Disclaimer: I do not own any non-original characters. I do own original characters.
Sorry for anyone who was waiting. This is a little delayed, but I'm quite pleased with it. I know I'm not very reliable with updates and that they tend to be sporadic. However, this story is far from over, as is my writing in general. I'll finish this if it takes me 25 more years, so keep checking in and I'll try to keep you posted.
By that way, italics are things that go on in people's heads, including dreams and thinking.
Chapter 8: Reflections I
"Why?………"He was not tired. Instead, all of his extraordinary energy was used towards being confused. And concerned. Concerned with his own actions.
"Why am I so charitable to her? I am usually very reserved and distant when associating with humans. The number of humans that I respect and trust is very small, and I don't trust new people easily. Why then is it that I've confided in this girl so much? I have watched her for almost the entire day on every day for the last three months. I granted her wish for her friend to live when I would usually finish him off. I felt obligated to put her mind at ease about the events of this afternoon. Individually, I justified each action before taking it. I followed her for her protection and to make sure no other party was closer to her than I was at that time. I saved her friend because I did not want her to begrudge me, and I explained my motives and feelings to her so that she would be more agreeable with me and my plans. Looking back, however, at my actions as a whole, it seems unsettling. At first glance this behavior would certainly appear to be friendship. Certainly, I wish her to be my ally, but to go as far as being her friend? This has never happened to me prior to my situation with her. I see diplomats, subordinates, ambassadors, and the rulers of other lands on a daily basis, but I'm always formal and practical in my dealings with allies. There's something strange about her…I feel comfortable around her, rather than repulsed, disgusted, distrustful, or hostile, which would be my normal reactions to meeting a strange human. How does she feel, I wonder? From what I can judge, she considers me an ally at best, or perhaps saying an enemy with a tentative peace treaty. Certainly not friendship. I shall continue acting as I have around her until I depart, then consider this matter and my course of action more fully during our separation."
He looked at the stars and moon, which was almost completely obscured by shadow.
"I have called her my princess several times now. At first I thought it was rather clever, considering my recent acquisition of this language. Now… I feel like I may believe that it's true. That she is mine in some way. I suppose I may have become a little possessive during these three months of closeness."
He sighed and let his head fall on his chest.
"This analysis is really tiring me out…perhaps I'd better sleep on this…"
I am in the park near my house, the one Sora used to take me to after school when I was little. It looks like I'm the same age I was then. There is a lot of sand around me, and I realize I'm sitting in a sandbox. I look to my left and my face has an expression of joy! My most favorite Mega-Robo-Dinosaur Samurai-Policeman action figure with Real Eye Laser Action was right there. I used to love playing with that. I reach down to pick it up, when suddenly it's gone! I look up and see a big white dog with sharp teeth. And in those teeth was my toy! "Give it back!" I yell, but the dog looks mean and starts gnawing on it. "Stop that!" I yell again and start running towards the dog, but it's too fast and soon disappears from my sight. I stop chasing it, fall to the ground, and start crying,
It's starting to get dark now, and I was very sad while I spent the rest of my time at what was usually such a fun place. It doesn't look like Sora is coming to pick me up today, so I start walking back, afraid to stay here with the impending darkness. I get to the last crosswalk before I reach my house. The walk signal turns on. I look right, left, ahead, and behind me, just like Sora taught me. There are no cars in sight. In fact, there were no people either. The entire neighborhood was completely silent. I was starting to creep myself out with this kind of thinking, so I starting walking across the street quickly. Out of nowhere, a giant truck starts coming at me, honking its horn. I froze. I scream, waiting for impact and my death…and then I am lying on the sidewalk on the other side of the street. I am a little sore, and when I check I see that my knee is bruised, but other than that I am fine. What happened, how am I safe?
I stood up and started looking around. And then I saw it, and my hands flew to my mouth in horror. That dog from before, the mean one that had stolen my toy, was lying in a pool of its own blood in the middle of the road. I quickly run and pull on it, but it was much heavier than I expected. I notice many small pieces of what appears to be my favorite toy lying on the ground around its body. Still, I struggle and, eventually, I manage to drag it back to the sidewalk next to my house. I was exhausted and gasping for air after such a tough struggle, but I looked down at the dog to see how it was doing. I grew sad after seeing the look in its eyes. It was like they were saying to me, "I'm sorry I took your toy, I felt bad about it and wanted to return it to you, but I saw that car coming towards you and had to do something. More than my own health, I'm worried that you will hate me for wrecking you precious toy in the collision". I started crying and fell to my knees, hugging him, probably harder than I should be doing, around his neck. To my surprise, I feel his long tongue weakly licking my cheek.
Orihime awoke abruptly, panting. She immediately looked out the window and saw the Reiou sleeping peacefully on the tree branch outside her window.
"…What a weird dream. I wonder why my first reaction was thinking that Reiou-sama was in trouble," she said, scratching her head.
"Oh well," she said brightly, already over what to her was just one of the many, many odd and nonsensical dreams she was used to having, "he said I'd be busy tomorrow, even if its Saturday, so I'd better get back to sleep." She lied down peacefully, closed her eyes, and drifted off once more into the magical fantasy world of her dreams.
He was hot…sweltering. He never remembered being in a desert this hot. He didn't think they existed. He didn't think they ought to exist. Yet here he was, inexplicably in the middle and a dune-ridden, endless desert. He didn't know why he was here and he didn't know where he was going, but he knew this place was unnaturally hot.
"Why am I here?"
"What could have compelled me to be out in this unbearable desert?"
