I just have to give a shoutout to Hafi. I swear your review nearly made me diabetic it was so uber sweet! Thankyou, Thankyou so so very much and I'm totally honored that you loved that chapter so much that it was your first review.
I plan on udating another chapter before I lay my head down to rest tonight so thankyou for your reviews and Enjoy!
Orihime was cold.
She blew her breath on her hands and rubbed them together, trying to warm them. A shudder viciously possessed her body. Her teeth chattered incessantly, her nose was numb. She busied herself with making the small snowman. He was missing something.
"A s-s-scarf! He w-w-would be terribl-l-ly cold without one!" she exclaimed, taking off her own scarf and wrapping it around the snowman. She smiled brightly.
There! It was perfect. She couldn't wait until her big brother showed up. He would love the snowman. A brilliant idea came to her. She would make a little sister for the snowman!
With renewed energy and vigor, she began making small balls of snow and stacking them on top of each other.
"Orihime!" she perked up. It was her big brother!
"SORA!" she exclaimed. Her snow-sister forgotten, she ran to her wonderful big brother and clutched his legs. She smiled so widely that she was afraid that her face might split into. He chuckled, ruffling her hair.
"Where's your gloves and your scarf and you hat, kiddo?" his face held a frown. She just smiled up at him.
"I gave it to the snowman, he was cold." He looked over to the snowman and saw that it was decorated with her winter garments, save her coat.
"But he's a snowman and snowmen don't get cold." He said with a gentle smile. She shook her head.
"This snowman is Sora the snowman, and he gets cold so he needs clothes," she said firmly.
"But what about you? You're Orihime and you get cold as well."
"I don't mind giving it to Sora. He's so special, he always helps people and when he grows up he wants to help even more people. Besides, it's not even that cold out!" she said, her teeth chattering and her body shuddering as her orange locks whipped about her.
Sora sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be able to convince her to take her clothes from the snowman. He took off his hat and gloves and scarf and put them on his little sister, ignoring her cries of protest. He grabbed her now gloved hand and they walked home.
She skipped happily besides him, singing a tune that she made up all her own.
"So," he started. "How was school today?" he asked her. It was her first year of school and so far everything's been alright.
It was really a relief that she'd started school. Now Sora didn't have to worry about whether or not she was being beaten when he wasn't home. Now he could finally concentrate on his studies. Soon, he and Orihime would leave the hell hole that had to call home. That was what he wanted most out of life. Just of few more years left and then she wouldn't have to suffer their parent's abuse.
She wouldn't have to see her mother trading sexual favors for drug money or their father yelling and cursing at anyone in his field of vision and then falling down drunk, letting loose expletives and sometimes his bowls and bladder.
They came up to their dimly lit house. The doorstep was littered with trash and beer cans. The white paint of the front door was peeling and chipping. The screens on the windows were falling off; some of them had holes in them.
There was loud yelling coming from the inside of their home. The sound of glass impacting the wall and a cry of pain reverberated through the walls. Both siblings stopped. Orihime trembled, fear taking hold of her small heart. She bit her lip and hid behind her brothers legs. He glanced down at his little sister, worried.
Normally he would have her hide in the bushes while he tries to find where they were so that he could clear a path to their room. For some reason, whenever their parents were in a mood, they would single out Orihime. Perhaps it was because she couldn't fight back, or maybe it was because she was young and innocent. He didn't care what their reason was; he just wanted to protect his sister.
But it was much too cold outside for her to wait out here. She'd already been waiting long enough and it was getting dark out.
More glass hit the wall and there were cries and screams and raised voices. Sora sighed. He would have to go into his secret hiding place and grab some emergency money. He turned to his sister.
"Hime, I need you to listen to me," he looked her in her eyes to make sure that she was paying attention. Her grey eyes were wide and terrified. She nodded almost imperceptibly.
"I know that it's cold outside, but I want you to hide in the bushes again. I will be right back. I promise okay?" she looked hesitant to leave him, but when another crash of glass resounded in the home, she nodded furiously and turned to hide in the bushes. He stopped her, taking off his coat and draping it across her. She looked as if she wanted to protest, but he put a finger to his lips, signaling for her to be quiet.
