I stared up at his bright turquoise eyes. His face was so close to mine. Logic states that you shouldn't be this close to a guy you barely knew, but somehow, it felt so right to me. Then again, technically I already know him, I just can't remember a damn thing. He leaned his forehead against mine and spoke slowly.
"Who am I?" His words rang in my ears.
"Toshiro. Toshiro Hitsugaya." He gave me a confused look.
"How do you know my last name" He said a little more quickly.
"Didn't you tell me?" His face only looked more confused. Then it hit me. "The book!" I pushed Toshiro lightly and tried to sit up. Which didn't quite work, when I fell right back down from a wave of dizziness and pain. "My head." I whimpered. I tried to hold my head in my hands when something stopped me.
"Let me." He said. He had my hands trapped in his. He lifted one hand to my forehead. His hand felt cool to the touch. In an instant the pain went away, as if my body only wanted to listen to him. "Who am I?" he said slowly again.
"Toshiro." I stated. "Can I get up now? And why do you keep asking me that?" He looked down at me and only smiled.
"Just making sure you don't forget." He stood up and crouched down to me and held his hand out. "Slowly, take it easy." I took his hand and sat up slowly. My fingers tingling at his touch. What's wrong with me? I tried to stand up. "Easy now. Not to fast Kairi, you'll hurt yourself" He warned.
"My bag. Where's my bag, I need to show you something." It was only then that I noticed we weren't alone. I looked around the room. Old fashioned Japanese style, green walls, and the futon on the floor that I was laying on. There was a man sitting in the back corner of the room. He had an old green striped hat, that had obviously been through a lot over the years, and lazy kimono clothes, and a cane. "Toshiro, who-"
"My name is Kisuke Urahara." He said. He stood up from where he was sitting. "Here." He held out his hand to me. My pink plaid backpack. As gently as I could without looking crazy, I snatched the bag from his hands. I dug through it until I found what I was looking for.
"Toshiro explain this to me." I handed him the manga book I found at the library. "Is this where we're from?" He took it from my hands gently and studied it.
"Where did you get this Kairi?" he asked hesitantly.
"My school library." I state, giving him a confused look. "Toshiro?"
"Yes, Kairi this is where we are from," he started flipping through the pages. "Do you remember her?" He pointed to a girl with her black hair tied up. She had dark eyes and a lieutenant's badge on her arm.
"That's Momo. I know because I've read about her in that book."
"Momo was your best friend. We used to play together as children." I thought about his words for a moment. I felt the great hurricane of questions attack me, and convert to my mouth.
"Did someone write about our lives in the magna books? Why can't I remember anybody? Why aren't I in these stories? How did I end up here? What time is it? Do you have friends who are really good drawers and story tellers, because that picture looks just like you. Am I going to remember everything I've lost? Do you know my mother? My father? Where are they? Can I see them? Are they soul reapers? Am I a soul reaper? What about-" I was cut off by an ice cold finger against my lips.
"Kairi," he said calmly. "All your questions will be answered. Be patient." He moved hand away from me, and held my book with both hands. "Most of what you need to know, are in these magnas. The rest I will tell you." Nodded in response urging him to speak. "I knew your parents, so did Kisuke. We were there when you came to this world. Your father Kairi, was a great man. He never forgot about his family. When you were young, he taught you how to play musical instruments, and how to control your spiritual energy. Your mother, took care of you, and raised you away from the soul reapers. She was a retired soul reaper but still had her powers.
"Your father did some research on the world of the living, this world, and our world, the soul society, he refused to put his research in the hands of the council. And that is what caused him to go into hiding. His first priority was you. He made sure you would know nothing of our world and he put you into the world of the living. Your mother put a freeze on your mind. It caused you to forget everything and everyone you knew. Even your parents." He took in a breath to steady himself. "Even me." I looked into his sad turquoise eyes. "No one has seen your parents since. I wish I could have taken you with me. But I couldn't. With your memory gone, the best place for you to be was here.
"The freeze on your mind has started to take hold. Your mind can't handle this much longer.-"
"But I remember you now from that first night!" I interrupted.
"Yes, Kairi, but you don't understand. If you keep fighting the freeze in this state... You'll die." his voice was wavering. I stared up into his eyes. Pleading. His eyes were pleading for me. "Kairi, you can fight this freeze. But not in this state."
"What do you mean?" I could hear the hesitance in my voice. He only frowned ever so slightly.
"Fighting the freeze yourself would mean to awaken your soul reaper powers. But you haven't used them in so long, we don't know what will happen to you." His eyes were dark and gloomy.
"Do I have a choice?" he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.
"You have another option. If we can find your mother she can melt the freeze without any worries. The problem is, no one has seen her since the night she put you here. We wouldn't know where to start looking. Nor do we know how long you can manage with the freeze." My head felt dizzy again, and Toshiro noticed because he helped me back down onto the futon.
"I will try to fight it off myself. If that doesn't work, the we go to plan B."
"Plan B?"
"To find my mother." I closed my eyes. "When do we start?"
"Tomorrow." I heard Kisuke's voice behind me. "Toshiro will pick you up from school. Tell your guardian you are going to stay at a friends house. Because this is going to take a few days." I nodded in response. I felt Toshiro's hand on my forehead again. If felt so cool to the touch.
"Kairi get up," he said softly. "We have to get you home." There was no way I wanted to move. As much as Toshiro's hand on my head felt good, I was way too dizzy to move. "Kairi." He said sternly. I opened my eyes and looked into his. He then picked me up bridal style, grabbed my backpack from the floor and started walking. Before I knew it I fell asleep in his big strong arms.
With my eyes still closed, I could feel his arms holding me tight, hear the sounds of the cars driving down the street, and smell the nasty stench of someone's lunch on the sidewalk. I tried to tune out everything and focus on the steady rise and fall of his breathing. Toshiro...
"What was that?" He asked curiously. I opened my eyes and gave him a confused look.
"I didn't say anything." I said very slow. He stopped and looked down at me.
"I could have sworn," He stared at my violet eyes for a long while, "Did you," he said slowly "say something in your head?" I just stared wide eyed at him.
"Yes..."
"Do it again." He commanded gently. I did as he asked and started talking in my head. Hello? Toshiro? Then something crazy happened. It startled me so much that I almost jumped out of Toshiro's arms. Hi Kairi...
