Disclaimer: I do not own anything besides the few original works I may include in the future.
Summary: Eshima was just a girl from District 80. She knew only gore, loss and agony. They swoop her up into their lifestyle. Will she accept this new status she has been given or continue down the path that will lead her own demise?
WARNING: May have triggers
"Family Is Forever"
Chapter 1 "Grace"
Three small forms laid on the cold damp ground. The largest of the free was in the middle while the two smaller ones huddled around looking for enough warmth to survive the night. It had been quite a bit chillier for them since their fourth member had died a few months ago. The smallest had a ragtag yellow blanket over her with a few stray ringlets sticking up and ankles hanging out the other end. On the other side topaz eyes starred up at rotten beams above.
Two pairs of large arms wrapped around her tiny frame. An eardrum shattering scream escaped her. Her skin was on fire, like she was being burned alive. She shut her eyes tightly closed. When she opened her eyes what remained of teenage boy and middle-aged man that had shielded her was a heap of clothes. She fell to her knees as all the life around her vanished into thin air. She gasped for air as if it was being sucked right out of her lungs. The air was heavy like it was going to crush her and so thick a knife couldn't cut thru it. Her jelly legs had enough strength to stand upright and took off. Her foot slipped under a root. Her head smacked against the ground and she blacked out. She saw a glimpse of a black robe and an eerie feeling. Like something wasn't quite right. Large amount of Reiatsu had vanished. Several Shinigami with masks, hallow masks, fighting. Her eyes flicked open. The stars and the grass swirled around until it was all a blur. A strange man in a black coat and unfamiliar voices. Soul reapers with masks. Hallow masks. What was going on?
The small child could not wrap her head around what had she had witnessed in the forest…how along ago was it now? It felt like yesterday. Her eyes were bloodshot from a lack of sleep. Sleeping since then was so difficult. Suddenly the air was being sucked out of her lungs, just like that night. The air was so heavy it felt like it was crushing her chest again. She couldn't breathe. She coughed and gasped. The air felt bad, it felt evil. Like it was reaching out to strangle her. She felt like her blood was ice. She knew it hadn't been those masks giving her the heebie-jeebies. Her eyes fluttered shut as her entire body went limp. Her mind started to drift back to a few days ago when Kiminobu went missing.
A young boy with sandy hair grinning like a Cheshire cat. His green eyes like the first blades of grass after snow had melted. There was a bounce to his gait. He had a spark to him. A spark that could make the coldest of nights warm.
Mangled limbs. There was nothing in his eyes. So much blood. It was everywhere. Tiny arms wrapping around his chest begging, pleading. But the spark was gone along with his life. Her hand slipped into his pocket pulling out the small dagger, she knew he would have hated the idea of her using it but just didn't have him anymore to protect her. She had to protect herself and to do that she needed a weapon. A deep guttural growl her eyes became tennis balls. It would have been the end of her, but a flash of a black uniform form the corner of her eye. She never saw their face.
Tears streamed down her face. She missed her brother. They were two of kind, made from the same cloth. They were supposed to be together, forever. Time to time she'd watch the doorway at sunset expecting him to come walking in. He never did. His voice so distant now as the memory started to fade. Not a sound escaped her lips. She would not be weak. She was strong. She was brave. She would not cry. Crying is weakness and weakness is death. Her eyes flickered open for a few minutes. She shivered not feeling any heat around her. The glimmer of the full moon was eclipsed by darkness as a dreamless slumber engulfed her mind once again.
Golden beams dance between the beams inched across the dirt. It tried to peal open her eyes. She rolled over burying her head in her arms. It traced against the skin penetrating her dark little hole too. It would not win! She squeezed her eyes shut. Her hand flayed around in the air smacking into the dirt. Her eyes shot open and she rolled onto her back rubbing her hand. It took a moment for it to register. She looked next to her and no one was there besides the shredded pieces of yellow cloth. Rubbing her fingers across her eyes digging the shard of gunk out of her eyes. She blinked a few times.
"Rie…Sumiye!"
A grain of rice could have dropped and she would have heard it. Her friends, no her sisters, were gone. She couldn't see them anywhere. She felt a pitiful wisp of purple Reiatsu. Rie. Where was it coming from? Her eyes drifted up towards the beams. Her body turned to stone her eyes frozen at the size of a tennis ball. A blood droplet pooled right in front of her left big toe. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. But nothing came out. She hung her head high and stepped outside of the hut. There was nothing here for her anymore. She set off in the early morning light to the unknown of the future.
