A/n: Long story short, I was rereading some Bleach and got a burst of inspiration for some Hisagi. I wasn't going to post it, but I like what I have so far, so why not? It's a pretty self-contained story. Small cast, no giant battles. Preemptive apologies for any mistakes I make that goes against canon.
Warning: Violence, a whole lot of swearing, implications. Might change ratings later, depending on the direction I take. Also, long chapters. I want to keep the chapter count down.
Rinse and Repeat
Chapter 1
The fucker was short, but he was heavy—not just with fat, but some muscle too—and kicked around enough that Sae had to yell for Hiromu to open the door. She didn't want her hands off his collar. The door was locked with three bolts, but Hiromu got them open, then ducked aside just as Sae hurled the shit onto the asphalt.
"You fucking bitch," he slurred against the ground. "You fucking bitch." He began to pick himself up, but Sae slammed a foot onto his fingers, and he screeched. He screeched again when she kept pressing, until finally there was a wet crunch. She kicked him in the head to stop his howling. It did its work. His head rolled to the side, and he went limp, still breathing, but not much else. Sae leaned over and gave him a quick pat down. A wallet in his left pocket, a Rolex, and a neck chain that looked like gold, but weighed like imitation. Nice family picture. Kid was cute. She took the Rolex, and the money in the wallet, then spat on his face and tossed everything else.
"He's out," she called.
Hiromu shuffled out of the safe house, the duffel bag beside him, so full it was nearly half his size. He had to drag it out by the straps. "I got everything. I think."
"The ammo?"
"I put them in first. Is he dead?" He was peering at the man on the ground.
"Eh."
"Sae!"
"Aw get off my back, little man. He's not dead. Can't you see he's breathing? He'll be fine. Just call the hospital once we're out of here. Once we're out of here." She slung the duffel bag over her shoulder, then held out a hand. Hiromu pulled her cap out of his pocket and handed it to her. She put the cap on, lowering the brim and arranging her bangs so it obscured her face. "Can you still make out the blood?"
Hiromu shook her head, then took her hand as they began to walk towards the dock exits. "Not unless you really look, I guess. But we're out of stitches stuff."
"What, I need stitches?"
"Mmhm."
"Huh." She touched her split lip, then the slash under her right eye, and over her forehead, which was still bleeding. "Doesn't feel like it. I mean, it doesn't really hurt."
"Well you do," Hiromu retorted, looking sullen.
Sae closed her eyes, then opened them again, blinking. Come to think of it, she was starting to get light-headed. And it wasn't the kind of light-headed she could just—concentrate away either. Gripping Hiromu's hand, she pulled him into a jog. "We need to get to a crowd or something. Come on."
They ran until the dock entrance was just up ahead, then slowed to a power walk. Sae was too nauseous for anything more. The dock surrounding them was little more than a fortress of shipping containers. Miles and miles of them, all the same silhouette black at night, massive and silent. Could be hiding anything behind them. The fuck was Tokyo good for if it every inch of it wasn't covered with people? And okay, at nine p.m. the docks would be empty. The fat man—Takeshi, or Tadashi or something—wouldn't have chosen it otherwise, and a guy like him? Some kind of yakuza lieutenant, skimming supplies to sell on side, his crazy ass boss be damned? So she got it. But that didn't make it any better. Had she known sooner just how deserted this place was, she—shit, she still would've taken the deal. They were selling ammo. She needed that ammo. They wouldn't last a week without that ammo.
"Sae, you're walking crooked."
"Don't kid me. I'm walking plenty straight."
So the deal had gone sour. That was okay. They'd gotten what they came for, and then some. Almost seven hundred rounds, and it'd cost her nothing. And Hiromu was hung up on stitches? She'd lose an eye for a deal this good. More than an eye. If they can make it to a main street alive, then they'll celebrate. Ice cream, or sushi, or a nice bento. They hadn't eaten out in ages. It'll be great.
Hiromu's hand tightened around hers. "Hey, Sae?"
"Yeah?"
"There aren't any ghosts around."
Sae looked at Hiromu, then at their surroundings, although there wasn't a point in it. She couldn't see ghosts herself. "Were there any when we first came?"
"Yeah. There were a lot."
