Sleep was a luxury for Muten Natsu.
When he first arrived in Seireitei, Muten Natsu had not yet mastered Myōki's Shikai, but Myōki's power had already begun to take effect and created the Primordial Form.
Every time he fell asleep, Muten Natsu would be killed by the Primordial Form.
Only when he stayed by Retsu Unohana's side, with her Reiatsu suppressing Myōki's power, could he get a truly comfortable night's sleep.
When he was locked away in the Nest of Maggots and his Bokukō was confiscated, Muten Natsu finally got the chance to communicate with Myōki alone. That was how he came to master it and seal away the Primordial Form.
But after the deaths of Takuma and Kaien Shiba, he had no choice but to push himself to grow stronger as quickly as possible. For him, falling asleep became the beginning of training.
After leaving Soul Society, he overused the power of the Hell Flames, and his body was nearly burned to ashes. Even though he survived with Retsu Unohana's help, he lost almost all of his strength.
After reuniting with Rukia Kuchiki and recovering part of his power, Muten Natsu returned to a life where sleep meant training.
Even after regaining all of his strength in Soul Society, new dangers forced him to become even stronger, forced him to improve as quickly as possible, and made rest something he only allowed himself when absolutely necessary.
Only today, after collapsing into a coma from sheer mental and physical exhaustion, could he finally sleep properly without any reservations.
Rukia Kuchiki's fingertips gently smoothed the crease between Muten Natsu's brows, easing it away little by little.
She had always liked him best when he was asleep.
Quiet and obedient, not going anywhere, not doing anything dangerous.
Back at the Shin'ō Academy of Spiritual Arts, Muten Natsu used to sleep in class.
Whenever it was time to change classrooms, Rukia Kuchiki would gently poke him with one small finger and watch him wake from his tangled dreams, groggily calling her name in a blurred, sleepy voice.
Most importantly, when Muten Natsu was asleep, Rukia Kuchiki could do whatever she wanted...
Her fingertips traced lightly across Muten Natsu's face. When they came to rest on his slightly parted lips, she jerked her hand back as though she had been burned.
"Rukia?" Orihime Inoue stepped in and called softly, "Dinner's ready."
"Mm."
After dinner, Rukia Kuchiki returned to Muten Natsu's room and set the bread and water Orihime Inoue had prepared for him by the bedside.
That way, if Muten Natsu woke up hungry in the middle of the night, there would be something for him to eat.
Orihime Inoue returned to her own room and was immediately met with the strange looks from Rangiku Matsumoto and Ririn.
Ririn was sitting on the bed while Rangiku Matsumoto was in the middle of helping her get dressed up.
"What are you doing here?" Rangiku Matsumoto stopped what she was doing. "This is your room."
Ririn looked at her helplessly. "Do you hear yourself right now?"
This was Orihime Inoue's room. If anyone should be leaving, it shouldn't be Orihime Inoue, right?
"Rukia's taking care of Muten..." Orihime Inoue clapped her hands together. "Ah, did I interrupt you two? Maybe... I should go sleep in Rukia's room..."
"You know that's not what I mean." Rangiku Matsumoto let out a sigh. "Why aren't you the one taking care of Muten? You obviously want to."
"I..."
Rangiku Matsumoto put on a stern face. "Hm?"
Orihime Inoue pressed her lips together. "So much happened today. Rukia probably wants to stay with Muten a little longer... alone."
"Never mind whether your guess is right or not." Rangiku Matsumoto idly twined a lock of hair around her finger. "Before you start guessing what someone else is thinking, shouldn't you figure out what you're thinking first?"
Orihime Inoue avoided her gaze. "I'm fine..."
"A Zanpakutō's power reflects the heart of its Shinigami. Your power is different from a Shinigami's, but your Shun Shun Rikka is actually quite similar to a Zanpakutō." Rangiku Matsumoto's eyes paused briefly on Orihime Inoue's hairpin. "Compared to Santen Kesshun and Sōten Kisshun, your Koten Zanshun is much weaker, isn't it?"
"...Yeah."
"More than hurting people, you want to protect them and heal them." Rangiku Matsumoto gently patted Orihime Inoue's head. "That kindness is a good thing. But there's someone you've been hurting this whole time. Haven't you realized it?"
"Huh?" Orihime Inoue looked up in confusion.
"She's a kind, adorable girl," Rangiku Matsumoto said, looking straight into Orihime Inoue's eyes. "A little silly, too. Silly enough not to realize that hurting herself is also a kind of harm."
Orihime Inoue lightly bit her lip. "But..."
