AN: Hello! I decided to finally put this up. I've been working on it for a little while, but I wasn't really confident enough to put it up... I hope you all like it. This one-shot is what will start a bit of a series I'm working on for Yumi.
I hope you read that as well.
Please enjoy. Reviews are greatly appreciated!
Disclaimer: Silly me! I forgot it! I wish I owned Bleach, but I don't. ^.^
I walk the path never taken.
I walk this path alone.
I will continue to walk this lonesome path
Forever more.
Fake Karakura Town was in ruins. Buildings were crumbling and bodies were strewn across the battlefield, Soul Reaper and Arrancar. The captains had just been cut down, along with the remaining Vizards. Aizen had already left for real Karakura Town, and Ichigo was following him. Captain Unohana and the rest of the fourth division were rushing from one place to the other, like red fire ants, trying to heal all of the injured.
A petite figure walked out of the shadows of a crumbled building, just as Ichigo's spiritual pressure disappeared. Yumichika Ayasegawa, the fifth seat of the eleventh division. "Damn," he hissed, rubbing the back of his head. "Damn Kira and Hisagi. I can't believe they knocked me out and just left me somewhere." He looked around slowly from where he was standing. He wasn't very high up, but high enough to see quite a long distance. From where he stood, he could see the ruined fake city in front of him, large buildings falling apart, whatever greenery present destroyed, not one thing left undamaged. He silently regarded everything around him. No one had noticed Yumichika standing there. He was pretty sure they had forgotten about him, though, someone would notice eventually that he was still missing. And by someone, he meant Ikkaku. Scanning the area around with two violet eyes, watching with a hawk like gaze, Yumichika noticed two soul reapers; two petite figures, bodies mangled, lying on the ground not too far away. They hadn't been found yet, so they hadn't been healed, if they were even alive still.
Yumichika made his way over to the two fallen soul reapers, slowly, quietly, in case they were still conscious. As he neared, he realized that one was wearing a distinguishable captain's haori, and the other, a lieutenant's badge. Yumichika blinked a couple times, violet eyes widening slightly, hoping he was seeing things. His breath caught slightly in his throat and the feeling of dread entered his being as he neared the two fallen soul reapers, hoping his eyes were deceiving him. "Are they…? I think they are… Damn. This can't be good," he thought to himself. He reached the two injured soul reapers, only to find they were Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Hinamori.
From the looks of it, they were dying. Both were unconscious and fatally injured. Blood covered the two injured death gods, the metallic scent of the red, foul-smelling liquid heavy in the air, the crimson liquid splattered on the ground. Yumichika slowly approached both of them, trying to recover from his initial shock, worry and doubt worming its way to the front of his mind instead of staying in the back where it belonged, and inspected their wounds. "This isn't good… And Captain Unohana isn't here yet. In fact, I don't see any fourth division members around right now…"
Yumichika looked around; worried, hoping that just by some slight chance, a fourth division member would appear to heal them. No one. The vain soul reaper started to chew on his thumb, a habit he had whenever he was really worried. "What can I do? I can't just leave them like this… I have to do something." An idea hit him. Kidou! Of course! Yumichika could use kidou to heal them! He didn't have to wait for the fourth division when he had the ability to heal them himself.
The moment the idea hit him, he disregarded it completely, trying to push the idea out of his head, scolding himself for even thinking about the idea in the first place, telling himself that it was no way he would do it. But thinking it over, one option seemed to outweigh the other, and vice-versa. He could use kidou, and save Captain Hitsugaya's and Lieutenant Hinamori's lives, or he could not, and let them die. Neither option was any good at all. And there wasn't enough time to go find a fourth division member. The pros outweighed the cons, and Yumichika couldn't come to a decision that would do any good. If he used kidou, there was the possibility of getting caught, and he couldn't risk that. But if he didn't, the young white-haired captain and his childhood friend would die.
Yumichika wished he had never found them. He couldn't seem to come to a decision, and he was losing precious time. They were dying.
You're just too scared. A voice sneered in his head.
Yumichika scowled, recognizing the all too familiar voice that only he could hear. Kujaku, he snarled at his zanpakuto.
Stop fooling yourself. They'll die you don't do anything. You should know that of all people. His stubborn sword spirit continued to mock him, trying to lure him into submission. Yumichika was stubborn. He refused to give in to his zanpakuto's suggestions.
