Prologue Part 2
She woke up in a cold sweat. Her body was still heavy with sleep. For a moment she forgot where she was, but then it all clicked. Perhaps it was when she tried to reach up and rub the sleep from her eyes, only to cause an obnoxious clanging from a rusted, thick chain clamped tight around her wrist. Or maybe it was the unsettling feeling of not having her zanpakto - her other half - securely fastened to her hip.
Regardless, she knew what was going on. She had been captured. She had failed to go back to them...to save district 81. And it was all because she had lost to him.
Hot tears well up and spill over, staining Ayame's cheeks. She doesn't even try to keep her sobs quiet. She weeps so that the entirety of the Seireitei can hear her.
What Ayame had not yet noticed, however, was that Ukitake still stood outside her cell, just out of her view. And what no one would notice were his own silent tears...he couldn't bear her agony. He couldn't bear that he had been at the epicenter of its cause. So he wept with her. No one dared interrupt their sobs. It was days before she had cried until she could cry no more, and until he gathered the courage to confront her.
Ukitake hadn't realized how long he was in that position, shamelessly bent over hugging his knees like some child, but as he stood he felt the stiffness in legs, back and shoulders. He did the best he could in using his robes to clean his puffy, swollen eyes and wet face but he knew he looked a pitiful mess. Somehow, though, he didn't mind that it was Ayame that would see him this way. He hoped she'd understand that their feelings were one...and that there'd be nothing he would regret more than what he had done just a few days ago.
He shuffles over to the open portion of the cell and is startled to find Ayame already standing and facing him. Ukitake gasps in surprise, but then sighs in relief. At least...she wasn't too grief stricken to move. He clears his throat, ready to speak, but is immediately interrupted.
"No, Ukitake. Don't speak. Don't even utter a word." She says...her voice hoarse but steady. It was strange...she did not sound like herself. She sounded flat and monotone, no inflection or emphasis to reveal how Ukitake knew she felt inside. It had always impressed him how she was able to do that so easily, shield the world from her innermost feelings. He had not heard this voice since the day he rescued her. Hearing it now...terrified him.
"Ayame-"
"I said not to speak! What can you say to me right now? What words can you utter that will undo all this? If you have those words, then say them. Otherwise, I don't want anything from you!" Despite the barriers placed in the cell suppressing the fiery captain's spiritual pressure, Ukitake could feel it in the air...it seeped through the cold bars and exposed the emotions Ayame's voice did not. In that time, she had walked up to entrance of the cell. Ukitake gasped again when he saw her emerge from the darkness that was concealing her.
She looked...terrible. Her eyes were red and swollen and she had not bothered to wipe the tear stains from her cheeks. Dark circles framed her eyes, as she had not been sleeping for days now, and her cheeks sunk in from hunger and dehydration. Ukitake had hoped he'd never see her look like this again...like how she looked when he had found her in district 81.
"There's nothing you can say to me...Ukitake." She continues, her eyes focusing on a point beyond his head. "But there is something you can do for me." She whispers.
Ukitake searches her eyes, trying to decipher the meaning of her words, but before he can ask he hears the heavy doors behind him begin to open and several guards rush in.
"Greetings Captain Ukitake sir! We are here to deliver the Central 46's final ruling of miss Ikeda's actions, sir! Please allow us to address the lady. Of course, you are welcome to hear the rulings as well, sir!"
Ukitake looks back at Ayame and when he sees no apparent opposition to the idea of him listening in, he nods. "Please continue, then."
"Yes sir! It has been decided that, upon her betrayal and act of resistance towards the Soul Society's highest authority: Central 46, miss Ikeda has been ordered to immediately resign her captaincy - and overall status as a soul reaper - and never return to life inside the Seireitei ever again. His excellency, captain commander Yamamoto, reported that this is the lightest punishment for the actions that miss Ikeda has committed, and that he plans on making her resignation honorable and respectable. He has granted miss Ikeda residence in the most affluent district. That is, district number 1. This is all we have to report. Our best wishes, former captain Ikeda, and to you, captain Ukitake, sir!"
And with that they march out the room and close the doors quietly behind them. Ukitake falls to his knees, barely able to comprehend the words of the soldiers. Somewhere deep inside, however, he felt the bubblings of joy begin to form. They were allowing Ayame to live! He was waiting for the dreaded execution sentence, but instead they'd allowed her to live in the most affluent district! Ayame is undoubtedly strong...but she was far too passionate for the life of a soul reaper. She could not mindlessly follow commands...from day one everything had to have a just reason.
