17 Ways of Erase and Rewind
Disclaimer: Bleach does not belong to me AND also, Chariot doesn't belong to me either, he is the creation of Purpleanime, and I borrowed with her permission to make him appear with my own invention. Sakanade and Kubikiri Orochi's names are also NOT mine, but their personalities and descriptions are the product of my imagination.
Special thanks to my Beta Chancewriter who makes my crazy ideas understandable and readable. You're THE best! And to Purpleanime that let me borrow Chariot!
Warning: SPOILER ALERT! This story is up to date with manga 423: Farewall swords. A/N at the bottom (PLEASE READ IT THEY ARE IMPORTANT THIS TIME), italics are for thoughts, and some cursing but nothing major.
Just like a perfect dream I don't ever wanna leave
A thousand freaks in the show
One's a tiger, one's a lynx, one's a king that suffering
Rolling high, moving low
I gotta know the girl behind the mask
Let me in, where you've been? Don't pretend
Don't gotta hide alone
Show your face to me we could be everything
It's a masquerade, a love parade
So won't you stay and dance with me?
.
Chapter 14: Hiyori in Wonderland.
The scene could be described as surreal, strange, but at the same time perfect. Or maybe it was a scene like the one where the Mad Hatter had his crazy tea party.
Yes, it was like that.
There was something about tea that made even the wildest beast become semi-normal ladies and gentlemen. Even Aizen had made the Espadas share a cup of the dark and sweet beverage to discuss important business. Then why not 4 spirits who were meddled in the life of two people who had decided to change everything for themselves? They certainly could share a moment to talk about what was going to happen in a few months, couldn't they?
So here they were, in a big green field filled with flowers and a beautiful upside down sunset. In the middle of a cloudless sky someone had put a brown table with four chairs and organized a tea party made for disaster. To the head of the table was the only man in the place, with long even straight hair that reached his waist, skin as white as snow, and eyes so yellow that it was impossible to hide his sinister look. He called himself Chariot, although in reality he would like to be called Pharaoh, but he hadn't been able to snatch that title from Hirako Shinji for over 100 years. To his left, was an 8 or 9 years old giggling blond girl that, in that moment, was making the teapot move backwards with pink smoke coming from one of her slender fingers, the materialized soul of the zanpakutou that lived in the backwards world, Sakanade. To the right of the man sat a beautiful woman with a black pony tail and black dress that had four hearts at the hem, a woman with a serious expression, Kubikiri Orochi. And directly in front of the man, was the exact copy of Sarugaki Hiyori, but with a white shihakusho, pale skin and hair, and a larger scowling expression that reflected her murderous intent, Miyori also known as Dragon.
"I don't understand why WE are the ones that had to come here." The Hollow girl complained with visible disgust.
Kubikiri Orochi was about to talk, but Chariot interrupted his attempts. "Because you're weaker." He enjoyed teasing his similar hollow. "Where have you heard that the powerful are the ones who had to do the stuff, stupid?"
"You son of-"
"STOP it! Both of you!" Kubikiri Orochi had emitted one shout, but filled with authority. "Remember why we are here, not for petty arguments. For Christ's sake," The raven haired woman zanpakutou felt her controlled expression fail. "Stop playing with that Sakanade! You are going to spill the tea."
The girl stopped, but pouted strongly. "Ahhhhh…I'm just having some fun. Of course a stick in the ass sword like you never would know what that means. Bakaaaaaaa!" And she stuck out the tip of her tongue.
"Spoiled brat." Miyori spat.
"We are not here to fight each other." The woman zanpakutou voiced over the growing arguments. "There is a reason, a real reason why we decided to meet under these strange circumstances."
"Ha!" Chariot narrowed his eyes. "There is nothing to talk; we are only wasting our precious time with words. They already took the decision, end of discussion, we are screwed."
"You may be, but I AM NOT!" The young looking Hollow intervened, losing her small patience. "Let's just kick some sense into them until they learn not to mess with us. And If I can add -everything is YOUR fault." She screamed and raised a threatening finger in Chariot's direction. "You were unable to control your precious Pharaoh. You have grown soft. How pathetic." And she smiled mischievously.