"And now? Nothing at all?" Hiromu shook his head. Shit. She unzipped her coat, pulled the gun out of its holster, and snapped the safety switch off. "Get some clips out of the bag. You couldn't have mentioned this earlier?"
"I don't know—"
"Stop talking. Don't breathe too loudly. Eyes open."
Hiromu fell silent, but it was still too loud. Breathing, footsteps, the rustle of clothes, clinking metal. It was all she could hear. She swallowed the bile in her throat, sucked her breath in through her nose. Hiromu handed her the clips, which she shoved into her pocket. They continued walking, but finally the silence was joined by the rumble of footsteps that started out soft, but heavy, only to grow louder with incredible speed. Sae grabbed Hiromu and ducked behind the nearest container. Not that that was any protection against giant-ass fuckers like them, but sometimes it confused the dumber ones, who hesitated when they didn't see what they were expecting to see. She racked the slide on her gun.
The mask appeared by shattering the pile of containers barely thirty feet to their right. Sae threw Hiromu to the ground and huddled over him as containers collapsed around them. The container they were hiding behind held, but no sooner after the last of them clattered to the ground, the mask shrieked out a roar and swept another pile to the ground. The ringing of metal was so loud her head felt like it was going to split. The fuck was this? When the fuck were these freaks strong enough to bowl entire ship containers apart? Sae grabbed Hiromu and threw them both out of the way just as the stack of containers behind them crumpled.
"Kid!" Sae yelled over the noise. He was right next to her, but he didn't seem like he heard her. "Hey, kid! Hiromu!" She rolled him over, and recoiled when she saw the blood welling on his right temple. She checked his pulse, then his eyes. Concussion, out like a light. Slinging him over her shoulder, she wormed her way past the fallen containers, stumbling into a clearing just as the mask crash landed in front of them, a pitch black, two story high monstrosity with its skull mask warped into fangs and its head bowed, like a primate. Holy fucking shit. They made them that big? She'd never seen one that big.
Content that it'd found its prey, the mask approached them slowly, head tilted as Sae instinctively raised the gun. Each footstep shook the ground. Fuck the gun. It wasn't going to do jackshit. Sae scanned around for something to hide behind, something she could run to. It didn't look that smart. She could usually tell when they're smart. Maybe they could lose it. Get out of its line of sight, then hit it when it was confused. She tried to blink the blood out of her eyes, then wiped it off with her sleeve. There weren't any containers nearby. Just the ones right behind the mask, which would take them even further from the entrance.
Its paw came down, and she threw herself out of its range, barely, but the debris that shattered from the impact sent her tumbling to the ground. She scrambled up, then shot at the paw, emptying the entire clip, the size of the paw making it an easy hit even with her eyesight out-of-focus. The mask shrieked again, and Sae grabbed Hiromu, who'd fallen out of her arms, and sprinted towards the containers behind the mask. She ducked behind them just as the mask swerved its massive body around. It didn't attack, just stood there, making low wheezing noises that sounded like thousands of voices in agony, all crying in unison. It didn't expect to lose sight of them, Sae realized. It was a stupid one. But it could still sense Hiromu, which meant it wasn't going to just up and leave. And now it was between them and the entrance.
Breathing heavily, Sae sank to the ground. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it, but it made her headache worse, and her vision worse. The cold hard ground felt kind of nice—she was that tired—and now that she'd sat down, she couldn't even begin to stand up again. Shit, shit, shit. She smacked her palm against her forehead. Like fuck you, bitch. Maybe if you were alone you could do whatever you wanted, but your kid brother? He was already a poor kid, and he'll only get poorer if he got this kind of ending. Poor kid, poor Hiromu, no childhood, no adulthood, only some quasi-limbo where he lived between the ends of each day. Reaching into her pocket, Sae began to reload the gun. The mask had begun moving again, slowly, its shadow already starting to loom over them. Sae pushed herself back to her feet just as Hiromu began to stir. Jesus, small mercies.
"Hiromu." She set him down, shaking his shoulders, then patting him on the cheek. He blinked at her blearily. "Hiromu. You listening, buddy?"
He tried to nod, but his head fell limply with each sway. Must be hurting like a bitch. Sae stood him up and held him in place, wiping the blood from his forehead with her thumb as he struggled to reorient himself.
"You're going to run," she told him. "You're going to run to the—the—to the entrance. And not look back. The monster's going to chase you, and don't worry about that monster. It's big, but it's slow. Can you do that?"