Maybe a normal life in the soul society was what she needed...one not filled with violence like her life in district 81. Ukitake tries to mask his joy when he looks to Ayame, but the task becomes unnecessary when he meets her eyes. Her anger is unbelievable. If looks could kill he'd lay dead on the floor by now.
"How could he..." Her voice barely a whisper. "How could he! My only home was district 81. Nothing can replace that. I'll admit...the luxuries given alongside being a soul reaper were wonderful, but that's not why I chose this life. I don't give a damn about those things...I wanted...I just wanted to go back to them some day. I wanted to show them what I'd become, and fix things for them. That's all I wanted..."
She began to sob again. Ukitake found it hard to believe that her body could possibly contain anymore tears. Furthermore...how could he ever think that Ayame would enjoy this ruling? It had been his own selfish thoughts that led him to believe that this was the perfect conclusion. He'd always taken the fact that he was the one who rescued her for granted, thinking that he always knew what was best for her, and that as long a she was safe and alive that the both of them could be happy.
But that's not how Ayame thought. No. Years by her side had told him what he knew was coming...he knew her next request before the words could even leave her mouth.
"Ukitake...I can't live in district one. I can't live in any district now. I know this is a lot to ask for, but it's the least you can do after...after..." She can't bring herself to say it. She takes a deep breath to steady her voice. "You must break me out of here and allow me to escape to the World of the Living. I will start anew there...life in the Seireitei is no longer possible for me, but neither is life in the Rukongai. You must understand..."
Ukitake knew that getting caught for such an act could lead to his own execution or exile, but he also knew that once she uttered those words, it could never be a choice. Her request was more powerful than any command that Central 46 could give.
"You have my word, Ayame. I will return here tomorrow midnight. Rest and be prepared to move swiftly." He promises and, after days waiting in shame and disgust at himself outside her cell, he leaves to go formulate a plan.
The next day, midnight.
Somehow, he had succeeded not only in retrieving the former captain's zanpakto, but also in sneaking her past the clueless guards and outside the Seireitei. He supposed he could owe it to Ayame's superb kidou abilities which allowed her to completely conceal her spiritual pressure. If he could not feel the occasional soft brush of her arm against his as they ran together through the cool, night air, not even he would be able to detect her presence.
When they finally reached the area where Ukitake had concealed an entrance to the World of the Living( with the help of another friend and kidou expert sworn to secrecy), Ukitake turns to Ayame.
"I am sorry for all that has happened...I know there are no words that I can say to fix the wrong that occurred, but I am sorry. I hope that you are able to start anew in the World of the Living, and that you can be happy again. I will miss you, Ayame. I understand if you choose to erase me from your thoughts, but you will always be in mine." Ukitake says with the utmost sincerity.
For a moment the cold mask that Ayame had been wearing since her escape softens and she turns to face him. A small smile reaches her lips and she embraces an unprepared Ukitake. Slowly, however, he reaches up and returns it. For these short seconds, Ayame decides, she'll relish in his warm and soothing presence.
"I...will always love you, Ukitake. You made me the woman I am...you made it possible for me to dream of saving district 81...it was because of you that my conviction was so strong." She then pulls back and looks him in the eyes. "But then you trampled on that dream. That is why, though my affection for you will not change, I will never forgive you." A single tear, the last tear she'd shed in the Soul Society, falls down her cheek. "And that is why...I don't ever want to see you again." Slowly she tilts her head upwards and places a soft kiss on the white-haired man's cheek.
In response, Ukitake closes his eyes and accepts her affection...never before had they put their feelings for one another in words. He loathed that this was what it took, but he understood her completely. Eyes still closed, he drops his arms and waits for her warmth to disappear.
Once his eyes open, both her presence and the temporary senkai gate have vanished. He feels his body shiver in her absence.
He whispers into the night sky,"I will always love you too, Ayame." And with that he too disappears into the night, silently returning to his barracks in the Seireitei. He did not fear being caught, and he was not. He had several alibis and was swift in his work. Furthermore, his fellow soul reapers did little to look into the matter, as they had attributed her untraceable disappearance to her incredible kidou abilities. She was gone, and Ukitake would spend the rest of his days trying to move on and forget her existence, just as everyone else had forgotten the existence of district 81.
Meanwhile, Ayame in the world of the living.
It was a simple matter, really. Ukitake had set up the senkai gate so that she'd land in none other than Karakura town, where the infamous former captain of squad twelve resided: Kisuke Urahara.