"What did you say Miss-I-would-rather-die-than-help-heal-my-Princess? I don't fancy death as much as you do." and he winked at the girl in front of him.
Miyori smashed her palm hard on the table cracking it a little and making Sakanade giggle because the teapot was completely backwards and all the tea was spilling free on the flat surface. Kubikiri Orochi hit her forehead with her own hand. This has been a terrible idea. Of course it didn't come from her it had been Chariot's, and passed to her knowledge through Sakanade. However, she was starting to think that it was more likely Chariot's way of entertainment than a real intent of discussion on an important matter. After all, things had been quiet after the Winter War and in her experience with Miyori, Hollows tent to get bored really easily.
"WHY DON'T YOU COME AND TELL THAT TO MY FACE, YOU SLAVE OF THE SHINIGAMIS?" Talking about the devil Kubikiri Orochi voiced in her head, while the self called Dragon was screaming her head off.
"Gladly." An evil smirk decorated Sakanade's features that in reality belonged to Hirako Shinji.
In just a second and even before any of the Hollows could move a muscle to make this argument scale back, both felt hard metal poking into their necks.
"Sit down." Sakanade said inclining her head and giving a cute smile.
"Don't make us repeat ourselves." Kubikiri Orochi voiced moving her unreleased sword from Chariot's neck.
"Chss." The male Hollow growled in anger. "We have become so pitiful that even the fucking zanpakutous are able to put us in line. I'm ready to kill myself."
"Go ahead what are you waiting for." Miyori dared him.
"No one is talking about why we are here, so I suppose I'll be the first." The little girl said making the sword disappear and playing with all the teaspoons making them twirl in the air around her.
"Drop the fucking illusions! Would you?" Chariot demanded her.
"Geez grumpy as usual, I'm really thinking of talking to Shinji-chan about giving you some freedom because I'm getting tired of your bad mood stinking my inner world." And the girl stuck her pierced tongue at him.
"You little piece-"But his threats were stopped by a hollow girl rolling on the floor with laughter.
"What are you laughing at?" Kubikiri Orochi dared Miyori. "A couple of months ago a recovering Hiyori kicked your ass in 10 minutes, 100 years ago you and her were evenly match, now she is completely superior to you."
The fighting was about to re-start again so the zanpakutou with backwards powers shouted:
"WELL IF YOU ASK MY OPINNION I THINK IT'S AWESOME!"
The other three members of the table turned to face her. A wide smile that showed her white teeth was drawn on Sakanade's lips.
"Shinji-chan and Hiyori-chan getting married is completely overdue and filled with awesomeness."
Miyori's mouth showed her fang in an angry twitch.
"It's that even a word shrimp?"
The child sword scratched her cheek. "Dunno, dun care."
Chariot was the next to talk, ignoring the others. "For me, them getting married is a great opportunity to see my queen more often, so I won't complain." And his expression changed to blood lust.
"Your queen…" Kubikiri Orochi's protection over her Shinigami was visible in her words. "The funny thing is that you still think Hirako-san would let you near Hiyori. Married or not he would protect her and," The zanpakutou lowered her voice, but her seriousness increased. "I'll be also glad if Hiyori takes me and shatters you into oblivion, hollow."
Shinji's evil counterpart laughed. "I can see that your personality is not as different as I thought. You're behaving just like my queen."
The sword and the Hollow were there staring at each other in silence, exchanging looks that could be taken as easily as muted death threats, until a loud wheezing sound made them turn to the only participant of the tea party that hadn't shared her opinion.
Sakanade giving the freckled Hollow an inquisitive look – in an impression of Shinji- asked,
"What do you think Miyori-chan?"
The spirit twitched her mouth for the 1000th time in the hour she had been in there. "I'm not your friend imbecile girl! Do not refer to me as if I were." But looking at the upside down sunset she answered the zanpakutou's question. "It's not my business what the ugly Princess does with her life. I would have chosen someone more handsome and not as idiotic."
Kubikiri Orochi opened slightly her mouth in surprise for the first time in the whole time she had been sharing the forest with the Hollow, she had said something calm. But she didn't have much time to be shocked because something happened so fast she couldn't intervene.
