Disclaimer: I am merely using these characters and this world for my own amusement. I do not own Bleach, and any recognisable aspect of the following story belongs to Tite Kubo.
Little Shadow
No More
The fever was worse now. Dirty blonde hair clung to her emaciated face, sticky with perspiration. Fierce coughing relinquished into laboured breaths as freezing chills ran through the burning furnace that was the young girl's body. The air that was often rife with sickness now reeked of death: the stench growing stronger with every fading whimper.
Hands clutched at the girl's tiny frame with the desperate and faithless hope of youth that had seen too much; the assurance that everything would be okay sounding cold and empty.
"Hush, little one," the soft voice willed to cut through the delirium of infection and soothe the pain and fear. "Drink this." Dry cracked hands held an equally cracked dish of water to perished lips.
But it was no use. The minutes passed and the final breath faded silently into oblivion and the small group of onlookers bowed their heads in solemn respect as one of the boys draped a thin, ragged cloth over the child's corpse.
Sobs erupted from the eldest girl, the one who had nursed the latest victim through those awful last days, as the strain and emotional torment took its toll. "Yuuto," wide eyes gleaming with tears searched his sympathetic umber orbs "what can we do? What can I do?"
The young man reached out a calloused hand to her face. "You did all you could do. We all did. There's nothing else w-"
"We don't even know her name!" There was a strange tension that befell the ramshackle room.
"For fuck's sake Hisana," the tall, sinewy lad drifting restlessly by the door growled, "all the shit we have to-"
"Katsu," her reproachful tone was not lost unto his ears, but it was certainly ignored.
"All the shit we have to deal with and all you're worried about is a stupid fucking name!"
A wealth of unvoiced anger, fear and trepidation passed between the two before Hisana finally conceded in quietly chiding him, "Katsu, stop it. Please," her eyes wavering towards the little girl who inched away from the much larger male.
Katsu laughed bitterly. "Stop it?" he strode towards her "She's just watched someone die and you're worried about me swearing?" He scoffed and shook his head, "You amaze me. You really do."
The other young man, Yuuto, placed a pacifying hand on the riled up adolescent's arm in an attempt to mollify the situation. "Shall we?"
Sighing with resignation, Katsu bent down to gently lift the unknown girl's limp and lifeless body before following his companion outside. He turned around only when a timid touch graced his shoulder in apology. Pleading, his voice broke as he whispered, "Please... No more." Hisana failed to meet his gaze as she inaudibly accepted his terms.