Chapter 2: Troubled Thoughts
Fal's eyes widened in horror, "And so you should remain thinking." She said she was afraid of him turning her in. Her who was once his friend. Quickly she pushed herself away from Ryoichi and ran, she ran until she was out of his sight. Hopefully he doesn't come after me, he'll only hurt himself if he does, she thought to herself. No, he'll only hurt both of us, the thought whispered to her from the back of her mind. She tried to shake it away.

"Fal! Wait!" Ryoichi called he took a step to follow her then froze. He was already torn between sides. His old friend Fal, or the Soul Society. She probably doesn't want me to follow her… I better watch her though, it'll be for her own safety, he thought. He wasn't sure if it was for his friend's safety that he wanted to try to watch her or the fact that he wanted to find her and talk to her. If he couldn't do that he wanted to watch her under the guise of saying that he was trying to look out for her and her safety. A hollow wouldn't be able to get its greedy claws on her to begin with.

As night fell he had no luck in his search for Fal. It's almost as if she's vanished. I can't even sense her, then again, I couldn't sense her until I touched her, he thought. His blue eyes scanned each person's face as they past him and he past them. He knew that Fal would be avoiding him thoroughly; he didn't expect her to come near any street that his spirit energy was near. It didn't help that he wasn't good enough at masking his spirit energy to the point that Fal wouldn't be able to detect it.

His cell phone went off, plunging straight into a frenzy of high pitched, infuriating notes that could drive anyone mad if it was left playing for an overly long time, "damn, a hollow?! Where?!" he muttered then opened the phone before seeing where it was. Ryoichi ran off quickly to where the hollow was to kill it. He wasn't in the mood for the nonsense of hollows; he wanted to find who he was looking for. I can't tell anyone about this either, he thought. He knew that he'd get Fal in a lot of trouble if he did tell the Soul Society or anyone else. Trouble that she wouldn't be able to escape from twice.

Ryoichi's dark blue eyes scanned over the area from where he was perched up high on a building. It didn't give him a sight of people's faces but it did give him an overall view of the district. He was no longer as irritated with this mission as he had been earlier this afternoon. So she's still practicing in her hand-to-hand combat, she may need that some time if she's found out, he thought, the look on his face couldn't be mistaken for anything else. He was troubled by this thought. He knew that things could get rather risky soon if anyone else found out. He knew that no one else could find out.

Fal woke up gradually. It had been several weeks now since she had run into Ryoichi, she hadn't seen him since. A part of her longed to see him again, to talk to him, but the rest of her knew that that would basically be suicide. He's with the shinigami; I can't afford to talk to him. I'll be found out. I haven't hidden so long just to blow everything because of these worthless, intervening feelings. That would be a child's mistake and I'm no longer a child. I wouldn't make that foolish error, she thought to herself. She knew that she had spent too long working on her hidden spot that was plainly out in the open to throw it all away as if it didn't matter.

Fal stretched as she stood outside in the opened doorway to her apartment. She turned to close it. Her ears picked up the sound of footsteps. Eyes sliding up she saw that it was, in fact, Tekuto that was coming down the hallway. She guessed his purpose of being out and rather neatly dressed for once. Of course, rather neatly dressed meant un-torn jeans and a hoodie that was rather new and wasn't stained, "You going to go visit with Sabrina?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering, where are you guys meeting?"

"Down by the river."

"Can I walk with you for a bit?"

"If you want. There's no rules against it, plus, Sabrina likes hanging out with you too."

Fal smiled, it was a great relief to hear that her friend's girlfriend liked her rather than having her hate her guts for hanging around with Tekuto, "I'm glad for that, I'd hate to have her jealous of me because you're one of my only friends and we live in the same apartment block. But she doesn't have to worry about you cheating on her. I hope she realises that."
"She does, that's why she isn't like that with me hanging out with you. I'm glad that she isn't. We've been friends for…what…three years now? It'd suck if a girlfriend of mine got mad at that." Tekuto said then sighed, he hadn't had a girlfriend like that but he hasn't had many girlfriends. And some that he has had just tried to embarrass him my making him look like an idiot or something because they knew someone that had a problem with his eyes. He hated that some people did that. He didn't like being called blind either. Being called that was enough to greatly anger him.

"Then I'm glad that she does realise that. I know we tried dating once but it didn't really work out…" Fal muttered.

