A/N: My goal is a chapter a day, as much as I can. Some days I'll probably have to skip due to family things… Thank you again to my loyal reviewers/readers! You guys and girls make my day! Anyway, let's get this chapter on the road.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. I make no profit from this at all.
Hiyori stared at her zanpakuto, then at the cut across her palm. It had been accidental, she had started to pull it out of its sheath and she had nearly dropped it. The cut had resulted when she had grabbed the blade in an attempt to stop her sword from clattering to the ground.
It wasn't that she wanted to hurt herself. It was the fact that all she could do, instead of cleaning and bandaging the cut like a normal person, was stare at it and get caught up in her own thoughts.
I think my heart looks like that. Hiyori thought, her eyebrows drawing in in pain of more than one kind. It has a big cut in it too.
"Idiot." She headed up from the training level of the warehouse to the bathroom, starting to scrub the cut with soap.
Still, she couldn't help but keep thinking on that plane of thought. Shinji… as much as I would never admit it out loud, he hurt me when he left. And I'll never forgive him for that… that dumbass… it's all his fault.
"Hiyori." Lisa's usually calm voice sounded just a little shaky. "There's blood on the floor out here. Are you alright?"
"Yes!" Hiyori snapped, wrapping some bandages around her palm and taping them up tight to stop the bleeding.
"I'm coming in." Lisa wrestled the old doorknob until it popped and stepped inside. Eyeing Hiyori's hand, she sighed. "Accidental?"
"Duh. I'm not a dumbass." Hiyori tried to step around her and get away. But the bathroom itself wasn't exactly spacious and the Lisa was blocking the doorway.
"Just be careful, alright?" Lisa turned so she could get through. "We don't need anyone here getting hurt."
Hiyori looked at her for a long moment and then slipped past her, her face red with annoyance… or was that embarrassment?
Lisa flopped on the couch. She never understood what people meant when they said that having children wore you out. The only child that she had ever known was Nanao Ise and that girl had been an angel compared to her "makeshift children", Hiyori and Mashiro, that she was babying now.
"You alright, Lisa?" Love studied her from a chair, where he was reading some of Lisa's manga he had borrowed.
"Don't talk to me right now." Lisa huffed, burying her face in a couch pillow. She inhaled deeply without realizing why. She thought for a second, then bolted away from the pillow.
"Something wrong?" Love grinned like he knew exactly why she had acted that way, when clearly he didn't.
Lisa's hand knotted over a handful of the pillow, a sharp ache making its home in her chest. The pillow smelled like Rose's shampoo. Memories of Rose lying on the couch, manga in one hand, flooded Lisa's brain. Lisa had the feeling she was either going to cry or puke her guts up, and she didn't want anyone in the house to see her do either.
"I'm going out. Keep an eye on Hiyori and Mashiro." Lisa darted out the door, barely taking a moment to slide her shoes on.
She started walking, and she knew if she didn't just focus on putting one foot in front of the other, didn't just focus on what she was passing, she would have a breakdown. She wasn't quite sure what that entailed for her, but she really didn't want to find out.
Night fell, but she didn't stop walking. The stars tried to beat out the streetlamps, a battle that would only last until daylight.
When she did stop, she was at the outskirts of town. She was fatigued, and her legs were on fire. She crumpled to the ground and took a few shaky breaths.
I don't get it. I've never needed anyone. I've always been able to stand on my own, so why am I acting like this? I have to hold it together. Lisa's eyes grew wet and she shook her head, trying to dispel the tears. I don't know if I can…
"Where's Lisa?" Mashiro looked up at Love, obviously just as horrified at the thought of Lisa being gone as she was with Kensei leaving.
"She went out." Love shrugged. "What's wrong?"
"Hiyori's missing!" Mashiro hopped up and down, reminiscent of a toddler who was trying to get her parents' attention.
Love ran to Hiyori's room and whipped the door open, revealing a room empty of the blonde vizard girl.
Love grabbed Mashiro's wrist and ran out the door with her.
A/N: This feels a little like a soap opera almost… is that bad?
