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Romance Ain't Dead	By : valentine Category: Bleach > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 2013 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. This story does not generate profit.

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Hitsugaya stared, utterly dumbfounded, after the princess as she walked past him. As he watched a shimmer of light run through her chocolate hair, the soon-to-be-captain felt as though the ability to speak had left him. The girl turned back to him, her soft pink lips curving into a small smile as she saw she had finally broken through his professional demeanour. His mouth opened slowly.
"Sorry?" Was all he could say.
"A bath." The princess repeated and gestured to the doors, "shall we?" Hitsugaya followed her out of the room and back to her quarters. He kept a respectful six steps between them, as he was taught to do. Moving though the Library, Hitsugaya almost laughed as Mei approached tutors, senior officials, members of the royal house, with a unrelenting familiarity. They all called out to her and she would wave with a carefree smile, while shouting an introduction for Hitsugaya who bowed quickly every time she did so. Eyes of elders rolled at her as she flitted through the courtyard like a butterfly; uncaring and unwelcoming of their criticism. The Library was full of noise and laughter; it followed her around like a cloud of sparkling stardust. It lit her up until she glittered like gold and the shinigami student found himself almost intrigued by her nature. She was unlike anything he had been taught to be.
"Ah!" Hitsugaya gasped as he bumped into the princess. "Forgive me, you highness," the boy said as he lowered himself into a deep bow.
"Relax," Mei spoke softly as he stood up straight. "There's no one around; you can stop the Shinigami charade."
"Excuse me?" Almost instantly, an icy air settled around the pair. Mei was stood in the shadow cast by the building which housed her quarters, whilst Hitsugaya stood out in the cold sunshine. Her smile faded.
"You don't have to speak to me like that," Mei said seriously. "Your highness…princess" she grimaced and waved her hands as though shoo-ing away the words like they were a nuisance, "you can call me Mei." He looked over to her as though he could not understand her.
"A Princess…That's what you are." He said plainly. Mei considered him for a moment.
"What's that?" She pointed over to something in the courtyard behind Hitsugaya. He turned to spy a cherry tree beside a winding stream. The delicate pink blossoms fell from the branches and caught a breeze that made them swirl up into the air.
"A cherry tree." He responded.
"No." Confused by her response, Hitsugaya turned back to her. "It is beautiful." Her face was solemn, she was looking out to the cherry tree as though she felt its loneliness. "Call things by what they are. Not by what you were told they are." Mei said. "What am I?" She turned back to Hitsugaya and tilted her head at him, waiting for an answer. The boy gulped; was this a test of his intelligence? Was she trying to outsmart him? Or was she just…he didn't even know the word for it…was she being sincere? "What am I?" She repeated. The truth was, Hitsugaya could not think of a word to describe this girl who did nothing but take him by surprise. She was so much more than what he had been lead to believe. Could he say that to her? Of course not, he would never be allowed to be so familiar with a royal.
"You are Mei." He was surprised as soon as the words came tumbling out of his mouth. She nodded at him with an appreciative smile.
"Then that is what you will call me." She turned to enter her quarters, "well you can't say it in front of any one else, they'll go mad. Calling a princess by her actual name, can you imagine? Riots in the streets….they'll call for your incarceration…" and so the princess continued to paint a rather gruesome picture of their fates as Hitsugaya followed her through to her bathroom. He perched at the door, unsure of what to do.
The princess' bath was unlike anything Hitsugaya had ever seen, a long oval shaped bath, deeper than she was tall and longer than the pool at the academy; it sat impressively in the middle of an oval shaped room. The walls of the room were pained a dark gold colour to compliment the antique gold furnishings; the brackets that held candles against the walls, the frames of mirrors and the chez chair that sat in the corner.
"Come in." Mei spoke softly and Hitsugaya, feeling entirely out of his depth, took a step into the wet and warm room; it was humid with steam that rose from the surface of the bath and swirled up into the air around them. There was the smell of flowers from the courtyard drifting in on a breeze. Hitsugaya watched the princess walk over to the chez and he immediately averted his gaze as she began to remove her dress.
"Would you like me to step outsi-?"
"No need." The princess shrugged off her dress and laughed when she caught sight of the colour rising in Hitsugaya's cheeks. "You can look up." She instructed him and began to laugh as he did so as slowly as possible. But the princess stood in a white dress, the underneath layer of her daily clothes.
