I sat at a picnic table in the town's park and watched a group of children play with their dog. The dog took off, children following, and I smiled. My smile left quickly, though, as I wondered where Renji was. Something had been bothering him when we left the barrier that morning, and it got worse as we went through town. His irritation had been adding to my already high levels of frustration, so I ordered him to investigate. Renji had refused at first. It was his job to protect me when we were in town, and my order was conflicting with his job. I finally convinced him I would be fine in the five minutes it would take him, but barely. The entire time I could see him, he kept looking over his shoulder, checking to see if I was fine.
I was glad I successfully convinced Renji to go investigate. I still needed time to think about everything that had happened in the three days since the training exercise had begun, or, more accurately, what had not happened. Whatever had driven Renji to act the way he did seemed to have passed. He has been nothing but a good escort since our conversation, carefully maintaining a distance I could deal with.
I shook my head and focused on the children's antics. I had tried not to get too attached to anyone at school. My father's one condition in allowing me to go was I had to return to the compound after six years. Being close to anyone would have complicated things considerably. And yet, despite my best efforts, I found myself making friends. Renji, in particular, seemed to find a way into my life. When the time came to say good-bye…
I sighed, stretching my neck back to look at the sky. Thinking about saying good-bye had made my heart skip a beat. Renji no longer had to be near me to make my heart ache and my head spin. I had no idea what to do about these reactions, and I still had five and a half weeks to deal with them. I wanted to talk to Sunako about them, but I could not. She would tell Blaine. If Blaine knew how much trouble Renji's presence was causing me, he would cancel the entire exercise. If I wanted to finish, I would have to wait for Dante, Miyako, or Hitachi to be done with their mission. I was sick of pushing my training off. If this exercise was cancelled, I would most likely just end up becoming the first Kimura to not officially finish training.
The dog barked, startling me. I looked up to see the kids and their dog leaving. One of the kids waved to me, and I waved back, smiling. As soon as they were out of eye sight, though, the smile slid off my face. I slammed myself backward, enjoying the pain as the edge of the picnic table dug into my back. Drawing my knees to my chest, I tilted my head back again and let my thoughts wander to what I should do. I could handle Renji being nearby most of the time, especially when he was acting like an escort should. I could easily act like I never knew him, unless I caught him looking at me like he recognized me.
He never said anything about it, never voiced any suspicions about who I could possibly be. It was driving me mad trying to figure out if he actually did recognize me. My appearance was not too different from what the glamour was. At the time, Blaine was only capable of performing subtle glamour for long periods of time, but the differences were enough that even Daddy had problems recognizing me. I had to remind Renji of Hotaru, it was the only explanation why he would look at me like he did.
Sighing, I put my feet back on the ground, sitting forward enough to remove the picnic table from my back. I could not ask Renji who I reminded him of, the pain I would feel if my suspicions were correct would be unbearable. A few people wandered past, and I watched them. I let my mind wander, trying to find something else to think of. I felt a hint of spiritual energy, and I directed my focus to it, trying to determine if it was Renji…
What was I doing? I shook my head and started studying the grain on the table, furious with myself. I was not a child who needed somebody to watch her. Renji had been gone for barely ten minutes. He would return as soon as his mind was at ease about whatever was bothering him earlier. Until then, I could wait patiently where he left me. I was perfectly safe where I was.
"Hikari, we need to leave." I jumped, dragged from my thoughts by Renji's voice. I looked up to see him standing behind me, bewildered at the fact I missed his approach when I was otherwise always aware of his presence. I wanted to complain about leaving so early in the day, but I stopped. Renji's attention was not on me. Instead, he was looking somewhere in the distance, worry written everywhere on his face and in his body. I frowned. This was not his usual tension, but something else.
"Is something wrong, Renji?" I asked, getting to my feet. Renji did not answer, but he grabbed my arm and started pulling me out of the park. I flinched at the sudden contact, but I followed, chewing my bottom lip. Something was definitely not right. Now that I was paying attention, the air itself seemed different, almost heavy and dark. I knew this feeling from somewhere, but I could not place it.
The air changed again as we made the edge of the park. It was not quite as heavy, but it was definitely dark, almost hostile. My left hand, severely limited in mobility due to an old training accident, began aching as the hostility grew. Renji's grip on my arm tightened, and he began trembling. My worry grew. Renji had never been one to let his emotions show like that.
"Hollow," he whispered. I blinked before looking at him in surprise. How I did not recognize it earlier, I do not know. The sensation in the air was indeed that of a Hollow's presence, and one quite close at that. Renji began tugging at my arm again, trying to get me out of there before the Hollow appeared. I obeyed. If a Hollow was in the area, there was not much I could do. I left all my weapons at the compound.
Something connected with my stomach, lifting my feet off the ground and sending me flying. I could not catch my breath. I felt Renji's fingers dig into my arm as he tried to shield me with his body. We hit the ground, the momentum from the blow tearing us apart. His nails tore chunks of flesh off, and I felt blood start welling at the wounds. Gasping, I rolled to my stomach and pushed myself to my feet. Renji had to be nearby, I had to find him.
"What have we here?" I looked up to see the Hollow standing before me. It was crouched like an overgrown toad, but there were sets of tentacles where the front limbs should have been. Boils on its back bubbled and popped, leaking some type of nasty reddish-brown liquid down its side. The smell coming from the liquid was horrendous; it was all I could do not to gag. "You're not a human, are you girlie?"
Blood trickled down my right arm, momentarily distracting me from the Hollow. The injury Renji accidentally inflicted must be deeper than I thought. I clamped my left hand over the marks, trying to stop the bleeding. My ribs throbbed, and I knew some of them were fractured if not completely broken. Each breath sent new waves of agony through my body. My legs shook, but I forced myself to stay standing. I could not show weakness before this creature. To do so would mean death. Trying not to take my eyes off it, I tried to see where Renji landed through slowly darkening vision.
