Nobility Kills
By Uchiha Xairylle
First Drop : Murmurs And Offers
The sound of a baby's cry cut through whatever the girl was thinking — Suigintou Hisana. She looked at the crying baby in her arms as her dark blue eyes studied the features of her sister. The little girl was hungry and Hisana had nothing to feed her. Perhaps the roughness of the cloth patches she had stitched together was irritating her young skin. She began to rock the infant as she curled up into a ball, trying to make herself forget that she was also in a state of hunger. Her sister's cries could not bring herself to think of her own welfare first.
Hisana choked a short sob. This was not the time to cry. Whoever their parents were, she barely knew. They had been alone for as long as she remembered and in this district of Rukongai, the people do not necessarily form families to help each other simply because they believe that they should help themselves individually first than to worry for the welfare of other people. Children rested on the same level as adults and adults treated each other like swine. Power and wealth mattered. If you were powerful, if you were wealthy then you have a better chance on survival. But if you were a young girl with a crying little sister with no money and skill whatsoever, chances are, you're going to starve to death.
Just like now.
"There, there…" She muttered softly, trying to appease her sister with her presence. Hisana looked up at the sky that was threatening to be covered with dark clouds. She was hoping it would not rain. It was hard trying to protect Rukia from the rain. Hisana looked at the short distance between her and the ground before slowly making her way down. Although the wooden crate she had been sitting on shook from slight movements, Hisana actually had no choice and she crawled in before the large drops of rain could fall from the sky.
There was thunder.
And then there was lightning.
Hisana swallowed but no raindrops followed. She rubbed her toes together as she looked up at the two walls that enclosed her and her sister in the small alley. She gazed for a while, catching a glimpse of a white structure in a distance.
Sereitei.
How lovely would it be to be in such a place? Would the rain penetrate its roof? Hisana felt the top of her head touching the crate. What would it feel like to have a roof over your head?
DUGRUUUUM!!
Loud thunder cut through Hisana's thoughts and her sister cried again as she gasped, clutching the baby closer to her.
"There, there, Rukia..." Hisana whispered, "Oneesan is here..."
Hisana looked up at the dark, angry sky threatening to bring forth rain. If the sky were a monster, Hisana wondered what could appease it so that it would calm down. Did it argue with the sun? Did the sun hide from the angry rain clouds to protect itself? What a very selfish sun.
DUGRUUUM!!
Crisp sounds of thunder. And then lighting. Hisana had to look for a better place for temporary shelter. There could be a storm coming and the crate might not hold for so long. Rain would be bad for her sister.
If only the sun would stand up to the rain clouds. What a cowardly, selfish sun.
Hisana sneezed. And then Rukia sneezed. The older sister allowed herself a short giggle before rubbing her nose against her sister's cheek. The baby sneezed again, hushing from the crying she had been doing earlier. Hisana smiled and looked around, spying a small crack a good distance from where she was sitting. It was large enough for her to crawl in. Maybe it could be good temporary shelter for her and Rukia.
Hisana carefully crawled out of the crate she was in. For some reason, Rukia was calm now. At least Hisana could ease her mind for a while. With her sister in one arm, Hisana slowly crawled into the crack that was just the size for her. She could only see faintly due to the dim light but the walls of this building seemed to be so thick but the girl continued to squeeze herself through with much careful effort. Hisana finally made it with only a scratch and she sighed, dusting her self as she sat.
"We did it, Rukia! We're inside!" She muttered to her sister happily. And she looked around. In front of her was something big that was covered by giant cloth. Hisana felt the cloth with her finger and wondered if she could use it as their blanked at least for tonight.
"I told you we have to leave." Said a man's voice and Hisana swallowed the gasp that wanted to come out.
There were other people in this place!
"I had several problems along the way." Said another man.
"What could be a bigger problem than what we have now?"
There was a chuckle.
"I'm sorry about the delays with making the gigai."
"Haven't you made faux bodies for how many times already?"
B-bodies!?
Hisana clamped her lips together. Who were these people?
"Well, making a number of these would cause a bit of trouble. I'm sorry."
Hisana swallowed hard and squeezed her eyes tightly. She knew what she should do. She should crawl out using the path where she came from. She should crawl out with her sister and run far away from here before these men do anything bad. They sounded like murderers. Hisana had heard those people who took children and sold them as slaves. Hisana could hear her heart rapping.
She should stay away from these people.