"Yeah," Hiromu said faintly. "Yeah. What about—"
"I'll be right behind you. Just don't look back. Just keep running. Come on."
The monster was right in front of them. Sae shoved Hiromu out of the protection of the container, then stepped out after him. The mask ignored her in favor of Hiromu, who was stumble-sprinting towards the exit. Good kid. Always fast, even on those little adolescent legs. Just as the mask began to raise its paw, Sae shot another six round into it. The bullets were like rain drops compared to the size of that thing, but it must've hurt, because the shock of the pain of the made it howl and jerk back, almost losing its balance as it used its other paw to clutch at its injury. Dumb bastard. She ran past it as it struggled to balance itself on its hind legs.
"Kid!" Sae yelled, and for a moment, Hiromu stopped to look at her, but she made a shooing gesture, telling him to keep on going. She caught up to him quickly, but the mask had already reoriented itself, and was starting to head in their direction, its pace only slightly hindered by the fallen containers in its way. "You think you can do that thing?"
"I can't—running."
"I'll carry you. You just concentrate on getting that bastard off our backs, alright?"
Hiromu nodded, his breath already slowing in anticipation of enormous stress. Poor kid. She didn't want it to come to this. "Alright."
"Good man." She held out a hand, and when Hiromu took it, she threw him over her shoulder again.
It all came together at once. Hiromu's breath stopped, just as she slid behind another container, just as the mask burst into view, its path finally clear of debris and junk. As Hiromu stilled himself, Sae could feel the very air shift around them, canceling, destroying, rearranging. The mask, sensing the same change, stood there incredulously, its enormous head swinging left and right in its effort to locate its lost prey. It was like it was suddenly blinded. She peered at it from the edge of the container. With Hiromu half-concussed, they had, what, three minutes? Four at most. Straining to keep her step light, but quick, she padded towards the dock entrance, and finally broke into a run once they were in the clear and she'd stop hearing the mask's toiling breaths.
The blood had dried and crusted. There was so much that it felt like a glue mask, cracking when Sae opened her eyes. The window blinds were shut, but there was a faint gray pink coming from it. Start of a new day. Sae sat up, rubbing her face as she tried to locate the actual cuts under the blood. Her head was killing her. She probably didn't look any better either. After taking a few painkillers, she stepped into the bathroom and turned on the lights. The reflection she saw in the mirror—ergh. Yeah, Hiromu was definitely going to to be buying their things for a while. Wetting a towel in the sink, Sae traced the chunks of blood coating her face, and then the splotchy, veiny purple that had bloomed underneath. This was all concentrated on the right side of her face, so the left side was fairly normal looking, which was better than nothing, but still fucking weird. She was like that Jekyll guy, or Two-Face or something.
Most of the blood came off easily, but as she went near her forehead, she broke off a chunk that'd been covering a laceration.
"Shit."
She grabbed a dry towel and pressed it against the cut as fresh blood began to spill out. Well that must've been the one Hiromu said needed stitches, which they didn't have, and even if they did, she couldn't do it herself and Hiromu wasn't going to be up anytime too soon. But what they did have was bandages and disinfectant. After cleaning the rest of her face, exposing more cuts in the process, Sae swabbed everything clean, and plugged the worst of the cuts with heavy bandages. She left the smaller cuts alone, but by the time she was finished, half her face was plastered with stuff. She had to work to make a gap her right eye could see out of.
"Still gorgeous," she said to the reflection in the mirror. "Still the most gorgeous motherfucker that I—wouldn't fuck." She laughed quietly to herself, then threw the bloody towels into the bathtub, which she'd filled with hot water. Didn't want the motel staff to think she killed someone.
Hiromu was still asleep on the other bed. Sae sat down next to him with water and a fresh roll of bandages. She'd patched up his head last night, but it was a shitty job she did—not her fault, she'd been dying too—so this time she took it slow and careful. Got rid of the old bandages, washed the cut, disinfected it, then wrapped it with a gentle tightness that she hoped wasn't too tight. Kid was going to have a hell of a headache when he woke up.
The room smelled stale, so Sae tossed another blanket over Hiromu and pried open the windows. The morning air felt good. Smelled pretty good for a city too, all stinging and fresh, unlike that nasty smoke sewer-fest in Beijing. Sae contemplated having a smoke. She promised Hiromu she was going to quit, but—oh what the hell, she deserved it. And he's asleep. He'll never know.
