• Garasu no sora ni taifuu ga kiteru tte sa
    Sugoi kaze daro
    Sore dake de hora, warau riyuu ni naru futari da yo

    The sound of chemicals bubbling away in their beakers and the gentle silence of the scientist at work was in the air that day, a calming moment; the white-haired Arrancar Hakumei sat on the examining table, her legs hanging over the edge, her hands resting on the side, staring to her side at the scientist himself. Szayel’s pink hair created a curtain around his face, making it impossible to see his expression, to see if he was smiling or frowning or whatever, but she’d spent too much time with him. Hakumei knew without seeing he was smiling; Szayelaporo Granz always smiled when he was working on his newest creations, always the happiest at work on various mad things and scientific objects. And Hakumei was just happy to see him happy really.
    Her attention was pulled away after a moment or so, looking over at the window in the room, a high thing set closer to the ceiling than to the ground and made it impossible to look out of it; it showed nothing but the forever blue of Los Noches skies but something made her frown a tiny bit. A change in her own expression which seemed to have alerted Szayel somehow, or maybe he’d been watching her the whole time, for he spoke, “Is something Hakumei?”
    She looked back at him, blinking then smiling once more and shaking her head, her soft silver-blue eyes staring into amber as he looked at her as well, “No, it’s nothing Szayel-sama. No worries.”
    He raised an eyebrow at her but simply smirked a bit, said “okay” and went back to his, leaving Hakumei to once more watch him. To most that might seem boring, simply watching, but she enjoyed observing as Szayel conducted his experiments; she helped sometimes too but only when he asked her to. Otherwise she was his faithful companion, never moving from her spot to cause him any trouble, always there just in case he did indeed need something.
    She suddenly remembered something and reached into her pocket, pulling out a thin red thread from inside; she smiled to herself and then gently tried to grab Szayel’s hand, startling him quite a bit but managing not to ruin anything. He looked at her once more, this time with a confused expression, as she set his hand on her lap and tied one end of the thread to his pinky finger, smiling the entire time.
    “What are you up to, Hakumei?” Szayel asked her, quite curious about this strange behavior from his assistant.
    She didn’t answer; instead she took the other end and tied it to her own pinky. Only then did she speak, smiling angelically, “Look Szayelaporo.”
    The scientist blinked and pulled his hand back; the thread came along with him and after about a foot or so apart it became taunt, unmoving, unbreaking. He was still confused and he sighed, “For what reason would you tie up my pinky? Now I can’t move away from you.”
    “It’s a makka na ito, a red thread of fate,” Hakumei said, “It connects me to you and means we’ll always be together, that we’re meant to be together.”
    For a moment Szayel was still confused then the genius Espada got it and chuckled a bit, smirking back at her; he patted her head, making her giggle a bit herself, “Of course…”

    Hikari mamire de mou mienaku natta
    Me wo tojitara koboreteku
    Kore wa nani?

    Garasu no sora wa wareta
    Tomatte ita sekai Ugokihajimeta
    Bokura igai wa zenbu, fukitobette hashagun da

    Szayel checked over the security feeds, watching as the intruders made their way across the expanse of Hueco Mundo to the palaces of Los Noches. He saw the red headed one get distracted by fights with others among the Espada but focused on the odd set coming his way; one he recognized from the information on the bugs he’d planted inside his brother, a Shinigami with a zanpakuto capable of Bankai. Then there was his glasses wearing companion and two Arrancars Szayel felt he knew somewhere… Altogether a good set for fighting, he was amused. And worried too.
    He turned away from his computer screens to look at Hakumei, currently putting away some of Szayel’s completed works; she seemed to be humming something, a sad sort of song, he could feel that much. She had a gift for making feel the emotions attached to songs she sung or hummed; even Ulquiorra hadn’t been exempted before. Watching her put away the chemicals and such, he had to think quickly; technically she wasn’t his fraccion but the underling of the Espada Starrk. But the number one among them had his chambers quite far from the Octava’s quarters, meaning sending her back could turn dangerous. She could fight but he doubted with her limited cero skills she could do much without releasing her zanpakuto and the intruders had proven already they could easily take down the lower Arrancar.
    Sighing as he realized his only course of action, he finally spoke, standing up, “Hakumei?”
    She turned to look at him and smiled, “Yes Szayel-sama?”
    He motioned for her to come over and she did as instructed, walking over to him; the scientist then grabbed her and hugged her, confusing the poor girl. She blinked, “S-Szayel?”
    “I just felt like hugging you one last time, Hakumei,” he said; before she could ask what he meant, he took a syringe from the table beside them and stabbed her side, injecting the bluish liquid inside it into her body.
    Hakumei’s eyes got big for a moment and she called out her name but it soon faded to nothing, her body going limp in his arms as she passed out; he held her for another second, looking at her. She looked so peaceful and the pink haired Arrancar almost felt bad about this. Almost. Szayel never regretted anything.
    He picked her up into his arms, her body quite light, and set her on the examining table to rest before he headed for the door; his hand went to his sword at his side and there was a small lurch in his chest. His heart perhaps? Many would like to like to contest he didn’t have one, he was just a cold manipulative scientist, willing to harm any and all around him for his own gain. Then again not many were aware of the exact connection between Szayelaporo and Hakumei.
    As the door opened and he stepped out, it was possible to see, tied around his wrist, a string. A thin red thread. And as he left her behind, ready to fight, the scientist smirked some to himself, thinking; if I survive this…or even if I die but am reborn…maybe I can be like she is, carefree, and not have to fight anymore. That sounds nice.