Chariot's normal evil smirk appeared in the moment he noticed a fifth presence in the inner world "Enjoying the show Queen Hiyori?" and the pig tailed girl could see a Cero was coming her direction. Shinji's zanpakutou or hers were unable to move an inch; the long haired Hollow had caught her presence before any of them could and had struck.
She opened her eyes to complete darkness and a cold weather, but still she was sweating. Her breathing had increased in speed to reflect her rising heartbeat and her mouth was completely dry.
A dream, that stupid conversation between Hollows and Zanpakutous had been a product of her subconscious mind. Still she had felt like she had been present in that tea party the entire time, watching like it was one of those human movies. Hiyori wasn't sure if that was a nightmare or just a weird dream; everything had been alright except for the last part when Chariot had caught her eavesdropping. And the thing that really worried her was the topic of the dream: the wedding.
It wasn't like by this time any of the four wouldn't know about it. These spirits lived within both of them –her and Shinji - and the proposal was hours ago, so she was sure they knew, but having a tea party to talk about it, was definitely a crazy half-ass idea she couldn't perceive as a reality.
Positioning herself with her back on the mattress and her face looking at the ceiling, Hiyori raised her left arm admiring her hand, her finger, her engagement ring. The stupid Baldy didn't let her take it off to sleep and honestly it was bothering her a little because it wasn't like she had ever, EVER worn something close to resembling a ring, and the idiot wanted her to wear it all the time? At least the inconsiderate bastard had bought her and giving her the choice of wearing it around her neck (and without him knowing a way to hide it in her shirt) because she was sure she would not stand another scene like the one she had to endure tonight when they came back from eating. Mashiro and Hachi, and the rest too, had pestered her to show them the ring admiring it from every point of view possible, squirming her finger because apparently an engagement ring does not pass from hand to hand. It was bad luck. Idiots. And besides, Shinji had not let them seen the ring before he gave it to her, so they HAD TO look at it when she had it on her now bruised and contorted finger.
The stupid thing even in the pitch dark night still shone.
"Bad dream?" A groggy male voice asked her, and she quickly moved her hand to her side of her body, so he didn't catch her admiring his gift, again.
So she pretended being awake for a couple of seconds and rubbed her eyes and wiped the beads of sweat that decorated her brow. "You could say that."
"It's been so long since you had a nightmare." Shinji commented to her stretching and yawning.
"Mmm." Was the only response Hiyori gave while she closed her eyes, but the latest memory of being attacked with a red light in her direction made her open them again.
"Could it be that what happened today is giving you bad dreams?" And he pillowed both of his hands behind the side of his head facing her.
Hiyori chuckled. "I'm sure it's that."
Stupid brat mocking my concern for her... Che, two can play that game he thought preparing a fake hurt voiced. "You're telling me that marrying me is the same as the Hollowfication?"
This time she didn't chuckle. She straight out laughed. "I think it's a good comparison Baldy."
"You test my patience more than is need you little monster." And Shinji got closer to her and put a hand on her right side of her body forcing her to turn.
"Aren't you supposed to have a flippant attitude and a tolerance that can run for days?" She said scoffing at him with a fake smile.
"Yes, I do. That's the only reason I can stand you." And he showed her his pierced tongue making her remember her dream and Sakanade's childish attitude.
"She probably learned from you." Hiyori assured herself in an amused tone ignoring his taunt.
"What are you talking about? Did you just call me a girl again? Stop it or I'm taking that ring that you were staring back to the store." At his words her cheeks lost their usual light pink and became scarlet red. She felt like a kid that had been caught stealing a cookie from the jar.
He noticed and pulled her even closer hugging her. "I hate when you're asleep and you move idiot. I always go to sleep cuddling you and I have no idea how do you manage to let go."
Hiyori didn't answer. She just dedicated him a triumphal smirk and hid herself in his chest letting his hands cover her entire body and placing hers on his back.