She had never met the man, but even some twenty odd years after his exile, his story, alongside the other fallen captains', remained a hot topic among the Gotei thirteen. His eccentric tastes and looks made him easy to find, a small candy shop not far from where Ayame had landed.
The pinkish glow of sunset was just beginning to settle over the sky when she arrived at his doorstep. She was surprised at how well the scruffy man seemed to have settled into this world. Perhaps it wouldn't be too difficult for her after all? He greeted her with a mischievous grin and let her in. She bowed respectfully and thanked him.
"Please , quit with the formalities. I can't express how much it pleases me to see a fellow fallen captain on this most ordinary day!" He nearly sings with joy. This irritated Ayame, as this was not a light topic, but she let it go.
"How did you know I was a fallen captain?" She asked with an accusatory tone.
"Anyone with a spiritual pressure even half the size of yours would at least have captain potential, if not already be a captain. Since you didn't enter through the Senkaimon-the Soul Society's official gate to the world of the living- a limit was not placed on your spiritual pressure, so it's easy to read." He pauses for a moment after giving Ayame a thoughtful look. "Plus, you have that air to you. I know it well." He ends with a smirk.
What an odd guy...Ayame thinks to herself, but decides that he at least has no motive against her. She doubted that this Urahara guy was of any threat to her. Besides, he had what she needed. A gigai.
"I praise you for your observational skills. I assume, then, that you already know what I am here for?"
"Why yes, in fact I do. You need a gigai, right? And not just any ordinary gigai I'm assuming?" He asks with a little too much enthusiasm.
Ayame hesitates a little before answering. "Yes. I fail to see how you'd know that bit, but I do not have time to question you. I need that forbidden gigai you created...the one that steals away your soul reaper powers. That way, not only will it completely conceal my spirit energy, but it will allow me to start anew...as a human."
"Then I have the perfect thing for you. Please wait here, ma'am. It will be a moment."
He returns with a large box, big enough to contain a human body. There's no question what waits inside.
"What is your price?"Ayame asks. She was certain she could cover it. Ukitake had given her a significant sum before their departure for this very purpose. For some strange reason, however, the scruffy blonde looks confused.
"How much are you charging me for this? Is it really that hard to understand?" She was becoming irritated again. She had been through enough and was more than eager to leave her old life behind. What was this man's issue now?
A strange expression lands on his face, a smile with an unreadable undertone. "Why, there is no charge. I am more than happy to help out a fellow fallen captain. I only hope that this gigai treats you well, and you enjoy your new life."
With that he opens the box to reveal an exact replica of Ayame, but in the strange garb of what she assumed was the attire of that era.
"Is this...really going to be my new body?" Ayame asks aloud, mostly to herself. That doesn't stop Urahara from responding.
"Of course, and free of charge. To merge, simply act as if you were going to lay in the box. Your spiritual body will immediately be absorbed by the gigai. I can step out if you would like your privacy." He finishes.
Ayame was, admittedly, scared. She was going to do it, but for some reason wanted the mysterious stranger to remain in the room. Ordinarily she would question his kindness and willingness to hand over the very thing that caused him to be banished from the soul society so easily.
But not today, not after all that had happened. This gigai was her ticket to moving on, though she knew she could never really erase the strong emotions etched permanently into her heart.
"No, please remain there. I am ready. "
With that Ayame stands and, in a few short steps, halts just before the box. She stares at her currently lifeless body wondering what lay ahead. Inhaling deeply, she about-faces and prepares to take the first step to the rest of her life.
Before letting herself fall into the box and becoming one with the forbidden gigai, she turns her head to face the mysterious man and gives him a genuine smile of gratitude.
"Thank you." She says, and then falls backwards into the box. She noticed, however, that on her way down the strange man's smile momentarily faltered, replaced by a troubled expression. She did not know, and possibly would never know what it meant, because at that point it was too late. Before she could even give it a second thought she felt the odd sensation of the tiny spirit particles her body was composed of melding into the gigai. In the blink of an eye, her spirit body was no more.
What Ayame also didn't know was that not only would that be the day she'd lose all her spiritual power, but also the day she'd lose all her memories leading up to that moment. Furthermore, it'd be a long time before the light of day reached her eyes.
Kisuke was unaware of what side effects would result from the adjustments he had made to the gigai, but he predicted they'd be long-lasting. He never guessed, however, that the gigai would leave the former female captain in a coma for nearly a hundred years.
As fate would have it, though, that is precisely what happened.
Note: So that's the end of the super long prologue! Chapter One should be up soon : )
