Dream or Nightmare?

[Kochou Mari]

How long has it been? Two weeks? Three? Damn, I lost count so long ago...

Not even bothering to strip of her clothes, Mari stood underneath the roaring waterfall, allowing the water to pelt her body as she pondered over everything that had happened to her.

First, she joined Squad 2. That's where all hell broke loose, because she had to fall in love...

But she really couldn't help it, when she thought about it. Soi Fon was just so irresistible... Damn, if she could just get her hands on her again, it would free her from this nighmarish fear that she had about this place... She'd seen so strange shadows lurking in the forests at night... She could hardly sleep, and was groggy and irritable during the...day...if you wanted to call it that.

"Damnit, Soi-chan..." Mari murmured to herself, tilting her head back and allowing the water to rush over her face. "Why can't you just face it? Why can't you just face that I love you, and accept it?"

"Agh, who the hell am I kidding?" she growled to herself, running her hands through her short brownish-red hair. "I'm nowhere near as powerful as Soi-chan..."

And then she came here. She followed Soi-chan in here and watched as half of the squad was left behind, leaving her and the other half...and Soi-chan...in this hellish place... But if she could get her alone...

"But..." A small smile formed on Mari's face, "Every little bumblebee has to be caught sometime..." Giggling softly, the seventh seat turned around, running her hands through her hair again. "I guess I'll just have to wait for her, eh?"

[Sato Koemi]

"Talking to yourself again, Mari-chan?" asked a sweet voice, leaning against a tree. The secluded waterfall was the only part of the fortress that was outside. The woman who asked the question wore the black shihakusho and bore the vicecaptain plate over her left arm, the number and flower on it baring the 13th Squad's insignia.

The female shinigami had dirty-gold-blonde hair and piercing, alluring and almost scary blue eyes, she had a beauty mark underneath her right eye. She folded her arms underneath her breasts and tilted her head at Mari.

She had followed Squad 2 into this hellish, nightmarish place upon orders from her captain, Ukitake Jushiro, to gather information on this new enemy they might be facing rather soon.. but once this woman got here, she had a hard time trying to find her way back..

Brushing her spikey bangs aside with a gentle flip of her lithe fingers, the female smiled "You know if you talk to yourself, people may start to wonder about your sanity, Mari-chan."

[Kochou Mari]

The sweet voice startled Mari out of her strange daydream, and she turned around, taking a deep breath of relief at the fact that it wasn't her captain that was standing there. Stepping out from underneath the waterfall, the dripping shinigami that was Mari stepped out of the water and wrung her hair out, then plopped down on the edge of the water.

"Psh, I'm already starting to wonder about my sanity. I really do think I'm going nuts, Koemi-san..." Mari said, closing her eyes. Resting her chin in the palm of her hand, she just began talking out of her head. "It sucks, I'll have you know, to be in love with your captain. You get all choked up any time they're around, and then when they ask, you just have to smile and shake your head, saying it's nothing..."

Shaking out her still-wet hair like a dog would, the seventh seat ran her fingers through it and straightened it out, sighing.

"Say, have you happened to have seen Soi-chan around anywhere?" she suddenly asked, her green eyes shining. "I really need to talk to her, but..." With a groan, she grabbed her head, shaking it.

"Who the hell am I kidding?! I won't be able to do it! I know I won't!" she snarled to herself. "I can't tell her! She'll think I'm crazy! She'll wonder about my sanity more than I do!"

[Sato Koemi]

Mari was suddenly pushed back into the water with a hard thump against her back.

Sato stood there, arms still crossed, but her left leg was raised up, as if she had kicked Mari into the water, which is in fact what she did. Sato's face was blank, but revealing a little sweetness through her eyes.

"You know better than to call me by my first name, first thing. Second thing, yes, I've seen her. Third thing, go talk to her, you'll rip your hair out otherwise, go insane and become Kaibutsu food. I'm sure the captain wouldn't like that at all, since you are at least a higher ranked seat. I'm sure she gets pissed enough with Omaeda always snacking, but thankfully he's not here. They needed someone to stay behind and comman some of the Stealth Force to protect Soul Society."

Sato set her foot down after a moment and gave a big smile that was true to her namesake as her head tilted sweetly "Want some candy?"

And very much like her candy-giving captain, Sato was a candy-given VICEcaptain, handing Mari some assortments of vanilla and honey-flavored candies "I double as not only a vicecaptain of the 13th Squad, but I also create the yummy candies from Kuriya~"

She winked sweetly, eating what seemed to be a flower-shaped candy suddenly.

She was a weird one indeed..

[Kochou Mari]

Mari had to bite down hard on her tongue to keep from letting loose a huge string of 'choice words' at that damned woman. Narrowing her eyes, she swiped a handful of those candies, then disappeared.

"What the hell?" she growled to herself, popping one of the sweet candies in her mouth. Surprised at how good it tasted, she just allowed it to melt in her mouth. She was now sitting at the top of the waterfall, on a rock that jutted out of the water. "She's not even part of this mission, and she goes around treating me--" shaking her head, she put another one of the honey-flavored candies in her mouth, sucking on it as she rolled onto her back, staring up at the sky.

"It tastes so good..." she said to herself. "I bet this is how Soi-chan would taste..." She couldn't help but shudder as she thought of grabbing hold of her little bumblebee, shoving her up against a wall, and just licking her face. "She'd probably taste just like this...or better, even..."

[Sato Koemi]

Sato scratched at her cheek lightly with her index finger and sweatdropped "I.. hope I didn't cross any lines..? .. Naaaah~"

Turning around, she folded her hands behind her back and stared at the ceiling longingly, as if trying to look through it and at the moon outside, a sad look crossing her features, her clear, glittering blue eyes "At least her loved one is here.. I'm stuck in this hellish place without my parring partner.. Oh Ikkaku.."

She shook her head and hugged herself to try and get her mind refocused on why she was there in the first place "No, Sato, remember why you're here. You're here to try and get information on this new enemy and try your damndest to try and get back to Soul Society with the things you've gathered up.. Right."

She slapped her cheeks to try and focus herself again and nodded, her hands two balled up fists and stared towards the exit, speaking to her swords "Alright.. let's go.. Time to go get our job done, my little Queen..

[Kochou Mari]

"I really want to tell her..." Mari murmured, her eyes reflecting the stars in the sky. The half-moon overhead seemed to shine down on her like a spotlight...oh, how she loathed being in the spotlight... It was one of those things she wanted to just stay out of, but she had long realized that when you were in love with your superior, that it was impossible to escape from that spotlight. You either had to make the crowd (or in Mari's case, her captain) love her, or be forced offstage.

"I'm just afraid, that's all... But I can get over it, right?" Standing up, she looked around. She was alone. Being by her lonesome was one of Mari's biggest pet peeves, but, nowadays, being alone seemed better than being in crowds...after all, she could just hold conversations with herself without seeming like she was crazy...

"But maybe I am crazy..." she said again, putting a vanilla-flavored candy in her mouth. Tasting the vanilla and the honey together made her shudder. "Mmm...On second thought, Soi-chan must taste like this..." she said, staring down the waterfall to the pool she was standing in but minutes before. She felt a strange feeling come over her, one that she hadn't felt in a long time...

"Soi-chaaaan~ Where are you?" Mari said in a singsong voice, disappearing, off to find her beloved captain.