Drunks sat in dark alleys hiccupping and muttering to themselves. A few souls laid on the sidewalk, possible asleep or maybe dead. The piercing wail of a starving infant cut thru the morning breeze. Livid voices. A blood curdling scream. The crying stopped. One foot in front of the other she kept walking. She had been walking for days. She wasn't even sure what district this was.
Every step felt like fifty. It took all she had not to allow her quivering legs to give out. Her arms hung limply at her side. Her eyes were dark and droopy. Her feet kept on moving one step at a time towards an unknown goal. No friends. No family. No money. She had nothing. She was nothing. That look of disgust as if she was just a mere piece of trash proved her worth to herself. They all looked her the same clenching their belongings tightly. She just kept on lugging alone. Either she would die or someone would eventually take pity on her.
Smooth dark brown oozed between her toes. Her eyes too tired to really admire or pay notice to the trees around her. She had stumbled into a forest. Pebbles were mountains, sticks were trees, and moss was grass. Ever obstacle made her stumble. A miniscule pebble sent her body tumbling forward. Her arms failed her. She laid face down in the dirt path. Darkness had nearly completely engulfed her when she felt strong arms lifting her she caught a glimpse of spike black hair before she could no longer struggle against the darkness.
Rei's long caramel hair flowed in the warm breeze. She smiled brightly as she chased after Sumiye, a petite girl with fizzy puffball black hair. Sumiye turned back looking at her other friend and shook her head pointing towards a door in the middle of the meadow. Rei rolled her eyes pushing the other girl towards the door. "Go back Eshima, it's not your time. We will meet again, someday," Rei said to the younger girl. "I don't want to go back! Please! I don't want to be alone!" Sumiye anxiously twirled her hair before she said "You won't be alone. Trust me. Even when you think you are we are always in your heart."
"You go out for a walk and you bring back a girl! What is wrong with you?"
He just smiled at his sister. The limp tiny form on the futon laid motionless even while his sister was shouting. Poor kid. Since the moment he saw her in the middle of the path he could feel the sadness in her heart it seem to poor out of her. No kid should be so sad. His eyes looked softly towards her.
"Look at this way, Ganju has a new playmate," he said with a grin.
"That's what you said about that damn boar piglet, that eats fucking everything!"
"Will you stop shouting? What would have mom and dad said if I had left her there to die when I could have done something about it? It's not like we can't afford to fed another person and we have plenty of room."
"Fine she can stay."
"You never really had a say in the matter."
"Sometimes I hate you."
"Yeah-yeah. I'm the worse big brother ever. You tell me that every day."
A growl only a teenage girl can manage to make roared outside in the hallway. He just shook his head. He knew she loved him and that she knew that he loved her, teenagers were just…teenagers. He looked at the feeble slight girl before him. No child should be this thin. She was lighter than a feather to carry here.
Knock. Knock. "Brother I got the blanket you asked for," said a young boy peeking around the door. The older boy smiled at him. After all what brother wouldn't be proud of his little brother so willing to help out.
"Bring it her then," he said. The boy scurried over holding out the blanket. The older boy took and tossed it over the young girl before tucking it tightly behind her. It would keep her warm and slow her down from escaping. He knew the girl would be frightened when she awoke and in her state she wouldn't last long on her own.
"Who is she?" asked the boy.
"She is family now that is all the matters. She is your sister wither she wants to be or not. Do you think you can look out for her?" he asked ruffling the boy's hair.
"Of-of course I can. But don't girls have cooties," said the boy.
"Family doesn't have cooties," he chuckled.
"How-how do I look out for her?" the boy asked.
"You do the best you can," he said "no go off to bed. She isn't going anywhere."
The boy scurried down the hall. The teenage boy secured the window making sure she wasn't going to be able to attempt to escape from it. He knew the first reflex of a street kid was to flee and the second was to fight. As weak as she was she wouldn't last three days on her own. There was a heavy black cloud looming over the girl and he was determined to chase it away.
"Welcome to the Shiba family kid. You're stuck with us whether you want us or not," he said shutting the door behind him. He nodded at the guard he had asked to watch the room not that the girl was going anywhere even if she did manage to stand up and walk.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading. This is replacing 'Two of a Kind'. Don't worry Hiroko is making an appearance. Let me know if you like it or not. I hope to have chapter two done and edited soon.
Update 3/24: Uploaded the wrong draft, sorry about that
Update 3/29: I fixed a few plot holes and spelling mistakes.