Halfway through her cigarette, as she leaned against the window, taking in what view a first floor room could offer—a bunch of walls and wires, and trains, passing in backdrop of a slowly bluing sky—Sae looked up and thought she saw something perched on top of an antenna pole. Thought, because it was gone when she looked again. Another mask? But nothing came, although on most mornings there was at least one of those bozos lurking around, thinking they were easy prey because they were asleep. Well she can go from REM sleep to insta-alert in like five seconds, so joke's on them. Sae frowned. They were never the kind of freak she saw last night though. Most were barely twice her size. Not even a little bullet-proof. Pretty easy to hurt overall. The thing from yesterday? That was a freak. They couldn't afford to run into one of those ever again. Not alone, not even with ten thousand—a hundred thousand people around. Fucking hell.
After buying a couple beers from the lobby, Sae flipped the TV to some chick flick, then started sorting through the ammunitions they'd gotten yesterday. It'll last them a good while, especially if they kept to crowds and stayed alert, so they can hear the masks coming. Run, instead of fight and shoot. After cataloguing everything, she finished the movie, watched another, and then did the laundry, using pretty much all the soap they had on hand, including the extra bars the motel kept in the cabinet, to get the blood out of the fabric. She shouldn't have had that first cigarette. Now she was smoking like a train wreck.
It was mid-afternoon when the phone rang. Hiromu shifted, then rolled around, pawing blearily at the phone in an attempt to answer it. .
"Looks who's up." Sae ruffled his hair as she sat down next to him. She picked up the phone. "Hello?"
It was the receptionist. They'd missed the checkout time, which had been at noon. Oops.
"Would you like to extend to tomorrow, Ma'am?"
Sae glanced at the clothes she'd hung up, still wet, waiting to dry. "Yeah, I'll extend till tomorrow. I'll come down to pay. Okay. Yeah, okay. Thanks." She hung up the phone.
"Are we moving," Hiromu mumbled.
"Go back to sleep. We'll leave tomorrow." She grabbed her cap, hiding her bandaged forehead under it, and then her wallet. "I'll be back in a minute. Going to extend our stay date."
That was the nice thing about Japan, their—discretion. At the very least, the receptionist didn't say boo to her, even though he kept staring at her bandages while pretending they didn't exist. Like dude, stare all you want. She ain't charging. Besides, if it wasn't bandages, it'd be something else: her super height, or her clothes, which looked safari, or the fact that you could look at her and not quite tell which side of the gender binary she was on. That last one was always bull, she thought, because she had a braid, but then again she'd seen a lot weirder shit than braids on Japanese guys' heads, so okay.
Hiromu was up when she came back. Up and already nose-deep in his new science textbook. Man, to have smarts. It was a cute sight, always made Sae want to smile. Then she noticed the mess he'd made of his backpack. He must've dug through his backpack in order to find the textbook. Fucking hell, kid.
"Hiromu," she said sharply. Hiromu's head darted up. Then he looked down at the books scattered around him. He seemed to realize his mistake before she even had to say anything. She swiped the nearest book away anyway, a math book, causing Hiromu to scramble up.
"Give it here, Sae," he said quickly. "I know I shouldn't have left it. I just forgot."
"Well clearly if you forgot, it's not worth much to you to begin with." She tossed the book onto her own bed, then sat down. "I know I don't have to say this again, but—"
"You don't have to! I know!" Hiromu was already stuffing the rest of his books into his backpack. "I know."
"What do you know?"
"We won't have time to pack if a mask comes. We'd just have to leave with what we have. So we have to keep everything in our bags. I won't do it again. I mean it."
"You say that every time," Sae said under her breath. Nonetheless, she tossed the book back to Hiromu, who quickly put it back in with the rest of his books.
"I'm sorry, Sae."
"Don't apologize to me. I'm not the one losing anything. It's not my problem. Course, that also means I don't have to waste money replacing it, but you know. I'm sure you won't miss it."
