Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, so quit gluing your eyes to this part of the screen.
A/N: Here, most of my questions will be answered. But to recap from the last chapter.
Go away little kids. You may be too young to understand what's going on. It's going to get a little wild from here. So if you start getting nightmares or most likely, start fantasizing about my character, close your eyes and don't read on. (Though this phrase may refer to the next chapter and not this one).
BUUUT, before you read the next twenty paragraphs or so, know that this is only a for 'your information section' and the later part is the more exciting one. Of course, if you want the questions answered, better read this.
Warning: This is a very long chapter. I may have to split it into two chapters.
The tunnel was dark and scary. This color, I think it's purple, thought Mira. Mira ran towards the light and when she leapt out, she found herself flying over a strange white town with astonishing speed in the middle of the day. The air was chilly.
The black veil flew off her head. Mira looked at the ground with amazement and silently wondered if she was going to finally die after seeing so many things.
As far as she could tell, she was going to crash land on the snow in front of a dark house. There seemed to be two figures sweeping the floor in the front. One had pink colored hair, another had dark purple. The two noticed her and the pink haired one began to run around in circles while the other went inside the shop. The purple person came out with a taller person wearing a striped hat and black clothes. The hat person panicked and ran towards her and caught her safely before she could make an impact with the ground. It was all very confusing to Mira, who's head was starting to spin from the information, color, speed and height.
"My, my. I didn't know that you were going to arrive so early," the hat person babbled to Mira. She looked at the unshaven hair growing on his chin. "I actually thought... Well, never mind about that. Since you're here now, we have to clean the room you have to stay in. Oh, the room's next door to this shop in that building, located on the second floor. Normally, we stash Tessai's medicines inside but when we were notified of your arrival we- sorry, I'm rambling. My name's Uruhara and this is the Uruhara Shop. Ururu! You can now go send a message to Ichigo and Rukia to come over once they finish school because she's here! Jinta, go and clean up the room!"
"Why me?" grumbled the pink haired boy.
"Do you want to get the preparations ready then, Jinta?"
"No-"
"Yes," the purple haired girl answered. She took Mira's hand when Urahara put her down. "Let's go," she told Mira.
Still in a daze, Mira obediently followed the girl leading her throughout the town. The coldness of the snow bit through her thin tabi. She had lost her sandals, probably in mid-air.
Mira looked at all of the buildings. It would probably be here first and last time seeing everything in color. Something was nagging the back of her mind, though she couldn't tell what it was...
Mira tripped a little while walking. Ururu stopped. "Are you allright?" she asked.
Mira touched her stomach. It felt strangely emptier than usual. "Yes." Then it hit her. "Oh no! I forgot to tell Toshiro-sama that I was coming here!"
Ururu looked at Mira. "Toshiro-sama? That shinigami who has a fiance?"
"Fiance? What is that? I just met him recently. He isn't good at being nice to strangers."
-- Somewhere in Soul Society, Hinamori gazed at her unconscious friend worryingly and jumped when he suddenly opened his eyes, sneezed, shouted, "MIRA!! I'D RATHER MARRY MOMO THAN YOU!!" And went back into a deep, peaceful sleep, oblivious to Hinamori who had just passed out red in the face...--
They reached the school in two minutes flat. Mira saw many students walk past her. No one stuck out much. Waiting a little longer, Ururu took her by the school gates so they could spot the couple they were looking for. Then she felt a powerful spirit force coming from a bickering duo as they walked out of the school doors.
"Rukia, you are going to clean up my desk tonight!" shouted a boy. His hair looked like the color of the autumn leaves. He was yelling at a shorter girl.
"No," the girl named Rukia said flatly, closing her eyes. "It looks much better now that it has Chappi all over it."
They both stopped in front of Ururu. "Hi, Ururu," the boy said. He towered over Mira and Ururu. " What does sandal-hat want?" he glanced at Mira and suddenly panicked and backed off, dragging Ururu and Rukia away with him.
This is Ichigo? He frowns just like Toshiro-sama, thought Mira smiling.
"What is she doing here?" sputtered Ichigo. "What happened to her?"
"Do you know me?" asked Mira pointing at herself.
Ichigo looked around. Almost everyone had gone home. Nobody was around to see him yelling at thin air. "How did you become an arrancar?" Rukia asked. She had very large eyes.
"What is that?"
