Disclaimers: I do not own Bleach; period.
Spoilers: Manga Chapters 169 – 171. Read at your own risk.
She wanted to live, she realised as she lay there, breathing shallow. Her body was cold, ice-cold against the warm blood that flowed from the wound in her chest. The coarse fabric of her shinigami-uniform absorbed it and stuck on to her, clinging like a second skin, its smell a nauseating mixture of metal and sweat.
And tears.
The pain in her chest was immense; she was not sure if it was physical or mental. Her limbs would not obey her. Somehow, she knew that he meant for her to die like this – to die a painful death – with the ghosts of her thoughts, anger and regrets ushering her into oblivion for eternity.
He had smiled at her, full of warmth and paternal affection. But for the first time, she saw the coldness behind his brown eyes and the way his lips twisted the usually beatific smile into a cruel smirk. Perhaps they were that way all along, but she had been just too wilfully blind to notice it.
It was cruel. Her blind devotion towards him vanished as she teetered on the precipice, about to fall into darkness. He chose not to give her a quick death, one without time to ponder over lost chances and past disappointments, one without time to curse her own stupidity or blame him for his betrayal, one without time to regret the fact she could not apologised to someone before she faded away.
Closing her eyes required too much effort. She always thought that one's senses would be clouded by Death's presence. Apparently she was wrong; she could sense everything around her unmoving body in stark clarity: the dried blood caking the walls, the stench of rotting flesh, the sticky substance that seeped through her clothes, the pristine white of the captains' kimono…
The flashing jade-green eyes, the troubled frown, the white hair which belied his age (he would always be a kid to her) and the shock on his face. He stood disbelieving at the door, eyes falling on her slumped body. She wanted to scream, "Run away!" but no sound came from her throat.
She watched them do battle as her life slowly ebbed away. It was short and brutal, faster than the eye could follow. In the end, she could only watch his bleeding form slump in front of her, red staining the rags of his white Captain uniform.
Her murderer was right and it was all her fault: his love for her had made him weak. It was as good as her killing him with her own two hands.
The aftermath of their battle framed the chamber in glittering crystallised water. The temperature was so cold; surely Death was finally ready to lead her away now? Even the tear halted its path down her cheek by turning into a shard of ice.
And then there was warmth. He had somehow managed to move his body beside hers and his scent of winter sunshine, snow and pine engulfed her as the last of his breath grazed her cheeks in short puffs of warm air.
She wanted to say, "I'm sorry" but she couldn't.
He seemed to understand anyway and he whispered, "Bed-wetter Momo."
Another tear slid down her cheek as she willed her gratitude in his direction, "Thank you, Shiro-chan."
And this time, it did not freeze.
Frozen Tears
A Series of Bleach Ficlets
Nutty Scribbler
21 Apr. 05
Author's Notes:
Random drabble. I thought I got over the chapters, until my friend read and started to rant about it. Couldn't resist.
Frozen Tears will be a collection of the occasional Bleach fan fictions I put out. I have a few unpublished (unpublished on anyway) fics lying around all over the place, and I'm going to work around uploading them some time soon. These are individual pieces that are intended to be read as stand alones; please don't expect them to flow continuous or in sequence of the manga chapters.
Thank you for reading. )