement than a question.
"Gee," he lifted his head from the snow, "what was your first clue?" As he made it back to his feet he leaned backwards, stretching a kink out of his back, "Next time, you complain about the prices and get thrown out by a mountain giant!"
"Putting aside your 'winning personality'," Uryu said, "what are we going to do now? We don't have any of the equipment we need, and it's the middle of the night."
"Well," Ichigo said, "since it's too dangerous to go back, we can just stay in Urahara's barn." He gestured to a structure built out of a large rock, "He barely uses the thing anyway, and there's more than enough room for both us and Sven here." He pattered Sven's face affectionately, "Unless you have a better idea?"
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
"I don't understand it, Ichigo!" Uryu exclaimed suddenly, "How do I let you talk me into everything!?"
"Maybe because I don't worry about all the little details," he said, getting Sven the reindeer settled into an empty stall, "unlike you, Mr. 'Glasses'."
"Being concerned about potentially making enemies when dealing with strangers is not worrying, it's being practical," Uryu corrected. "And someone needs to think like that, what with your uncanny knack for causing trouble."
"Oh please, when have I ever caused trouble?"
"Would you like the list in order of the date or by the amount of destruction you caused?" the bespectacled young man deadpanned.
"You know what your problem is, Brother?" Ichigo ignored Uryu's valid points, choosing instead to lay back in the hay. "You don't have the right attitude about life."
"Tell me some other time," Uryu said, getting comfortable on his own hay, "I'm going get some sleep now so I won't fall asleep on the ride back tomorrow."
Ichigo was about to retort when there was a knock on the barn door.
"I'll see who it is," Uryu said quickly, getting up from his makeshift bed, "if it's Urahara, I'd rather be allowed to return here in the future." He opened the door, but it wasn't Urahara, or any of his oddball family that greeted him.
"Um, hello!" A girl, slightly younger than him, stood in the threshold, holding a heavy looking sack in her arms. "I saw the light on and I was wondering if Ichigo was in here. ...Is he in here?"
"Yes, he is. Excuse me while I go get him." He closed the door and went to stand over his brother, "Care to tell me why the Princess of the Kingdom of Snow is looking for you?"
"Pull the other one!" Ichigo scoffed.
"Oh, so you know of some other young girl around our age with long brown hair that has a streak of very light grey in it?"
"Yeah, that's the girl who was in Urahara's-" Then all the facts began to drop into place, "Wait, SO THAT GIRL WAS THE PRINCESS!?"
"Yes," Uryu confirmed, "she is. And she apparently wants to speak with you."
Ichigo got and and hurried over to the barn door, throwing it open abruptly and demanding "What do you want?"
"Eep!" Orihime squeaked, before regaining her composure and trying to look regal. "Ahem, I want to hire you to take me up the mountain after Queen Rukia-"
"Not gonna happen," he interrupted, "My brother and I have enough problems of our own without chasing after some runaway queen, and even if I wanted to help you I can't because I don't have that gear I was trying to buy."
"But it could help stop this winter," Orihime pleaded, dropping the pretense, "you could sell your ice again! Besides..." She presented the bag she was holding to him, "I got you the stuff you wanted, even the herbs!"
Ichigo snatched the bag from her, rifling through its contents. Sure enough everything was there, including the pouches of herbs he'd grabbed. He looked back up at the Princess, and noticed she was in different clothes than before, namely winter attire.
"How did you even pay for all this?" he asked.
"Th-that not important," she stuttered. "So will you help me?"
Ichigo paused, thinking the situation over.
"...You forgot the carrots," he said bluntly, slamming the door in her face and flopping back down in his hay.
"That was rather rude of you," Uryu pointing out. "Were you even thinking of consulting me on the matter?"
"Nope." He stuck a piece of hay in his mouth and closed his eyes. "Wake me at dawn."
"OK then," Uryu said to himself as he settled down beside their reindeer, "I'll just let you discuss this one with yourself."
He waited for a moment.
"You know, she'll never make it on her own," Ichigo said, his voice sounding rougher and more gravely than usual.
"So? It's not my fault she decided to do something so stupid," he replied in his normal voice.
"Like that matters! It's the right thing to do!"
"And who knows? Maybe she'll get lucky and come back OK."
"Or you could go with her and she'll get back for sure."
"...I really hate you sometimes."
"But I'm still right."
"I know, that's why I hate you."
"Quite ironic, considering it's yourself you're talking to," Uryu interjected.
"You stay out of this!" Ichigo shouted. He turned to look at his brother, only to find him staring knowingly.
This was the final nail in the coffin for the wild haired young man.
"Fine!" he sighed, exasperating, "We'll help the Princess, OK?"
"I knew you'd see reason."
Then there was another knock on the door.
"Ichigo! ...um, Ichigo's brother? I have the carrots!"
"Are you going to let her in or should I?" Uryu asked.
"Don't worry, I'll do it," Ichigo assured his brother. He stomped over to the door and opened it up again, Orihime was smiling and holding out a smaller bag with carrot leaves sticking out of the top.
"I went back and got the carrots," she explained, "sorry about forgetting them before."
"Don't worry about it," Ichigo grumbled, taking the offered vegetables. "If you still want to go into the mountains we leave at dawn."
"Actually, we should probably leave now," Orihime suggested. "The sooner I find my sister the sooner we can stop the winter."
"Not happening," Ichigo said, "we're gonna get some proper rest before we go-"
"I agree with the Princess," interjected Uryu, "The sooner we stop the winter the less money we'll end up losing."
Ichigo looked his brother and the Princess; Uryu's face looked impassive, and Orihime's looked like she was about to burst into tears.
He got the distinct feeling that this was a battle he wasn't likely to win.
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To be continued...