Knowing better than to protest, Hiromu silently zipped up his backpack and sat with it huddled against his chest. He'd even put away his science book. He looked miserable. Sae already felt sorry for raising her voice. He'd had a tough night, plus he saved their asses. Could she really blame him for slipping a little? She'll make up in a bit. She still wanted him to stew a little on his mistakes. Of course Hiromu loved his books. He'd never forget them intentionally. But it's those unintentional moments that counted the most, so he just—needed to know how to reduce those. They couldn't afford mistakes.
Sae waited until the laundry was dried. Then, after she'd packed them all up, she gave Hiromu a little pat on the head. He brightened up after that, and even began reading again, like it was safe for him to do so. Sae turned on the TV again, flipping through the channels as Hiromu occasionally read out loud some interesting fact from the textbook, cellular membranes or platypus fangs or whatever. It was kind of pleasant. She could stay like this for a long time, forever, even. She was half-asleep when she heard Hiromu's stomach growl. Neither of them had eaten since breakfast yesterday.
"Alright, come on kid." She stifled a yawn as she got up. "We did good yesterday. We deserve better than instant crap. What do you want? Sushi? Ramen?"
"Crepes," Hiromu said immediately.
"We'll get that too, but that's dessert food. Think of a main course first. And remind me to get some medical kits on the way."
She hoisted her backpack and duffle back onto her shoulders, then waited for Hiromu to put on his coat before hopping out of the window. She lifted Hiromu through, then shut the window, leaving just enough of a crack that she could pry it open from outside. She never liked going through the motel lobby—her face was seen enough as it was.
It was great. The food was great, the drinks were great. If Sae wasn't on a permanent sober policy—because fighting masks when drunk? She wasn't that stupid—she'd be downing the sake a bottle at a time. They'd ended up in a sushi place that was always crowded when they passed it, but it wasn't so bad at four in the afternoon. And they had crepes on the dessert menu. The whole meal cost almost twenty thousand yen, but it was twenty thousand yen they could afford, thanks to those dumbass yakuza keeping ten thousands in their wallets like she kept tissue paper when on a cold. By the time they left, Hiromu looked the happiest she'd seen him in a while. He didn't even mind holding Sae's hand, even though he was getting to that age where it apparently wasn't cool to hold onto your sister's hand in public.
"Hey Sae, guess what grade I'm on."
"Kid, I buy your books. Don't even try that shit on me."
"They don't say what grade they are. I just give them to you and you pay for them at the counter."
Sae shrugged, unable to deny that. It wasn't like she gave a rat's ass what her brother read, as long as it wasn't porno erotica. "Fine, I'll bite. How about, uh, college."
Hiromu tugged her arm indignantly. "Not that high."
"Hey, I could've said second grade, so be grateful. Eighth grade."
"Higher."
"Seriously? Fuck. Ninth grade."
"Ninth grade geometry," Hiromu confirmed, looking so proud he was liable to burst. "I just started. Remember the blue and white book you bought me last week?"
"Oh, that ugly piece a shit. With the neon yellow title?" Catching his flat look, Sae put up a smile. "Kidding! Just kidding. Anyway, damn. A ten year old doing fourteen year old work, without going to school. I was totally right."
"Right about what?"
"You're adopted. We're not related. Sorry kid."
"I'm not adopted," he said, laughing. Man, he looked so happy. It was great. They should go out more often. Sae could make it work, if she finagled with their finances a little.
They were almost back to their motel. Home sweet home, for another twenty four hours. God, what Sae wouldn't give for something a little more permanent. She thought, when they'd first started out, that she'd be used to a nomad's life by now. But she wasn't the kind of person who could get used to just anything, especially a cold life. This was a cold life, a bunch of shady motels and convenience store food, never getting to wake up to something familiar. Except for the kid.
Then the shadow blocked out the sun, and Sae looked up.
It was the mask from last night, its body spread out so that even the tilt of the afternoon sun couldn't shine past its limbs. And it was in the air, flying, floating. Standing in the middle of a crossroad, surrounded by teeming amounts of people as the lights flickered red and green, Sae couldn't bring herself to move. Because she'd thought with so many people around, they were safe. She knew it wasn't logical—they were paper dolls, even if they couldn't see the mask—but it was instinctive, and she'd let her guard down, and they needed to run.
"Go." She gave Hiromu's arm a harsh tug. "GO."
