Secret of the Soul
By: theunknownvoice
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach just borrowing the characters.
A/N: This story has been plaguing me for months. I'm an avid KaiRuki shipper and there aren't that many of us apparently. I like IchiRuki but since that is the pairing that I think Bleach will most likely end with I'm not going to write it.
Behind the mask his face was as emotionless as always. The mask served two purposes. It hid his face from the others like Aizen and the other shinigami. It also protected him.
Aaroniero Arleri watched as he always did. He enjoyed this form far more than his ordinary one. There was something about having the face and the soul that accompanied this form. Most souls had no flavor to them. They were bland creations mixed with the usual dreams, hopes, and regrets but this one—This was one was flavored with drama.
Death by voluntary suicide. It tasted more rich than anything and the pain that reeked within this soul—it an once in a lifetime taste. Wife devoured by a hollow and manipulated. Then rash, angry, scented with the sweet aroma of hatred the young fool rushed in and got himself possessed.
It wasn't any type of hollow either. He was still aware, alive and very much present. And that was when this soul got interesting.
Aaroniero could admire the fool for sacrificing himself to protect. He could admire that sheer impulse that had forced Shiba Kaien to plunge himself on Kuchiki Rukia's sword. Because no matter how often Shiba Kaien told himself that Kuchiki Rukia was just another subordinate that just didn't make sense.
Kaien knew Rukia loved him and he basked in it. It was enough to satisfy his ego but it went deeper than that. There was a general concern for this girl. He couldn't bear to kill the girl and let her idol fall apart. So he plunged himself on her outstretched zanpakuto to save her and if he admitted it selfishly to save himself.
Yes, Aaroniero Arleri concluded, Kaien Shiba was a fool but at least an honorable one at that. But Rukia Kuchiki what was she? The soul of Kaien had still responded to the girl whenever the girl was mentioned. And that was when she entered Aaroniero Arleri's dreams as well as Kaien Shiba's.
What was it about this damn soul that pulled at him? What was it that allowed Kaien Shiba of all the souls he had devoured to hold his attention?
There were other souls had been as dynamic as Kaien. There were other souls that had suffered like Kaien had. The had all felt the pain of being devoured. They had felt the pain of loss but Kaien Shiba still pulled at him.
It was then he knew.
He haunted her dreams. The same dream repeating in an unending track. The constant reminder that she had innocent blood on her hands. His blood.
She killed everything she touched. Her best friend had changed into an unknowing entity before Ichigo had come. Renji and her were separated by class. Others avoided her first because she was nobility and then because of her part in Kaien's death.
Then there was Ichigo. Ichigo whose life she had shook at its very foundations and had dragged into a war. He would die too and she would be the cause.
Just like Kaien.
In her dreams she could still feel the rain on her skin and the blood on her cheeks. She could still feel the weight of her vice-captain on her shoulders and hear his labored breathing. And she could still hear the scream that ripped from some inhuman throat only to realize it was her own voice.
Hueco Mundo and Orihime lay before and she knew death was somewhere waiting and maybe then she would her vice-captain's forgiveness.
He watched her from the shadows before deciding what he wanted. He had never been one to hold back. He would not stop himself now when the moment was perfect. He had lured her into the twisted hallways. He had led her further from her group and his purpose was obvious.
He knew what he wanted.
He had consumed hundreds of hollows. He had swallowed them and the souls they possessed in an instant. Never before had it been like this. Never before had one soul merged so completely with his own.
He had long stopped being just the simple Gillian. He had become an arrancar but he had also become shinigami.
He wanted to silence the voice that was making him feel for this insignificant woman. He tried to say that those feelings weren't his own but he was wrong. He knew how his other had felt. It was obvious and conflicted and now those emotions belonged to him. He was willing to merge with this other soul as long as he got everything.
Hollows always felt emptiness. They were alone and abandoned in a cold unfeeling place. There were memories of the past and a desire to be reunited with the people you missed. Maybe those people could feel the void.
Nothing ever filled the emptiness but as he gazed at her he knew the truth. She was what he, both parts of him desired. She was a prize to be won. He would win her, conquer her, and give her to his newly merged self. Yes, he would surrender pieces of himself to this personality. He would give the shinigami some control of what soul he had.
He watched for a long time before deciding to approach her. He watched her longer than he thought possible. He could see her relationships. She wanted to rescue the "princess." He had never seen the benefit of that girl. She was so unlike his woman.
The "princess" was soft while his woman was tough. She had changed from the girl he had known. She had grown harder and more distant.
And then there was a boy with orange hair. There was laughter between them, guilt and an uneasy friendship. A friendship that was not so different from the friendship that Shiba Kaien had shared with her. This boy was dangerous but he wasn't Aaroniera Arleri's concern.
Now it was the pixie of a girl beside him. The girl that had been so scared when Shiba Kaien had known her but now reeked of confidence. The girl that had been soft and had needed some type of friend and protection. Kaien had known that Rukia was lonely and that was why he befriended in his bumbling manner. He had seen loneliness before in himself and others. He hadn't always been a confidant vice-captain. But there was more than helping Rukia then sensing some type of kindred spirit.
Yes, this was the truth that Shiba Kaien would never acknowledge about the girl. So this what had made the vice-captain die for her. This feeling of loyalty, protection and something else that the noble vice-captain wouldn't admit to himself.
So this was why the hollow in Shiba Miyako charged at Kuchiki Rukia because she could see what was so obvious to everyone else but her husband. Affection for a subordinate, no one better was better at fooling themselves than Kaien especially when he was sober. The only time he had ever admitted that he liked his shy little midget in a nonprofessional or friendly way was when he was so drunk he couldn't remember his own name.
So what had been Shiba Kaien's secret became Aaroniero Arleri's obsession.
To be continued….