Shut up. Yumichika snarled back to Ruri'iro Kujaku. I know what I'm doing. I don't need to heal them myself. A fourth division member will get here. Yumichika knew he was fighting a losing battle with his zanpakuto, but if there was anything he hated more than having a kidou based zanpakuto, it was having one that was right at moments like these.
He heard a soft scoff from his sword's spirit before the vain spirit went quiet, letting Yumichika muse in his own thoughts—letting his partner struggle with the decision that would've been easy for any other soul reaper with his abilities.
Yumichika sighed. There was no other option. Ruri'iro Kujaku was right, even though it pained him to admit so. He had no choice. So much for his eleventh division pride; though he would never, ever, admit this to anyone. Now he was in a bad mood. The vain soul reaper promptly stopped chewing his thumb.
Yumichika quickly checked the surrounding area to make sure no one was around. Pondering for a couple of minutes, Yumichika finally decided to heal Hinamori first, knowing full well that the small captain would be furious if he found out that whoever had healed them hadn't healed Momo first. He knelt down by Lieutenant Hinamori and placed his hands over her fatal wound. A blue glow encompassed his hands as he focused on healing her. The blue glow grew immensely bright, threatening to give away his position. Yumichika hadn't realized how powerful the kidou spell would be. In fact, he was surprised he even remembered how to use healing kidou. He quickly lowered the level of the kidou spell, so he wouldn't attract any attention with the bright glow.
He narrowed his eyes at the wounds slowly healing beneath his fingertips. "Their wounds are healing faster than I expected. Was I always this good at kidou?" Yumichika wondered, quickly dismissing his thoughts and focusing on healing the fallen lieutenant. He quickly finished getting her condition as stable as he could and moved on to heal Captain Hitsugaya.
He glanced around again; checking to make sure no one had seen him. "I hope no one sees me using kidou… That would be troublesome." He swiftly finished healing Captain Hitsugaya, and stood up.
"I guess I should go. I don't want to be caught here. It'll make it obvious that I was the one who healed them," Yumichika sighed. Great. He was talking to himself. Yumichika swore he was going insane. It was almost laughable. The almighty fifth seat narcissist of the eleventh division was a natural at kidou.
He quickly walked away, taking one look back, to find that Captain Hitsugaya was barely conscious and was looking directly at him. For a moment, Yumichika panicked, fear entering system at the prospect of someone else knowing about his kidou abilities. If Captain Hitsugaya knew he was the one who healed him…
Yumichika held the small captain's gaze, violet eyes locked on azure eyes. Hitsugaya's eyes, Yumichika noted, were glazed and dull, seeing but unseeing, not truly able to take in what was being seen. The short-tempered captain, Yumichika mused, was most likely only seeing the outline of everything in front of him. But the petite shinigami wasn't about to believe that so quickly, there being a chance that Hitsugaya did indeed see him. To Yumichika's relief, the young captain's eyes closed. Yumichika smiled softly and flashed stepped away from the sight, eyes lighting in delight that his secret was still safe.
The petite soul reaper knew his zanpakuto was celebrating his own achievement in getting his master to put his natural ability for kidou to use. The fifth seat stopped by a fallen building and looked back. He could sense Captain Unohana's spiritual pressure nearing the unconscious captain and lieutenant. Yumichika quickly drew in his own spiritual pressure, lowering it enough so he would not get caught so close. Yumichika turned away and continued walking, getting far enough from the sight to be seen by anyone, and was about to flash step to where all the other soul reapers were gathered when he abruptly stopped.
He brought his right hand up to the ruined feathers on his right brow and eyelash. He took off the burned feathers. "There's no point in wearing them anymore. They're ruined," he sighed softly. Yumichika placed the singed feathers in his left hand and silently burned them with a low level hado spell, his violet eyes watching the dancing spell in his hand, gently reflecting the light given off by the kidou. Yumichika slowly walked away from the area, melting into the shadows, disappearing nearly completely, but not before turning his head towards the fallen captain and lieutenant, eyes shadowed, a somewhat amused gleam in violet orbs, and smiling.
I walk the path never taken.
I still walk this lonely path.
And I will continue to walk this treacherous path
Until it destroys me in the end.