"Wait a minute, regardless of the circumstances, I should be used to this. I've lived in deserts since I was 3 years old. I know the heat of noon that makes you delirious, and the frigidness of midnight that makes you yearn for the dawn. Then the dawn arrives and you wish for dusk. So why do I feel so out of place here?"
Looking up in the sky I realize that there is no sun. "What in the Red Land is causing this overwhelming heat then?" The sky is hazier than normal, as if the clouds and air were themselves suffering under the heat.
I look down at my bare feet and realize they are burning. They already are blackening, and my outer layer of skin is peeling off. It is excruciating, yet not the worst pain I've ever felt. Much like the sky, the ground appeared hazy as well, as if the sand had liquefied.
My arm starts hurting and I pull up my robe to look at it. To my surprise, my skin is melting. I throw off my clothing, and to my dismay my entire body is burning the same way. This incessant heat is cooking my bones, burning my skin to ashes and causing me more pain than I would feel if I was skinned alive, or stabbed a thousand times over. I prepare myself for the molten death that awaits me…
Suddenly, the pain is gone. I feel an ethereal pair of arms wrapping around my chest. I turn my head around and see a vision of blue. An apparition appearing to me as a winged woman with no visible features, just a blurry blue entity, was wrapping her arms around me and dispelling the heat. I look at the sky as well, and it too is blue and calm, no longer hazy. I look at the ground and it is solid and cool. It is not uniform like the sand, but rather distinctive, strewn with designs made by plants and water currents.
There is water all around me, pouring down from above, moving past me, hitting the floor and creating currents that push at me from all directions. Truly, I revel in this coolness. It is as if I had been taken from the nightmarishly hot and barren landscape and plunged in the depths of the ocean. I feel calm again, and at peace. I look up at the non-distinct face of the one who had saved me and I feel the coolness of the ocean wash over me anew as I do so. Grateful, and at peace, I turn around, and sincerely return the compassionate embrace the mysterious creature was giving me.
He awoke abruptly, not feeling very relaxed despite having just taken a short nap.
"Well that was certainly interesting."
He felt compelled to check on Orihime, but when he looked through her window, he saw that she was sleeping soundly in her bed.
"That's also quite intriguing…"
It was a beautiful day following that night, with a bright sky that belied the tenseness of the two individuals as they walked together. The Reiou had asked Orihime to accompany him to his chosen place of departure, an empty field next to the river. Young children often came here to play soccer on the area that was set up with goal posts after school and on weekends, but it was early enough that the place remained deserted.
Orihime was somewhat reluctant to go off alone with a strange person, but she was curious and, more than that did not wish to start another fight, especially after last night.
Unbeknownst to either of the two, both were quite pensive and alarmed by their respective dreams the previous night. This led them to their current situation. Both were stealing glances as surreptitiously as possible as they walked. Their posture was quite rigid and they tended not to look at one another, the Reiou's eyes being directed straight ahead and Orihime's at the ground.
They slowed to a stop at a point in the large field. Orihime looked up, and then at her surrounding. As far as she could see, there was nothing here for which visiting was worthwhile.
He decided it was time to break the ice. Turning to look at her, he said, "I think it's time that we spoke. You've been uncharacteristically silent during our journey, and have been acting suspiciously. What's the matter?"
Caught off guard, she was at first internally indignant.
"What does he mean I've been acting suspiciously? If anyone's been acting weird its him! Oh well, I'd better come clean."
"I had a dream last night that was really strange, but what really made me anxious to be around you was that my first reaction was to associate the dream with you in some way."
He barely managed to suppress his emotions from reaching his face. "What a coincidence. Truth be told, I also had a rare dream last night which reminded me of you in some inexplicable way."
They were both looking at each other in a way that should have seemed awkward for both of them. After what seemed like minutes to the two of them, but was actually only a couple of seconds, they seemed to snap out of their dazes and turn away from each other.
"What's this feeling I'm having?" she thought as a slight blush rose to her face.
"How foolish of me. Yet the dream that is supposed to be a mirror is acting more like a piece of glass. What resonance must our souls be having?" he thought, his face more grim than usual.
"Well it's time for my departure." He held out his hand, the air around which started glowing and distorting. A loud pop was heard and then he was holding a long golden object.
"Is that…"
"Yes, a King's Key. With this I can bridge the distance to my palace from any location."
He thrust the key forward into mid-air and twisted it clockwise. From the empty air, a giant gate, easily five times as tall as he was, materialized in front of the two. It too was golden and ornately decorated, as would be fitting of royalty.
He turned around to look at her. "It's time for me to leave. The reason I brought you here was not mainly to say goodbye, but rather so that you could meet someone. I am bringing in another person to replace me, and I'd like you two to meet each other face to face for the first time."
He turned away from her once more. "This is not farewell, so remember that we shall meet again." His hand lifted towards the sky, and he waved to her without turn around. He placed his other hand on the door and pushed, causing the massive gate to swing open.
His blue cloak blowing in the wind was the last she saw of him before he vanished into the portal. She felt many things but was mostly sad. She missed him for some reason.
She did not have time to ponder this, however, as a second later, someone reappeared from the door.
It was a man. Or at least she thought it was, because normally men don't grow that tall. Then again, she met some actual giants in Soul Society, so she knew it was possible. After the shock of seeing someone over seven feet tall passed, she noticed that he was not wearing a shirt. He was heavily muscled, and she could see several weapons of varying types strapped to different parts of his body.
Her appraisal was cut short as he rapidly closed the distance between them. He looked down at her, her timid face looking up at his stern one.
"Greetings, Orihime-sama. I am Karim."