In contrast, Shinji had his left arm pillowing her neck and caressing her soft hair while his other hand played with the material of her pajama. He thought that it was very ironic that from all of the human clothes Hiyori owned (and there weren't too many because of her aversion to shopping) the most feminine of them all were her sleeping attire. Today she was wearing a brown and –to his surprise when he saw her- pink short and strappy top that had ribbons on her hips. How, when or with who had she bought those PJs it was a complete mystery for him, and asking her would be a waste of time. He already knew what her answer would be: 'Go to hell Baldy.' So Shinji decided to go for the topic that had woke her up.
"Spill it Shorty," He told her in a kind voice, "What was the dream about?"
He could feel her tense her muscles and buried deeper her face in his chest. "Aidotthikirember."
Shinji made a movement, so he could see her face and she wouldn't be able to hide. "Mmmm. I'm sorry I don't speak chicken."
Making a reference to her being a coward was like asking to be hit, so naturally she slapped the part of his head she could reach because his hands on her body made it difficult to move more easily.
"HAGE SHINJI! I said I don't remember!" and her trademark scowl appeared on her brow.
"Ach, ach, ach, ach! It's too early to shout stupid!" And he moved the hand that was on her hip to cover his ear. "And anyway you're still keeping the chicken talk."
Hiyori raised her head to yell at him, but his arms caught her off guard and he pulled her under him, smelling her audibly on her neck and planting butterflies kisses on her face and shoulders. "Please can you tell me what your dream was about?" and he followed his request with a soft kiss on her lips. "I know you wanna tell me," and both of his hands were now on her face. He knew if he engaged his eyes with hers, she would not be able to lie to him, for more than a 100 years she had never been able to do it if he looked at her straight in the eyes, that had been his method to made her tell him if she was in love with him an eternity ago.
"I'm telling you I don't remember." She said avoiding his eyes for a second and then returning her gaze only to try to kiss him, but he didn't let her.
"No lies or no more kisses." He threatened her.
Hiyori scowled even deeper.
"Stop with the frown or you are going to wrinkle dummy." He warned her amusedly.
She un-chiseled her normal expression and drowned a laugh. "I have been scowling all the time we have been here in the Real World and maybe even when we were in Soul Society, and now you saber-rattle me with wrinkles?"
"Well…" And he scratched his head in a bored tone. "I've always thought about it, but now you do it less often and first and more importantly you're in no position (literally) to be hitting me." His normal smile appeared.
"Do you wanna bet?"
He kissed her forehead. "No, no, I give up. You're right. Now, about your nightmare…"
"Shinji." And she rolled her eyes. "I'll tell you if you get off of from me."
"You're in no position to negotiate." He snickered.
"Again with the position joke, be serious and move ass!" He did and positioned himself to the side, but still held her close, caressing her face and giving her a 'go on with you part of the deal' expression. "It wasn't a nightmare it was mo-"
"You had a panicked expression and you practically gasped when you woke up. If it wasn't a bad dream it was a very good impression of one." He said not letting her finish.
And as a response she flick one finger to his cheek. "Would you let me end what I was saying?" He nodded. "It wasn't a nightmare it was more like an odd dream that became a nightmare. Do you remember that movie Mashiro made us see the other day? "
Shinji wriggled an eyebrow "Mashiro make us watch a bunch of movies Hiyori."
"The one about the blond girl and the rabbit, geez the one with the Mad Hatter." He still gave her a confused look, she knew the name of the movie, but she would never admit it to his face "The one that you said I looked like the blond, but I behaved like the Queen of Hearts."
"Ahhhh Alice" He said faking he just had remembered. "What about it? You were portraying the Queen in your dream?"
"Sorta…" And she let her words settle in the dark of the room. "It was a tea party like the one the Mad Hatter had, but a couple of familiar faces were there."
"Familiar faces?" He asked puzzled.
She knew that the only way out of his concern expression was to get it over with as fast as she could. "The Hollows, our Hollows." Now it was her turn to feel him tense his muscles at her words, so she added quickly to try to make it better. "And Sakanade and Kubikiri Orochi."
He sighed. If the zanpakutous were there too, it really had been a dream and not a projection of our Hollows Shinji thought relieved and still curious, he asked:
"And what were they doing? Fighting?"
"Yes and no. They were drinking tea, but every 5 seconds an argument broke loose."