"You won't remove it?" As he asked, she raised an eyebrow.
"Well I can if you want me to-"
"You know that's not what I meant." The boy snapped at her. Mei laughed to herself and entered the water. Her dress became heavier as it fell into the warm and inviting waves in the pool.
"Ah," Mei gasped in relief as she dipped her head into the water and emerged again. "I like to swim in the mornings." She said absentmindedly to Hitsugaya who took his guard's stance at the edge of the room. And so, the princess began to swim. The bath was practically a pool and she could do a lap from one end to another in around a minute. Hitsugaya chose to stare directly opposite him, where a ornately framed mirror was. The steam was clouding up Hitsugaya's view of himself until he was just a foggy blur in the distance. He looked over to Mei as he realised the sound of her swimming had stopped. She was sat at the other end of the pool, idly eyeing up something in her hand. "This was given to me," she began suddenly, "the day I left the palace." Hitsugaya took a step forward so he could just make out the shine of a small brass key.
"What is it?" He asked.
"The key to my heart." Mei smiled up at him before shrugging; "I left before I could even ask." She could tell, from the way his hands unfolded and fell to his sides, that Hitsugaya wanted to know more. "I left to complete my training." Mei explained. "I have to be at the same level of skill as a captain by my birthday next month."
"How is it going?" Mei, who had been talking almost to herself, was brought out of her thoughts and gave a small smile; how funny that a guard should show interest in her. And how strange that he was the first man to show an interest in her training.
"I am probably as skilled as you." She smirked.
"You think so?" Hitsugaya took a step forward. He liked a challenge.
"I bet so." Mei stood from the water.
"What would you bet?"
"The key." She tucked it back into the neck of her dress.
"Okay," Hitsugaya muttered but had taken action before the princess had even heard him. He began to run towards the princess but she was too quick for him. Mei stood and, as though her hand was skimming the water, she waved towards him and a wall like a tsunami erupted from the pool and headed towards Hitsugaya. He dodged it by jumping with all his might to the other side of the pool. With a small gasp, Mei began to run up the steps, out of the bath.
Hitsugaya knelt beside the pool and put a single finger into the warm water. Like a crack in glass, a trickle of ice began to form in the water and snake its way to Mei. As she was about to bound from the last step of the bath, the thread of ice wrapped around her ankle and trapped her.
"Ah!" Mei gasped, turned to Hitsugaya and forced another wall of water to come up between them. Just as the water erupted Hitsugaya saw her fall as her ankle was trapped. He jumped over to her, turned her wall of water into ice, removed his katana from its sheath in one quick movement, and slashed through the ice.
"ARGH!" Hitsugaya and the princess screamed as they collided with one another when the boy emerged form behind the ice. Losing his balance, Hitsugaya grabbed a hold of Mei in surprise, dropping his katana. As the pair fell to the floor at the edge of the bath, the Katana hit the marble floor with a loud CLANG. The room became silent after the sound of rushing water and breaking ice and the pair of teenagers stayed where they were. Mei was trapped under Hitsugaya for he had fallen on top of her. They were both breathing heavy, unsure of why it was neither of them was moving.
"Are you okay?" Hitsugaya asked as he looked down at her. The princess, her hair still wet, droplets clinging to her lips and eyelashes, nodded slowly. She could feel the heat of Hitsugaya's body on top of her, underneath his robes, against her cold wet skin. His breath was warming against her neck and Mei found she could not unlock her eyes from his. She reached around her neck, untied the necklace and proceeded to hoist it over Hitsugaya's head.
As she reached up and he lowered his head, they moved close and his eyes caught her lips. What was happening here? What was this intoxicating feeling? He could sense every inch of her beneath him, every slender edge and gentle curve. It was drying up his mouth, heating his blood. He had to get away from her.
"Come on." Hitsugaya stood and held out a hand to help Mei up. She took it but it did not go unnoticed by Hitsugaya that the princess was staring at him as though seeing him for the first time. "I will call your maids to dress you." He said and walked swiftly from the room.
"Hitsugaya?" She called after him but he did not return.
End flashback~ Mei at breakfast.