"Well, I don't care what you are," the Hollow hissed, stepping toward me. One of the boils popped, sending some of the liquid right at me. I took a shaky step back, trying not to touch it. I did not know what it was, but it could not be good. "I'll eat your soul, and then I'll eat the soul of your boyfriend."
I gave up trying to subtly find Renji. He had to be somewhere close by. My stomach heaved as the smell from the liquid grew worse and my concern over Renji grew. He was in danger; the Hollow would go after him as soon as it could. I had to warn him. He had to get out of here before the Hollow turned its attention to him.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw tentacles fly at me as the Hollow attacked. I tried to jump away, but my legs gave way under me. The tentacles caught my left ankle, and I found myself suspended upside-down over the Hollow's head. Another tentacle wrapped around my neck. I grabbed it, trying to keep it from strangling me, but it was no use. Stars started spinning around my head as my lungs burned.
"Renji," I forced out with the last of my air. Everything was black, my lungs screamed for precious oxygen, but my mind was on Renji. It was my fault if he died, my fault he was in this mess to begin with…
"Why do you want to be a Soul Reaper, Hotaru?" Renji asked me. "You don't seem to care about getting into the Gotei 13." I lowered my book and looked at him over the top. He was leaning against the cherry tree, watching me with those brown eyes.
"I do not care about getting into the Gotei 13," I said. "In fact, that is the last thing I care about."
"But don't you want to live in the Seireitei?" Renji leaned forward and I raised my book up. "Don't you want to live in the best situation possible?"
"There is more to life than luxury, Renji."
Fire burned the blackness from my vision as I felt my spine crunch against something. My burning lungs soothed as I greedily inhaled oxygen. I was no longer suspended above the Hollow's head, but laying on something hard and warm. I tried to focus through my fogged vision. Copper and earth filled my mouth. I had to be on the ground somewhere. I tried to push myself up, but my arms shook under my weight. I collapsed, hitting my jaw on the ground and biting my tongue. It hurt to move. It felt like somebody was digging through my skin with a sharpened stick.
I tried to roll to my side, to take some of my weight off my throbbing ribs. My clothes clung to me, and I grabbed them. They were wet, but not like they were in water. It was a thick wetness, almost like some sort of gel or mucus had been poured on me. It had to be the stuff the Hollow was secreting, there was nothing else that made sense.
The Hollow! I tried to push myself up again, but I did not get far. I lay there, trying to listen for something to clue me in to what happened. I should not be alive right now; the Hollow should have eaten me. I heard a yell somewhere in the distance.
"Renji?" I whispered. That one word sent me into a coughing fit. I barely managed to cover my mouth with my hand. When I pulled my hand away, I saw it covered in blood. In some distant corner of my mind, I registered burning on my skin and the hand I touched my clothes with. It felt like my very soul was burning. I was certain some of this damage would translate from the gigai to my actual form.
I had to move, I could not just keep lying there. I moved my arms, trying to find something to help me get up. My vision was still blurred from the impact, I could not see if the Hollow was nearby or if there was something that could help me. There was nothing in my immediate area, so I tried to feel further away. My limbs became harder to control as I went. My connection with my gigai was starting to fail. Some of the burning and throbbing faded away, but not enough.
My fingers brushed something. I hesitated, unsure if I should trust whatever I found or if I should continue to lie there and wait for somebody to come help me. Slowly, my fogged brain recognized the texture as that of tree bark. I started pushing myself to it. Each inch I moved sent needles dancing through my nerves. My vision started darkening again, but I pushed on. I could not lie there anymore. My lower back hit the tree, sending a new wave of fire through my back. I bit my lip to keep from screaming as I sat up.
"Roar, Zabimaru!" I heard the yell come from a distance. Confusion swept through me as I struggled to identify who it was, but comprehension followed quickly. Zabimaru was the name of Renji's zanpakuto. He was still alive, still able to fight. I closed my eyes, my vision swimming from the slowly growing throb in my chest. Despite it all, I was relieved. Renji would be fine. I could relax. I heard a distant roar, but I did not think anything of it. I let relief carry me back to the darkness.
"Hikari!" I opened my eyes to see a bright red pineapple floating before me. I blinked a couple of times before Renji's face came into focus. There was blood on his cheek and forehead, and I wanted more than anything to wipe it from his face.
"You're alive," I whispered. I started coughing again, and I fought my gigai to cover my mouth. I could not do it, though, and more specks of blood joined that already on him. He barely flinched. I noticed he was not wearing the shirt he had put for town, but instead was in his shihakusho. "Where's your gigai?"
"Forget that, Hikari," he whispered. I saw him lift his hand to my face, felt him wipe the blood from my mouth. His fingers rested on my cheek. "We need to get you help." I wanted to protest his touch, but I was fighting to keep my eyes open. Everything was growing numb.
"Go get Sunako," I whispered. "Blaine…" I started coughing again, and Renji moved his hand from my cheek. He placed it behind my head, his other arm wrapping around my waist, as he pulled me to his chest. My head rested on his shoulder, and he covered my mouth with his neck. I tried to fight him, but every movement sent jabs of agony through me.
"I'm not leaving you," Renji said, still holding me close. "Not like this, and definitely not after that Hollow was here." I wanted to argue, but I could not afford another coughing fit. My vision was starting to fade again, and I struggled to stay awake. Every nerve in my body was screaming, and even Renji's touch, as gentle as it was, was nothing but agony.
I had to convince him to get Blaine. I weakly struggled in Renji's grip, but I had lost almost all connection to my gigai. The world grew dark. "Please…"