"Oh, sorry, my mistake," Ichigo muttered. He dropped Rukia and put down Ururu.
Rukia studied the newcomer carefully. She looked like a luitenent class shinigami she saw in the Court of Pure Souls, except her clothes were just like arrancar clothing. White on the outside, black on the inside. Also, she sensed a powerful aura emenating from the girl. Could she be-
Ururu interrupted her thoughts. "Urahara wants to see you two at the shop. Now."
Ichigo frowned deeper. He would definitely have to yell at Rukia later. He sighed. "Let's go and see the old man before he decorates my room again."
--
Moments later, inside the Urahara shop:
"Yo! Ichigo, Rukia! How are yo-"
"Skip the greetings. What's she doing here?" Ichigo asked Urahara, pointing at Mira. "Am I supposed to give her Soul Burial or somethin'? She doesn't even have a soul chain."
Uruhara smiled and fanned himself. "This poor, chainless spirit has just been liberated of her prison in Soul Society. It's actually illegal for spirits to return to the living world in this form unless they are shinigami but Soul Society has made an exception in this girl's case. What is your name?"
Mira's stomach was feeling more painful now. "Mira," she whispered. She clutched her stomach.
"Oh dear, are you hungry Mira?" asked Tessai. "In that case I have prepared snacks and tea for this gathering. Have a cookie. Ururu and Jinta kindly baked them for dessert but you can have one now." He handed Mira a cookie which she gratefully munched on.
The moment Tessai mentioned hunger, Rukia and Ichigo partly understood the reason Soul Society allowed Mira to come to the world of the living.
"This girl... What does Soul Society want to do with her?" Rukia asked Urahara.
"Actually, from what I know, she was being ill-treated by her caretaker. From the limited information that I got about her, Mira has a sweet personality."
"So," continued Urahara. "Though the Court of Pure Souls normally doesn't care about mistreated souls, Mira was given a chance to live here, where she is safe."
"Safe from the caretaker?" asked Rukia.
"Yes and no. Safe from her caretaker, people within the Court of Pure Souls and from visitors in Hueco Mundo. There are people who would like to... let's just say that it doesn't seem that anyone she knows harbors any kind intentions towards her."
"Visitors from Hueco Mundo? Who?" asked Ichigo suspiciously. Mira had to be an interesting person if she had this much attention.
Urahara smiled widely. "Now that's the big question isn't i-"
An irritated Ichigo punched him on the nose and Urahara yelped in pain.
Mira rubbed her eyes. She wasn't sure what was worse- her first impression of the human world or sitting in her room in Soul Society all day. Neither was very interesting. Everyone was speaking so fast she couldn't even understand one bit of what they were saying.
Ururu tugged on her sleeve and whispered in her ear. "Jinta finished cleaning your room. You can go there now." Then she retreated into a corner of the shop to join Jinta.
Mira nodded her head and quietly walked out of the shop into the building next door. Her room was on the 4th floor and on the very end of the hallway, number D13. It was completely empty and everything except for the kitchen had a carpet. The apartment had two other rooms. White walls, teal colored carpet- somehow, it reminded her of Toshira-sama.
She put her bag into a corner and lay down on the floor and was just beggining to fall asleep when she saw a lion stuffed animal spying on her.
It was moving towards her.
Mira screamed.
Everyone in the Urahara Shop heard her. Everyone in Karakura Town heard her. And the stuffed animal was getting the worst of it.
Urahara beat everyone to Mira's room and charged inside. Here is a simple list of what he saw:
1. Mira screaming, closing her eyes, backed up to a wall.
2. Kon's plushie body, pinned to the opposite wall with a comb in his mouth, toothbrush in his arm and several sharp brushes sticking in his stomach, ear, eye, paws and legs.
Urahara laughed and scooped Mira up in his arms. "So, little Miracle," he began. "I don't think I have to worry much about protecting you after all."
Her forehead made contact with his nose and her fist with his jaw. He stopped laughing and muttered darkly to himself while in pain. But he still did not let go of Mira.
If anyone does this to you, you can beat them up.
Which is precisely what she did.
When Ichigo, Rukia and co. finally made it to the room, they saw a disheveled Urahara lying at an equally silent Mira's feet.
Ichigo, however, saw Kon.
"KON! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" yelled Ichigo.
Kon couldn't speak. There was a comb in his mouth.
Ichigo tore out the comb and ripped Kon's body off the wall. He shook him.