"Princess?" Mei looked up as Lily entered the room. Her eldest maid noticed the slightly flustered manner in which the princess had greeted her. It was Lily's fault really, for letting the two of them be alone for even a minute.
"Yes, Lily?" The girl responded.
"Your birthday plans? Have you decided what to do?" Mei almost scoffed at the thought of it. Three years ago she had planned a party. Now, however, celebrating was not what she felt like doing. Mei thought for a few moments before running a hand through her hair warily.
"I wish to go home and see my parents." She said coldly. Lily nodded as the princess stood from the table.
"I will see to the arrangements this afternoon."
Hitsugaya spend most of the day in the courtyard, standing outside of whatever building the princess was in. He caught sight of her as she moved from one building to the next and simply followed the crowd of maids that accompanied her. Another strange new change to the Library; Mei usually hated being escorted but it seemed she no longer minded. She did not acknowledge or call Hitsugaya through out the entire day. It seemed the princess had outgrown her guard.
The man was known for being a contemplative and patient captain; he simply took this as another mission which involved a lot of waiting. Mei did not want to know him and that was fine. He would proceed to act as professionally as he should have done the moment he arrived here. What had happened at breakfast was foolishness; he should not have let emotions get the better of him.
Stood outside the Princess' quarters at dusk, Hitsugaya stood to attention as the woman he knew as Lily, approached the building.
"Captain," she nodded curtly to him and he returned the gesture before stepping aside to let her pass through the doors. The look on her face intrigued Hitsugaya; she looked worried, distraught even, as she approached the princess' living quarters in the light of a setting sun. Intrigue getting the better of him, Hitsugaya walked around to the back of the building to where he knew Mei's balcony was. He hoped to be able to catch some of their conversation, for security reasons of course. As he continued to debate with himself whether or not that was genuinely the reason, he turned a corner and stopped dead.
There, on a swinging bench on her balcony, sat a solemn-looking and teary-eyed Mei. She heard him approach but did not look up at him.
"They don't want to see me." She said suddenly. "My parents," she looked up to him and his heart broke, "they don't want to see me on my birthday." She swallowed hard as a lonely tear rolled down her sweet face. "So I'm stuck here of another year!" the princess stood and threw her tea cup with all her might so it flew across her private gardens and smashed against the trunk of a cherry tree. The china pieces fell into the stream and were washed away. With a look of alarm, Hitsugaya jumped up onto the balcony.
"Mei-" she waved at him to be quiet and proceeded to hang her head as she sat on her lonesome.
"What are you doing here?" She asked suddenly and looked up at him. Hitsugaya did not know what to say or how to answer her. She stood, wrapping her white dressing gown around her tightly. "Why do you insist on doing this to me?" Mei asked exasperatedly.
"I was just coming to make sure you're okay."
"I don't need you to do that!" For the second time that day the pair stood on opposite ends of what felt like a universe. There was so much distance between them.
"I'm your guard-"
"So make sure no one kills me! Don't sneak up on me-"
"You are the one who started this conversation! I was ready to leave!"
"So LEAVE." Mei shouted. "Everyone else does." Hitsugaya closed his eyes as she whispered this.
"Mei, things don't have to be like this."
"I am so sick of people telling me how to live my life." She snapped at him, "from now on I get to decide. And I think it's fair of me to ask that the people who abandon me for no reason other than their own selfish wants, leave me the fuck alone."
"I see your language hasn't improved." Mei looked at him with bored eyes as Hitsugaya stood his ground; he squared his shoulders and crossed his arms.
"It's a shame you won't get to see which of my skills have improved." She whispered. It didn't mean anything but she knew it was enough to unsteady Hitsugaya. His calm and placative demeanour infuriated her sometimes.
"What does that mean?" He asked, raising his voice a little.
"Goodnight, Captain." Mei turned on her heel and re-entered her bedroom.
"Mei!" But she did not return.
As Hitsugaya shrugged off the dark cloud the princess had forced around him, he proceeded to hurriedly walk back to his quarters as he was running late for a meeting. The young captain was unaware that he was being watched. On a rooftop opposite, a slender figure slinked out of the shadows.
"How come you ask after her, when I am the one missing you? How come you want to make her feel better, when I am the one who is hurting?" Hinamori crept out of the shadows and jumped down from the rooftop.
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Romance Ain't Dead