They ran off, the roar of the mask following them as it gave chase. Sae stayed ahead, because she was strong enough to shove aside anyone in her way. And she did, pushing aside students, businessmen, elderly, as they sprinted out of the crossroad and into the side roads. The amount of people did nothing to deter the mask. It tracked them with a single-minded accuracy that seemed to know exactly which step they were going to take next, and which little boy out of all the boys on the street was its favored target. This mask was some kind of tracker, Sae realized, horrified. Its senses were accurate, and long-ranged. Even after losing them yesterday, it'd searched the area until it found them again. What kind of determination was that, from something dumber than an animal? It wasn't interested in these people. All it wanted was Hiromu. The people around them were in the way. She couldn't run right with them around.
"Get the gun out of my bag, kid! Can you do that thing again?" Sae yelled over her shoulder. "Can you make it lose us?
"I don't know. I can try, but I don't know!"
Once Hiromu handed her a loaded gun, Sae took a sharp turn into a dead end alley. It was a residential district, which meant low roofs, maybe navigable enough. She threw her backpack behind the dumpster, then the duffle bag after she'd filled her pockets with as many clips as possible.
"Toss your backpack. We'll get it later."
She stuffed her gun into her pocket, and once Hiromu had tossed his backpack and climbed onto her back, she leapt up, catching the edge of the fire escape by her fingertips. She scrambled up the ladder, making it to the rooftop just as the mask materialized overhead, its pasty white head following their movement.
"Time to work your magic, kid. Like now!"
"I can only try," Hiromu protested.
"Then try it!"
So he did. He clutched her neck tighter, then stopped his breath again. But the shift that usually came with his concentration wasn't there. Sae said shit under her breath as she began to run. Give it time. He'll pull through. He always pulled through, never mind that he never did this more than once a week. It was too draining.
She recognized this portion of the city. She'd studied it through maps and satellite pictures. And like what they said, the roofs were tightly clustered together, evenly scaled. She jumped over the cracks without having to stop, running all the faster now that she'd ditched their baggage. As the mask drew closer, she turned back and shot at it, aiming for the face, the eyes, the chest. And she hurt it—it screamed in pain—but it hurled onward. It wouldn't stop. She wasn't getting anything from Hiromu. It was so close. A little more and it could just drop itself on them, and they wouldn't be able to dodge.
"Hiromu!" she yelled. She could barely hear herself over the blood rushing through her head. "Still nothing?! Nothing at all?!"
"I'm trying," Hiromu repeated desperately. He sounded like he was about to cry. "I'm trying. I'm trying."
"Just keep on trying! If you keep at it, something will—holy fuck!" Sae skidded to a halt in front of a building edge, which was located on a slope that took the ground far lower than what she would survive, had she fallen. The next building was too far off for her to jump to. She whirled back. The mask was on them. It was already here. She began to raise her gun, but then lowered it halfway. This wasn't going to do anything.
"Hiromu," she said, and when he didn't reply—he was still holding his breath—she slid him off her back and forced him to face her. "Stop it," she said sharply. "No more trying. No more of—look, you have to listen to me. Are you listening to me?"
Hiromu nodded numbly.
"You're listening?" She shook his shoulders roughly. "Okay good. Look. We're going to—jump off this building. You'll be fine. I'll take the impact. I'm tall enough for it, and it's not that high, and if I aim right—listen to me." Her voice rose to a shout as he began to cry. "You get up the second you're on the ground and you run. You find a place where the mask can't reach you, somewhere underground, anywhere that takes effort to reach. You run until you can do that disappearing act of yours, and you do it. Okay? Do you get it?"
"No," Hiromu sobbed. "I don't want to, Sae. I don't want to."
"Well fuck you, you're doing it! Come on!" Sae grabbed Hiromu, clutching him to her chest even as he struggled to worm out of her arms, and stepped towards the building edge. Her heart was beating so fast it physically hurt. Hey, look on the bright side. Maybe she won't die. Maybe she was stronger than she thought and they'll both be okay, and it'll be okay, and—run and—god, it was now or never. She hoped it was over fast. She took a step back.
Just as she jumped, a hand seized her by shoulder and pulled. It knocked her off-kilter, nearly sending her crashing down headfirst. But another hand grabbed her, then hauled them both bodily back onto the building, keeping Sae in a standing position even as her legs began to give out from shock, and relief.