He waited until she was securely behind a bush, before he went inside. He stood by the door, his ears trained on where the shouting was coming from. It sounded as if there were in the kitchen.
Quietly, he slowly walked through the dimly lit living room, not even bothering to take off his shoes at the entrance. Broken glass littered the floor, unknown fluids decorated the wall. A variety of horrendous odors permeated the air. It was foul, like piss mixed with mold and spoiled food.
Sora didn't have time to dwell on the strange odor, Orihime was waiting for him. He hurriedly made it to their room, sliding to door closed behind him. He scanned the room to make sure that he secret place wasn't disturbed. It wasn't.
He let go a deep sigh of relief, and went to pull up the floorboard where his futon lied. Something wasn't right. It was much too quiet. He was halted his movements, his heart rate well above what was normal. He tried to quiet his rapid breathing. Movement was coming towards him. He could hear the thunderous padded footsteps of his father barreling down the hall.
Sora, quickly replaced the floor board and his futon. He ran to the closet, and hid in there, not saying anything. His father didn't come in. Still, Sora wanted to be sure, so he stayed hidden in the closet for a few moments extra.
Finally, he left the closet and went back to his hiding place and grabbed the money. The sooner he makes it to Orihime, the better.
!
Orihime was scared. She was always scared when Sora told her to hide behind the bush. But she was never scared for herself; she was always scared for Sora. Sometimes he would come out with bruises, sometimes he would comeback bloody.
She hated it when her big brother was hurt. It always tore her up on the inside. Whenever Sora was there, he always protected her from being hurt by their parents. He always took her away whenever their mother's weird friends would come over. She loved Sora so much. He was her white knight, like in the fairy tale books. She loved her white knight and she couldn't stand for anything to happen to him.
It was frightfully cold. Orihime wrapped Sora's jacket tighter around her, shivering. She began counting in her head backwards from 100. It always helped pass the time while she waited on Sora.
100, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91, 90.
She heard the door opening. Relieved and happy, she stood up calling out to Sora.
"Sora!" she stopped and her blood went cold as she realized that it wasn't her brother. It was her father. She crouched down, praying that he didn't see her.
But of course he saw her, he also heard her. But when you're 6 years old and terrified, you tend to think irrationally.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" he bellowed, stomping over to her. He yanked Sora's jacket, lifting her up in the process, with only one hand. Her wide grey eyes stared at his. The one thing she has from her father is his eyes. His eyes weren't as big, but they were just as grey. They were dull and glazed over and currently angry.
His messy dark hair was plastered against his sweat soaked face, blood trickled down the side of his mouth, and a bruise was forming on the left side of her face. His beer stain teeth were bared at her as he demanded to know why she was hiding in the bushes.
"IT'S FUCKING COLD OUTSIDE AND YOU FUCKING DECIDED TO FUCKING PLAY HIDE AND SEEK?! WHAT'S THE FUCK MATTER WITH YOU?!" he shouted shaking her for emphasis. She began to cry, huge hiccupping sobs that shook her entire tiny body.
"WHAT THE FUCK YOU'RE CRYING FOR?! HUH! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" he shook her some more which only made her cry harder.
Her father went still, dropping her before he collapsed on the ground himself.
Her impact on the ground was softening by the nice thick layer of snow on the ground. She looked up to see Sora standing with a shovel in his hand. His breathing was rapid and eyes were angry as he looked down on their fallen father. He dropped the shovel and wiped the sweat from his brow. She was relieved to see that there weren't any bruises or blood on her brother. She ran to him, hugging his legs.
He rubbed her back, trying to calm his own breath. He wouldn't say that he's never had to hit their parents in order to protect his sister before, but never the less, he still didn't like to show Orihime violence.
"Okay Hime, I'm going to pull dad into the house, and then we're going to go get something to eat, okay?" she nodded, wiping the tears from her face and her brother began his struggle to pull their dad into the house.
After a few more minutes of unbearable coldness, they were on their way to Orihime's favorite ramen shop. The people there were always kind to her and Sora, they always gave them free desert.
She clutched her brother's hand, her small one getting lost inside his huge hand. She loved her white knight. She really, really did.