"You're not the only one who feels bad when someone beside you is hurting." Rangiku Matsumoto's voice turned earnest. "The bond between you isn't that fragile. Sometimes, being a little selfish is okay."
Orihime Inoue was too considerate, so considerate that it made Rangiku Matsumoto's heart ache.
She had suffered because of other people's malice, so she never wanted to hurt anyone else.
She had also felt the happiness brought by other people's kindness, so she wanted to help others.
But life never goes exactly the way people want. Conflict between people is unavoidable.
And yet Orihime Inoue, who had once been all alone and only managed to walk out of that darkness with the help of others, always did everything she could to avoid conflict.
Part of it was because she treasured her companions. Another part was because she never wanted to see the regret of her brother's death repeated.
Rangiku Matsumoto knew nothing about Orihime Inoue's past, but she still keenly sensed how carefully Orihime Inoue handled her relationships with other people.
This time, it was not because of what they had in common, but because of how different they were.
When Rangiku Matsumoto was with Tōshirō Hitsugaya, she had never once worried about whether she might be offending him.
As a result, nearly all the Lieutenants, along with some of the Captains, envied the way the two of them got along.
Close, easy, and relaxed.
That was what made Rangiku Matsumoto realize that politeness itself was a kind of distance.
Everyone is different, and no one can be sure whether another person will accept their true self.
To avoid unnecessary conflict, most people, when they first meet, hide who they really are behind the minimum moral standards everyone follows, just to make sure the interaction can proceed smoothly.
Like how a married couple may eventually bare themselves completely to each other, but if they did that the very first time they met, there probably would not be any "eventually."
But if two people are already husband and wife, already lying in the same bed, and still keeping themselves wrapped up tight, then their relationship cannot grow any deeper either.
That was exactly Orihime Inoue's problem.
Rangiku Matsumoto lowered her head, looked at Orihime Inoue's curvy figure all bundled up in a hoodie, and bluntly pointed it out.
"You're wearing too much."
Orihime Inoue blinked. "Huh?"
So that was the problem?
Ririn's doll-like face was full of exasperation. "You know, I feel like you skipped over a whole lot of reasoning there that really should not have been skipped."
"Did I?" Rangiku Matsumoto blinked. "Well... never mind. The important thing is to get the idea."
Ririn looked even more sympathetic toward Orihime Inoue. "How is she supposed to get it from that?"
Knock. Knock-knock.
There was a knock at the door, followed by Rukia Kuchiki's voice.
"Orihime, are you asleep?"
"No." Orihime Inoue hurried over and opened the door. "What is it?"
"Um..." Rukia Kuchiki hesitated for a moment. "Tonight... let's sleep together."
Ririn: "..."
What?
"I'm a little worried about Muten, so I was thinking of sleeping over there tonight. But if it's just me sleeping with him, and it's not for the sake of getting stronger, then it feels a little strange." Rukia Kuchiki explained to the confused Orihime Inoue, "You get stronger from it, so if you come too, there's no problem. If it's the three of us together, then it won't be strange."
So it was three people sleeping together.
For a second, Ririn had thought Rukia Kuchiki had come to ask Orihime Inoue to sleep with her, just the two of them.
Ririn nodded to herself.
With Orihime Inoue naturally joining in, Rukia Kuchiki could take care of Muten Natsu while also neatly avoiding any awkwardness tomorrow morning.
How delightful. Truly delightful...
Yeah right!
Wasn't three people even weirder?
Rukia Kuchiki made it sound perfectly reasonable, but something was obviously off here.
What, exactly, was off?
Hmm... she could not quite put her finger on it.
Wait.
There was one thing that was definitely strange.
Why did Rukia Kuchiki think sleeping together without the goal of getting stronger was "a little strange"?
Given her relationship with Muten Natsu, she should not have had that kind of concern.
After all, when Retsu Unohana slept with Muten Natsu, Rukia Kuchiki had not found that strange at all.
"Okay." Orihime Inoue nodded. "Just give me a moment to change into my pajamas."
"Mm."
Rangiku Matsumoto gave Orihime Inoue a wink.
"What did I tell you?"
Orihime Inoue's big eyes shimmered, and delight rose from the corners of her lips all the way to her brows.
Standing outside the Shijū Saimon, Orihime Inoue stopped when she saw Rukia Kuchiki throw herself into Muten Natsu's arms.
This was good.
After they returned home, she saw Rukia Kuchiki sitting watch by Muten Natsu's bedside, and quietly left his room.
That was good too.
Rangiku Matsumoto had pointed out her problem, and Rukia Kuchiki had come knocking on her door, making Orihime Inoue understand...
This was even better.