Should she see their faces?
The curiosity would kill the cat but perhaps it would be good knowing so that she'd know the faces she'd stay away from.
Hisana slowly peeked from behind the boxes as slowly as possible. And her eyes nearly fell from her sockets when she saw a man with a black hat...
"Just get it done. We're in no position to be wasting time staying here!"
"I know, okay?"
... Talking to a talking black cat!
Hisana felt like her world was swirling and her breathing just got heavier but strangely quieter. There were several bodies on one side of the place. They had strange white masks over their faces. Were they all dead?
Hisana wanted to gasp.
There was a big muscle man to the far left. He was sitting cross-legged with eyes closed and his hands clasped together.
Was he sleeping? Was he thinking deeply? Was he dead? Or was he just constipated? Hisana was not sure if she wanted to know.
There was a man with pale hair. What was that he held? Cane? Walking stick? It was a thin walking stick probably to support his thin frame that seemed to be eaten by the looseness of his clothes. He was looking up atop a pile of boxes and above it was a black cat.
It had spoken earlier, hadn't it? She was hoping it was her imagination.
"I'm going out."
Ah! It spoke again! Hisana seriously wanted to faint. She had seen many outrageous things in Sereite such as men with strangely-colored skin and people with over-sized bodies but nothing like a talking cat!
"Get back to work, Kisuke. And hurry it up." The cat said in a man's voice before it turned and jumped out the small gash high on the wall.
"Hai, hai!" the man replied and stretched, cracking his neck and looked at the concentrating large man, "You've been doing a swell job hiding us. I better do my part."
He stretched again and started walking towards the bodies lined up leaning on the wall. Were those dead bodies? Were those sick people? Were those just dolls? Hisana swallowed hard. She wanted to run and her guts were telling her to but her body responded otherwise. She seemed to have been impaled to where she was and she shuddered in fear somehow. Fear of what? Well, she was usually afraid of anything, anyway but still...
At this point, the man pulled out something from his sleeve.
It was glowing.
It was round.
And Rukia started to cry.
"Who's there?" Kisuke immediately put on a black hat. Hisana hid and started rocking her sister to pacify her. She wanted to cover the baby's mouth but she couldn't do so without choking her to death.
"Who's there?" Kisuke again, "Show yourself. I already know your there."
Hisana could hear footsteps walking towards her. That could be just one person — that person who wore that black hat and held that thin walking stick. And if Hisana looked, she would see how Urahara Kisuke had drawn a thin sword out of that "walking stick". But there was no way Hisana would have looked because her knees had shaken and her sister's cries were now the only thing she could hear. Kisuke had come closer to the sound of the baby's cry. What could a baby be doing in a place like this? It was behind the boxes where the gigai were in. He could not risk so much.
In one quick movement, Urahara stepped behind the boxes. The small beggar girl's senses were jarred in surprise and she released a scream upon seeing a man with a sword at her. The baby's cries grew louder as Hisana crawled back desperately from Urahara. Perhaps it was adrenaline that allowed her to got up a bit clumsily but she did not run out the crack from where she entered. Instead she ran around blindly around the boxes and bumped into something. Hisana fell back sitting, bouncing on her bottom as she held her still crying sister. Hisana was now close to tears as she opened her eyes and looked at the man who was concentrating. He looked larger now that she was this close and the only thing that her body permitted her to do was to scream... again.
"Oh, my..." Urahara scratched his head. In one flash step, he was gone. And in another instant, he was behind the frightened beggar girl.
"Hush, dear." He said and covered her mouth. Hisana struggled against him but she was too weak to do anything. She could feel his fingers tightening against her jaw. Was she going to die here?
- First Drop Dries -
AN: It's been ages since I've written something. At this time, I've got three fics hanging and I'm not sure if I should do them or ditch them. Just not enough time and adrenaline anymore. I've gone back to school and it's my last year this year. This story's been in storage for more than a year and it had undergone more than ten revisions, I think. Poor me. –sigh- The spark suddenly, er, sparked earlier and I had myself typing. It's my first ByakuHisa fic. I'm also trying to come up with an IchiRuki fic though there are still a few loopholes in the story. (The whole thing makes me excited though. Haha.) Anyway, as I've said, this is my first ByakuHisa fic so please be gentle!
R&R! Cheerios, cookies and a whole lot of Bankai love!
P.S.
I remade my profile. Hope you check it out. Yay!