Kon whined. "But, but, but all I wanted was a little hug from that ne-san over there! From experience, I can tell-!"
He got crushed against a wall for all of his trouble. In the meantime, Rukia and Tessai were watching the entire scene; Ururu was trying to wake up Urahara and Jinta kept asking Mira, who was on the verge of collapsing, what was going on. It was all very chaotic and noisy until everyone in that room sensed the presence of a hollow.
Which was when Mira fainted.
--
Mira woke up sometime in the evening. The air was warm, comfortable. There was also something soft next to her. Something, moving, breathing...
She sat up immediately. She was blind. Completely blind.
Mira felt a thick blanket slipping off of her. Her clothes felt strange. She felt them out. There was a strange piece of cloth that covered only her chest on the inside of what seemed to be a tight hakama. There was also something wrong with her pants- she could feel her legs touching each other. But they seemed to be halfway covered with something tight from her feet untill her knees.
"Oh my!" she heard a voice exclaim from her left side. "You're awa-"
Mira punched the ever-annoying Urahara far away from her. There was a mumbling of voices from the right side of her as Ururu and Jinta woke up.
Jinta yawned. Judging from the sound, he was stretching himself and giving himself a pleasant workout by pulling on Ururu's bangs. Ururu was whining loudly and Tessai's loud jolly voice boomed from another room, "TIME TO EAT!!"
Mira stood up. "Ururu? What am I wearing?" she called out quietly while feeling her clothes. "Who changed me?"
"That, little Miracle, is a mystery for you to find out and for me to bury deep in the basement," Urahara mentioned cheerfully.
"I did it," Ururu said, ignoring Urahara's look of disappointment.
"You're wearing a red dress. May I add that you look very fetching in it?" Tessai added.
"I agree," chimed in Urahara.
For the first time in her life, Mira felt warmed by someone other than Ulquiorra. "Th-tha-thank you," she mumbled gratefully. She rarely used the word without feeling thankful. Ulquiorra had taught it to her.
"AH-CHOO!!" sneezed Jinta. "It's real easy to catch a cold these days. Are we gonna go to the hot springs?"
Before anyone could say anything, Mira beat them to it.
"What are hot springs?"
--
In Soul Society:
Hitsugaya woke up. He looked around himself carefully. Where am I?
Momo was sleeping on a bed next to him. In the following second, he leapt out of his bed to see her but tripped on his blanket.
Momo woke up when she heard the crash and sleepily stretched herself before realizing what had happened. "Shiro-kun! Are you okay?" She got out of her bed quickly and helped him to his feet. Shiro-kun's eyes are spinning.
Hitsugaya stopped spinning. In a flash he grasped Hinamori's hands with his own tightly. "Momo-chan! You okay?"
"Well..."
Hitsugaya waited eagerly for her reply. He didn't even care if he was making himself feel nervous. Wait, why do I feel nervous? he thought with a blush. He stared at her hands. They looked beautiful- never before had he seen hands so beautiful.
Hinamori tore her hands away from Hitsugaya's grip. Her heart was pounding within her chest. "Not really," she whispered fiercely. She stomped out of the room leaving a confused shinigami behind.
Hitusgaya just stared at the floor and pulled at his white hair. What's wrong with me? Something's wrong. What did I do to Momo? What should I do?
He didn't realize that he had spoken all of the words aloud until he heard a voice behind him saying, "Well I am going to the hot springs this evening with Hinamori. Wanna come?"
He jumped, yelped (he pulled out some of his hair) and turned around. "Matsumoto! When did you get here?"
The strawberry-blond rolled her eyes and didn't move from where she was. "I've been here for quite a while," she told Hitsugaya from the bed. "And I think that you seriously need a break."
"What's going on?" asked the clueless Hitsugaya.
Matsumoto rolled over. "I thought that you were supposed to be a genius. You'll probably figure out things when the situation's out of hand. Think carefully," she advised.
Hitsugaya began to think. Momo-chan got angry when I got a fiance. She was upset today when I met the fiance- her look-alike. So Momo-chan upset the fiance + me... I almost got it...
"So what's your fiance's name?" Rangiku asked curiously. "What does she look like? Is she nice? How old is she?"
He sighed frustratedly. He almost had it and then... this.
"Her name's Mira. She looks exactly like Momo- except for her eyes and veil. She's blind and I actually think that she is very strange. I think that she's my age- or a little younger. I can't remember. That's all," Hitsugaya said plainly.