    Hanashitai koto ga takusan atta
    Umarekawaru nara kimi ni naritai na

    Uwagoto Aa
    Namae wo yonda
    Jumon mitai ni kurikaeshita
    Wasurenai Aa
    Anata no koe mo Ironna kao mo Tsumuida kokoro mo

    When Hakumei woke up, it was far too quiet in the laboratory she decided. Too quiet to be good, too quiet for her to feel comfortable. She found herself laying on the examining table and as she sat up, looking around, she saw no one else. No Lumina or Verona running around, messing things up. No Nnoitora barraging in to cause trouble. And no Szayel.
    A frown came over her face and she got off the table, walking around, searching in case she was wrong. Maybe she’d just missed them. Maybe Szayel had just gone to sleep in his room or something. The thought she might honestly be all alone frankly frightened her and the more she looked, the more she found it was true. It frightened her because Szayel would never just leave her there without reason, he hadn’t done it before and he was unlikely to ever change that.
    And also she was frightened because of dread; she’d felt as if a storm had been coming, and with the reports of intruders coming, she felt it was true. A storm had come and it was destroying everything around them.
    Finally she noticed the computer screens and walked closer, her heart falling even more at what she saw. Szayel was shown in one of them, in his Resurrecion form no less; there were others there too, a strange man and a woman…and the man had a sword piercing through Szayel’s chest. The look on the Espada’s face was clear on the screen; shock, disbelief, and a tiny bit of fear. Fear.
    “Szayel,” Hakumei said softly and felt tears welling up as she stared at the screen, as if her calling his name would fix everything, “Szayel…Szayel…”
    Like a chant she called out his name, her legs giving out, causing her to slip to the ground, her hands laying on the keyboard; still she called for him, crying softly. But no answer. No soft chuckle, no words to tell her she was acting silly; she’d never hear them again, nor ever see that manipulative but wonderful smirk of his again, the way his eyebrows furrowed when he’d have a difficult problem to solve, the smile when he made a breakthrough. It was all gone.
    Her eyes fell on her wrist where a red thread lay tied, her heart falling even more seeing it; it had been broken, the strange man, the intruders, people she didn’t even know had broken it. She sat back, pulling her hands from the keyboard and bringing them to her face so she could cry into them, feeling as if she couldn’t move anymore. She never wanted to move again when she saw something…the red thread seemed to grow suddenly, one end of it flowing off in midair, going somewhere. She stared at it for a moment then got up weakly, slowly; she wasn’t sure why but she felt like following it. She felt she had to follow it.
    The thread end led her between machines, beside tables covered in beakers, vats and the likes, and stopped at a strange container; it looked like a capsule, large and made of metal. But the thread had stopped there, going inside and getting stuck it seemed. She stared blankly for a moment then noticed the panel on the door of the capsule; it seemed to be a hand print panel, meant to read someone’s hand. Without another thought she placed her hand and the panel beeped green. Steam came out from under the door and Hakumei jumped back, confused, scared, holding her bound wrist in her hand as the door opened.
    She was wondering what inside, why she had seen the thread grow like that, what it all meant, as it revealed a body inside, a living form, softly breathing, as if gently asleep; her eyes widened and the form began to stir, opening amber eyes and turning it’s, his, gaze up on her. Then he smirked, tauntingly, wonderfully, and spoke in his voice, “Hi Hakumei.”
    Hakumei jumped on him, throwing her arms around the, albeit naked, form of the pink haired Espada scientist, tears coming once more, “Szayel-kun!”
    He chuckled a bit and placed his arms around her, unaware of what had caused her so much pain, or why he as one of the many backup clones Szayel had made in case of death was awakened. It didn’t matter though; to her he was back and he remembered everything.
    Tied to both of their wrists was the red thread, once more unbreakable.

    Sayonara Aa
    Anata ga suki de karameta omoi Makka na ito
    Hodokete Aa
    Mahou ga toketa Boku wa hitori de aruite iku
    Sayonara Aa
    Aenaku naru ne Musunda omoi Makka na ito
    Yubikiri Aa
    Yasashii uso ni damasarenagara iretara ii

    Sayonara Aa

    Sayonara

    Aa