Shinji smiled amused by her words. "I'm not surprised. Your Hollow is pain in the ass."
"And Sakanade was playing with the dishes putting them upside down."
This time the de facto leader of the Vizard gave a horse laugh. "I can see that happening, she is quite playful, the little runt." But making a serious face he wondered, "And what scared you from that entertaining scene you are describing me?"
"They were talking about the wedding," and she surprised herself admitting that she had been more afraid of the topic of the discussion than the end of the dream where she was being attacked. "They didn't seem to mind it. Any of them. I mean it's not like I care what they think, especially the Hollows, but," and she scratched her loosen golden locks, "I was surprised that they weren't against it, even if it was a dream."
"Do you want them to be against it?"
"No!"
"Don't shout. You'll wake Rose or Love and we will not hear the end of it." He said moving again in the bed and supporting his back on the soft mattress, and also pulling the girl into a new position close to his heart. "Mmmmm…. Well the swords' answer is not a surprise, right? They are a part of our soul after all."
Hiyori kept quiet to hear his reasoning.
"And I suppose that the Hollows won't have a choice. They don't have the liberty they used to have before we used the Vizard training, so even if they won't approve we don't have to ask."
"I know that."
"So what's the problem, babe?"
She hit his stomach and he cried in pain. "I have told you no sappy names. Shinji you have been using them for the third time tonight." The man was still complaining about the pain, but she flat out ignored him. "And shut it. You're going to wake up Love and Rose."
He cleaned the pained tears her surprising blow had brought into his eyes and mumbled something like, "Now you want to lower your voice you little idiot."
"And there is no problem. I know it was just a dream, a strange one though." She repositioned herself hugging him and placing her head on his chest to find a comfortable way to sleep, "I'm tired."
Bipolar midget and he moved his head to kiss her on the lips. "Sleep Hiyori, you barely closed your eyes." His usual smirk came into sight. "Sleep, Sweetie."
She opened her eyes and shot him a dirty look. "At least let me have this sappy word for today, you can punch me tomorrow. Go to sleep Honey." And Shinji caressed her back.
He had done a lot for her in the entire day, so she would let him have this.
In the moment Hiyori closed her eyes she found herself in her familiar inner world, this time she was sure it wasn't a dream; somehow she had Jinzen her way into a conversation with her zanpakutou, but without trying to. That was definitely odd. But when she saw her Hollow reflection in front of her, she knew how she had ended up in the big forest.
"Just so you know, Princess," Miyori uttered the last word with disgust, "I don't approve o-"
Hiyori raised a finger interrupting her and grinned. "Don't care. I don't have time to waste with you, so don't try to summon me again."
"OI! UGGLY MONKEY PRINCESS WAIT!" The Hollow yelled desperately, but the ex-Shinigami disappeared.
A melodically enchanting laugh made Miyori shake with even more rage. "You see, I told you. Your taunts won't work on her now." Kubikiri Orochi gave a serious smile. "She is all grown up."
.
A/N: This chapter is supposed to happen a couple of hours after the proposal (chapter 13). I'll clarify because I don't know if I made it very clear about.
So what does our lovely Shinji give to sweet dear Hiyori? Assurance, a safe place to sleep.
Erase and rewind… The nightmares she had after the Hollowfication occurred.
I was originally planning for something more like a fight between Hollows and Zanpakutous, but I couldn't get around on it, and this came out. Funny how the muse of inspiration works, right?
:::::SPOILERS ALERT::::: Guys I ask you to please help me, next chapter is the wedding, your suggestions about what do you want to see and you don't are GREATLY appreciate it! I have been cracking my head thinking this whole week but work had get in the way. However, Monday is a Holiday so I have time to write XD
So I'm updating soon after the last one SO you can help ME! Also remember the POLL on my profile (probably would be a Story on its own, so it won't move the 17 chapters in this one, and to respect the people that is not into lemon or smut)
Ok I'm leaving, I won't be able to write to much today cause I have a terrible headache
Luv
Kate
P.S. I know there are like 2 words that are misspell but is intentional, like the word Awesomess, I thought it would be a nice touch to Sakanade's behavior.