Tekuto laughed as he remembered their attempt at dating, it had been awkward. That was the only word to use for it. Fal joined in the laughter. When they arrived at the river Fal said bye then continued on walking. She glanced back once to see Tekuto and Sabrina hug before walking along the river bank, side-by-side. I'm glad that he's happy, she thought. She knew that Sabrina was probably the best girl for him.

Her mind recently has been plagued by strange things, that dream was attacking her more and more in her waking moments and she hated it. Why won't it stop? It's annoying, she thought to herself. To Fal the dream was just a memory, something that had gone and passed and she had managed to get away from with her life. Now it changed the way her life should have been, but she was learning to become fond of this life.

A falcon came down and perched on Fal's shoulder as she kept on walking. "Hello Oisen, how're you?" she whispered. She couldn't understand the trill that she got in answer to her words.

Oisen was a large falcon. His feathers were white as snow with black tips to them, his eyes yellow with black dilating pupils, his beak was viscously hooked and also yellow. A slap from his wings was as good as a kick to the nose at just the right angle. He leaned over himself to preen the thick feathers as his bead like eye watched Fal. His talons were sharp and he was being careful not to let them cut into Fal's skin like he would let them if the person was an animal prey or was someone who had the intentions of hurting his owner. He was a very devoted bird.

Her hazel eyes widened when she saw Ryoichi down the street. Damn it he's found me, Fal thought. She quickly darted in another direction and started to run, she wanted to see him but she knew that she couldn't. Oisen had taken off from her shoulder.

The falcon started to fly over to Ryoichi it then wheeled around in front of him then started to fly to the road Fal had taken. He led Ryoichi around for a long time but they didn't find Fal. She had vanished on them.

Fal was panting by the time that she had gotten to her apartment, she had taken a long winding way to lose Ryoichi, and she had sensed him following her with her traitor of a falcon leading him. She didn't know that Oisen had been leading him. She had figured that Ryoichi had been following her on his own, without any help, for if anyone helped him then he'd have to have told the Soul Society. It hadn't been hard to lose him in the crowded streets whose flows were constantly changing, all she had to do was take the current open path-slowly, with pace with the others-then find the next opening one. When she got to the other edge to an emptier street she'd run to join the next stream-like crowd as soon as she could.
Fal walked over to her fridge and pulled a bottle of water out of it before cracking it and beginning to drink the cool liquid. It felt great running down her parched throat. She wouldn't be leaving her apartment for awhile now, until she was sure that Ryoichi had given up his search for her.

To kill the time she spent locked up in her apartment Fal allowed herself to turn on her TV and watch a few shows-a rare treat-mostly her TV was there for show. Even then it was hardly worth noticing. It was old and the picture was bad but it was better than nothing. Usually she'd watch movies at someone else's house, like at Tekuto's when he invited Sabrina over for a movie and ended up inviting Shiro and Fal to join them. It was only every once and awhile when this happened, Fal knew that Tekuto and Sabrina preferred to watch the movies alone without the comments that she and Shiro put in. Fal also read some books.

When she finished reading a book she put it down and looked at the time, it was late. Fal decided that Ryoichi had probably given up for the day; she got up and grabbed some pieces of meat for the falcons before she went out to the shed. She wasn't ready for what lay in wait for her there.

Ryoichi cursed when he lost track of where Fal had run off to. Even with the falcon's help he wasn't able to keep track of her in the crowds she dove into as if they were meant for the purpose of hiding fleeing people. I get my first glimpse of her again and she manages to shake me off her trail again. I understand why she was in the mobile corps now. Ryoichi thought, he disliked how Fal had been able to get rid of him so seemingly easily. It hadn't occurred to him that Fal's loosing of him had been anything but easy for her. It had been exhausting work that she didn't like to do. It had been a hard choice for her to choose to run when a part of her wanted to see him. Even if she had made that choice in a few milliseconds, it had been very difficult. And Ryoichi would never know that.

"So Oisen, where to now? I hardly thought that you'd be able to help me find her yet you did. I guess she still likes falcons huh?" he asked. Some people looked at him oddly when they saw him talking to a falcon. Ryoichi sighed then started to walk, following the bird. He wasn't even sure if Oisen was leading him to where he wanted to go.
He knew for sure that he was just being dragged around when the falcon dropped onto a tree to preen. Choking with rage, Ryoichi barely stopped himself from grabbing the bird and strangling it. "You dumb bird! Fal! Take me to Fal! Before I kill you, you… you dumb waste of feathers!"