In the warm room, on the even warmer bed, Orihime Inoue quietly shifted in the darkness and leaned against Muten Natsu.
["Sometimes, being a little selfish is okay."]
Orihime Inoue wrapped her arms around Muten Natsu's arm.
I want...to be a little more selfish with you.
Pressed close to Muten Natsu's body and listening to his familiar breathing, Rukia Kuchiki drifted peacefully off to sleep.
The sunlight was bright enough to lift the spirit. Rukia Kuchiki raised her hand, and a crystal-clear snowflake landed in her palm.
A summer sky, bright and clear, yet snow drifted through the air.
Warm sunlight shone on the cool snowflakes, refracting into dazzling colors, dreamlike and unreal.
[Here...]
Rukia Kuchiki heard a clear, chill voice calling through the wind and snow. She turned and saw a blurred figure among the swirling flakes.
This is...
Without thinking, Rukia Kuchiki moved toward the figure in the snowstorm.
That figure flickered in and out amid the flying snow, sometimes near, sometimes far.
At times it vanished right before her eyes, only to appear again in another direction the next instant.
[I'm here...]
A faint voice drifted in on the breeze.
Clear sky. Blowing snow. Warm sunlight. Cool snowflakes. A blurred figure. A gentle wind.
Everything about it was strange, and yet all of it fit together perfectly, because this was...
"The inner world," Rukia Kuchiki murmured softly.
This world where windblown snow and warm sunlight coexisted was the inner world created by Sode no Shirayuki and her soul together.
Back then, after hearing Sode no Shirayuki's voice and mastering Shikai, she had entered this world.
As long as she could materialize her Zanpakutō and make it submit, she would be able to master Bankai and gain even greater power.
The blurred figure in the snow was clearly the manifested form of Sode no Shirayuki.
But...
Rukia Kuchiki walked on through the wind and snow, trying to get closer to that figure.
Yet the distance only seemed to grow.
[I'm here...]
Sode no Shirayuki's voice came through the wind.
Rukia Kuchiki stopped.
"Sode no Shirayuki... can you hear my voice?"
[Come a little closer...]
Rukia Kuchiki moved toward the sound. The gentle breeze gradually turned sharp, the warm sun grew more scorching, and the cool snowflakes became colder and colder, the chill sinking all the way into her bones.
Rukia Kuchiki raised a hand in front of her face and forced herself onward, enduring both the burning sunlight and the freezing wind and snow.
These were only illusions within the inner world. As long as she kept going and found Sode no Shirayuki, she would be able to complete her Bankai.
Holding fast to that belief, Rukia Kuchiki pressed onward.
[Come here...]
Rukia Kuchiki suddenly stopped.
The voice had come from behind her.
[I'm here...]
Did she go the wrong way?
Rukia Kuchiki changed direction and continued forward.
The sun grew hotter and hotter, yet the snowflakes did not melt. Instead, they became even colder.
Rukia Kuchiki felt as though the sun were baking the moisture out of her body, while her hands and feet were freezing to the point of losing all sensation.
"Sode no Shirayuki..." Rukia Kuchiki stared at the figure in the snow, which seemed to be getting farther and farther away. "Why won't you come closer to me?"
The more she tried to draw near Sode no Shirayuki, the farther away Sode no Shirayuki seemed.
Sode no Shirayuki was clearly the one calling to her, yet every time Rukia Kuchiki tried to get closer, Sode no Shirayuki retreated instead.
If this went on, she would never catch up to Sode no Shirayuki, let alone make Sode no Shirayuki submit and master Bankai.
[Am I the one unwilling to draw near...]
The figure in the distance suddenly vanished, and Rukia Kuchiki heard a whisper right by her ear.
[Or are you the one moving away?]
The cutting wind felt as though it might tear her body apart. Rukia Kuchiki spun around sharply, and a pair of ice-blue eyes came into view.
Cold...and sorrowful.
Reflected in Rukia Kuchiki's eyes was a breathtakingly beautiful face. A woman dressed in a white long-sleeved furisode kimono, with snow-white hair streaming behind her, vanished into the storm of snow.
"Sode no Shirayuki..." Rukia Kuchiki called softly, just as the figure was swallowed by the blizzard.
I saw her...
Rukia Kuchiki slowly opened her eyes, still a little dazed.
As expected of the most beautiful Zanpakutō in Soul Society, even Sode no Shirayuki's manifested form was stunning enough to steal the breath away.
Glancing at the sleeping Muten Natsu beside her, Rukia Kuchiki carefully withdrew the arm she had wrapped around him.
What exactly had Sode no Shirayuki meant by those words?