"Do you... like her?"
Rangiku asked this with such innocent curiousity that he was taken aback for a moment.
"No," he answered coolly. "On the other hand, I don't like her at all. I hate almost everything about her. She's annoying, egoistic, a machosist and immature."
Now it was Rangiku's turn to be taken aback by the cold-hearted manner in which he spoke about Mira. She hadn't heard him speak a mean word for several years.
They were quiet for a while. Then Rangiku began to mutter.
"Is Mira is a mirror image of Hinamori? Could she be..."
Rangiku was silent for a moment.
Then the 10th squad captain interrupted her train of thought. "What is it?" he asked her anxiously.
"Aargh, Hitsugaya-sama! You scared me! I almost fell off the bed! The shock was so bad that I forgot. Never mind. Are you coming or not to the hot springs? I won free tickets in a raffle in the human world by accident." Say yes, she willed. She stared hard into his teal eyes.
"Ok," Hitsugaya said. Accident? Matsumoto was making him feel uncomfortable again.
--
At the hot springs in the human world: EVERYONE is here.
In one room there was Tessai, Jinta, Mira, Ururu and Urahara all eating (in Mira's case, being fed by Urahara) a warm meal.
In the hot springs were Toshiro, Momo and Rangiku (yes, it's mixed).
Toshiro did his best to avoid seeing his friends in their swimsuits. Somehow, he kept on getting nosebleeds. Unfortunately, they seemed to be everywhere.
"Shiro-kun, stop avoiding me. Are you really all right?"
He stared at her. The mist gave her a certain softness to her features that made her look prettier than usual. And of all swimsuits, he wondered, did she have to wear this one?
It was a daring two-piece black swimsuit that Hitsugaya was sure she would never even try to wear because it was so revealing. Momo wasn't like that. Not like Rangiku, who was wearing something similiar.
But now, he grit his teeth in embarrasment as she leaned over him to check his forehead. Her hair curled a little at the ends where it touched her skin. But now, it seemed that quite a few things he had known about Momo before would have to be updated. Her hand touched his forehead fleetingly and his cheeks burned. Then...
"YAHOO!!"
Hitsugaya turned to see a small boy with pink hair splashing around in a second pool nearby. He was joined by a small girl with strange bangs, a giant man and a blond-haired guy who was leading a girl by the hand into the water. A girl with long dark hair and startling eyes...
He dunked his head underwater, his heart pounding with fear and all traces of warmth was instantly replaced by ice. Mira, what is she doing here?! Who are those other people?!
Rangiku watched lazily as bubbles rose to the surface from her Captain's nose. The water seemed to be getting cooler. She looked away to see the pink haired boy happily splash water onto two other girls and then get nearly drowned as the younger girl hit him on the head while trying to splash him. The other girl was, however, unfazed as she stared blankly ahead at the two, one of which was running away.
Rangiku felt something strange from all of them. They weren't normal humans. And the girl had the most colorful eyes she had ever seen. She looked like... Rangiku gasped quietly. It was a double of Hinamori. But not exact. This girl's eyes were far sadder, emptier and more peaceful than anyone in the world could ever hope to be. And her face was thinner, skin pale as snow in the setting sun and body shape so fragile and perfect that Momo looked even more 'normal' than ever.
Rangiku frowned. She had almost made a poem out of the girl's looks.
Not to mention that the other girl was most likely Hitsugaya's fiance.
As Hitsugaya surfaced to take in air Rangiku poked him.
"Hey," she whispered and pointed into the girl's direction. "Is that Mira? Your fiance."
Hitsugaya blanching in front of her was more than enough for an answer.
"What are you going to do?" Her blue eyes seemed to bore into his head.
And for once, the genius captain was scared speechless.
Because Momo just spotted Mira.
A/N: This chapter was very long and I was suppossed to update a day after my other chapter and I somehow became so busy that I couldn't even update. Until two months later.
I'm giving up writing in this chapter. It's way too long. So I will continue in another chapter. I'm suppossed to be in bed too, so, I have a small request to make.
If I get at least 4+ reviews then I will update immediately. It's very saddening and VERY discouraging to write without knowing if anybody is reading it. If I don't get any reviews in the next ten days (by June 14, 2008) I will terminate this story.
And I have made it possible for anyone to review this story. So please, 4+ reviews. That's all. Thank you.