Pendulum - The Butterfly Effect (Bleach FF)

3: The Luminous Shield

I was woken the next morning by a loud bang and blinding light that startled me out of a restful sleep and left weird-shaped light scars on my retina. I tried to blink the lights away with my hand covering my eyes to see the person framed in my doorway.

"Kiiiimikooo, Riiiise and Shineeee" Yuuga sang, standing there in her pyjama's, laughing at my vampire-ish reaction to the sunlight.

"Ugghh... What time is it?" I groaned still half asleep.

"About eight o'clock. You know what they say, the early bird gets the worm!" She beamed again, her grin almost as bright as the sun. "I'll be waiting for you in the front courtyard, meet me there when you're dressed and cleaned up," she turned to leave and slid the door shut behind her.

I continued staring at the door for a moment, then let my head drop back onto my pillow with a great sigh, rubbing my eyes and seeing the colourful after images of the light. I had been so comfortable and warm but I couldn't just lie there all day, so I gave myself a few extra minutes then got up. My room was pretty spacious and had two more doors leading off of it, but I hadn't had a chance to explore yet.

 I had correctly guessed that the one on the left was my closet, entered and looked around for a moment. A few items of clothing were hanging up on a high rail. I chose a short, knee-length violet yukata with a pale pink blossom flower embroidered on the back just beneath the neck and a pair of white pumps.

The room to the left of the closet was again an accurate guess, a little bathroom. Very small, quite cramped, but more than enough for me. As long as I had running water and some clean clothes I'd be perfectly happy. After fixing my messy bed-hair into a high and tight ponytail on the top of my head and putting on the yukata I glanced in the long mirror on the wall.

 I didn't look half as rough as I thought I might. There were small bags under my eyes but those would disappear after I got more rest. I ruffled up my hair a little bit. It was down to my collar bone in length but had many layers, so when tied up it spiked out at the top of the ponytail then fell down. Some strands were not long enough to even reach the back of my head so they fell down into midnight purple locks framing a soft white skin, pale lips and piercingly ice blue eyes that were only a few shades away from white, all complimenting each other nicely.

I blacked out for a moment as I tightened my hair bobble. Another film played behind my eyes as it had yesterday. This time there were people in grey and white uniforms, girls and boys carrying briefcases and backpacks, a large building. It then changed and I saw myself sitting on a patch of grass under a tree. A group of boys stood around me shouting things like "Porcupine!" and "Hedgehog!" at into my face, as though they were jeering and taunting me. 

My head was bowed and I pulled my knees up into a ball and started shaking but they didn't stop. The film flashed away and I came back to reality quickly, but I felt physically sick. Staring at the mirror again I saw that my complexion was now ghostly pale. "That was... A memory?" I glanced back at my hair. 

I had liked its spiky effect at first, but now it gave me anxiety.Why would people insult me about it...? I wondered, examining my appearance again, looking from every angle, trying to understand my vision.I bit my lip. If I go out like this, what will people think of me... First impressions... then I shook away my indecisiveness. 

I pulled out the hair bobble, shaking my head around to mess up my layers a little."Now nothing can go wrong..." I assured my reflection. I took a deep breath to compose myself and made my way down to the front courtyard as arranged.

On my way out I spotted Yoshino, who waved good morning to me from across the hallway but let me carry on with my business, knowing that Yuuga and I had made arrangements.