"Are you alright?" A man asked. Sae still couldn't stop staring at the ledge, so he set her down gently, until Sae was sitting and Hiromu was in her lap. Then there was the sound of metal being drawn, and then a set of strange clomping footsteps, which stopped abruptly only a couple feet away. What followed was the mask's voice raising loudly, louder than she'd ever heard. It sounded like when she shot at it, except more severe. Agony instead of just pain. Just as Sae looked up, one of the mask's paws came crashing to the floor. What the fuck? What the actual fuck? But there he was, a man dressed in a black sleeveless kimono, zipping through the air and wielding a sword that shredded through the mask's flesh like paper. Every slash he made was a hit, sending coils of blood twisting through the air. Sae lifted an arm to block the flickers that came their way, although the blood disintegrated soon after contact. The mask's howls rang through the air. It was like listening to thousands of screams at once. Then the man's sword flashed again, and the screams turned into gurgles, then stopped. By the time the man sheathed his sword, the mask's body had disintegrated. There was nothing left of it.
The man took a second to regard empty air with a steady frown. Then he returned to ground level and began to walk towards them. Sae almost wanted to raise her gun again, if only because the kind of power he'd just used was so insane she didn't want it near them. But she didn't. He didn't seem like he meant harm, not yet. He knelt down next to them, then repeated, "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
Sae opened her mouth. "I—yeah. I think so. I'm fine. Hey," she said to Hiromu, who had his head buried in her lap. "Hiromu? You hanging in there?"
For a moment, Hiromu was silent. Then he began emitting a small whimper, which devolved into a moan, and then finally sobs that wracked his entire body.
"Oh give me a break." Sae rubbed his back. "We're all good now, kid. We're—we're good," she repeated with some disbelief. It just hit her. They were alive. Shaking off the urge to kiss something—the ground, or the man—she continued. "What's the point in crying after everything's said and done?"
The man watched Hiromu with raised eyebrows. "That's a fairly common reaction, I'd say."
"I know, I know. I just—he doesn't cry much, so I don't know what the fuck I should do when he does."
"Let him. Crying isn't bad. He'll feel better once he's exhausted himself."
"Yeah, I guess I will." Sae stared at Hiromu a moment longer before turning to the man in the kimono. "I—don't know what to say to you other. Except, you know, thank you. You saved our asses back there."
The man smiled, and declined his head. Strange looking guy: scars, tats, chokers and armbands; sharp eyes too, defaulted to a glare that could kill. But when he spoke, what came out was a low gentleness that sounded innate. "I'm glad I did. You would've died an unnecessary death otherwise. Though in your circumstances, I can't blame you."
Sae shrugged half-heartedly. "Desperate times."
"It was incredibly brave of you. The boy's your—son? Brother?"
"Brother. Can't blame you for the mistake though. We've got a pretty big age gap between us."
"How much?"
"Fifteen years."
"I see," he said politely. He didn't look impressed. Then suddenly he did. "Actually, that's actually quite a few years in living terms, isn't it? Sorry, got mixed up with our lifespans. Afterlife spans," he added awkwardly, as if fully aware that he'd was making no sense. As if to compensate, he lowered his head in a small bow. "Hisagi Shuuhei. It's good to meet you."
"Saeko," said Sae. "Hijibe Saeko. The little cretin down there is Hiromu." Hiromu was still crying, although he seemed like he was starting to tire. His sobs were quieter. "So you're one of those—ghosts. No, you can't be. Hiromu says all the ghosts get the fuck outta town once one of those masks come along."
"I'm a Shinigami. So yes, like a ghost to the extent that we're both the essence of souls that have passed into the afterlife. But the details are finer than that." He raised his head to gaze at the sun, which was falling in the horizon. "I don't know how if you're up for an explanation this long. Maybe we can continue this tomorrow, or at least after you've rested. I'll take you to where you're staying."
Sae followed his gaze reluctantly. She wanted to hear what he had to say—this shit was big—but he was right. Hiromu needed to rest, and so did she. "You're offering to fly us over then?"
"If you'd like," Hisagi said.
"I was kidding."
"The offer's still there. In fact, I insist. It'll be faster, and I do know how to conceal our presence from pedestrians, if that's what you're worried about."
Sae looked at him, her smile fading. "You're serious. You're going to fly us."
Hisagi stood up. "I don't see why not."