Oisen looked down at Ryoichi before jumping down from the branch. He started to batter Ryoichi with his strong wings. He didn't like the threats coming from the man. Despite being a falcon he understood the words coming from people.

"Why… why you! I should roast you for dinner!" Using his hands and arms for a shield from the violently pounding he snapped. The thrashing from the wings continued as long as Ryoichi's threats continued. When Oisen stopped for a bit he waited to see if Ryoichi would do anything.

As fast as he could Ryoichi lunged for the falcon, the falcon took to the air then landed on Ryoichi's back. He didn't try to keep his talons from piercing the skin of the man. Ryoichi yelped then slapped the bird off of his back then looked at it. "Fine then, I'll look for her without you." He sighed. He got himself to his feet then started to walk off, in the wrong direction.
Oisen looked at Ryoichi. If his expression could be read for anything it would have been read for 'what an idiot' at this moment in time. It was probably his over all impression of Ryoichi. He jumped off of the branch that he had gone onto then flew in front of Ryoichi's face as if to tell him that he was going the wrong way and to follow him.

Ryoichi looked at the bird and tried to decide if he should follow or not. When Oisen screeched at him for not following he ran after the bird and kept him in sight at all times, not wanting to lose the falcon like he had lost Fal. Hopefully this bird leads me to her this time. Man, how does she stand this one?! He thought to himself as he ran. Personally, he couldn't stand this falcon. Any bird that would harass its owner's friend couldn't be that good to the owner herself.
He was right on the falcon not being overly friendly to Fal.

Blue eyes widened in surprise when the door to the shed he had been led to began to open. Ryoichi knew that if it was someone other than Fal opening the door he could be in some major trouble; he knew that if it was Fal opening the door he'd be in trouble too. The risk seemed to be worth it. He slunk deeper into the shadows that he had hidden himself in. Falcons were everywhere around him. He ignored them and they ignored him. At first one of them had been biting him often but it smartened up after he batted it none-to-kindly away from himself. Any moment now he'd be noticed.

As soon as Fal had gotten out of the reach of the door he closed it shut so she couldn't leave and run on him again. He watched as Fal looked behind her in horror.
He wasn't a fan of having to do catch her in this manner. "Your white falcon with the temper problem led me here." He spoke the words softly.

"Are you sure it's him or you with the problem? Ryoichi, I told you to forget about me. You're putting yourself in danger and you know it." Fal muttered softly.

Ryoichi barked out a hoarse laugh, "I'm not the one that's in danger. How long did you think it'd be until someone noticed you Fal? How long did you think you could go living amongst these humans?"

"Long enough. What does it matter to you Ryoichi? I'm an enemy to you. I'm an enemy to the place I used to live."

Ryoichi's eyes searched Fal's face. It was no longer the face that he remembered. It wasn't the face of the girl from so long ago, the girl who he had to be forced to talk to at first by his best friend because he was too shy to talk to her himself. "Did you do it?" he asked quietly.

"I'm not sure. Now go away. Please Ryoichi, go." Fal whispered then opened the door before pushing him outside into the cold air.

Ryoichi stared out at the dark night that wasn't so dark because of the light pollution and how the town began to light up the night. So that's what she thinks… he pondered wondering what was on her mind, I should probably begin to leave her alone. She probably won't forgive me if I track her down again. I'll work on keeping anyone else from finding out. Deciding that that was for the best he started to walk away.

Fal had her ear pressed to the wood of the shed and listened to Ryoichi's fading footsteps through the night. She had somehow managed to pick out his footfalls from the rest of the chaotic noise in the background. She didn't realise that her body was shivering. She didn't realise that she was scarcely breathing.

Oisen's avian eyes watched Fal. It was almost as if he was annoyed with her as he watched her. Shrieking, he made Fal flinch and turn on him. He bit into the delicate skin of her inner wrist to make her pull back away from him.

"Oisen…" Fal hissed then yanked her arm away from the monstrously hooked beak. More skin tore at cause from the beak. Her body began to shudder when she smelled the blood that was beginning to stain her skin. Some of her blood was also falling to the wood-shaving covered floor and stained it red too. Dropping the meat into the shed she left, "Dumb bird."

"Hey guys, is Fal okay?" Fal was hardly aware of Sabrina's inquiry.

"She's been like that for awhile now Sabrina, she's probably fine though." Shiro said then glanced at his friend. His red eyes went over to Tekuto to see what he was up to. Beside him was Akira.

"I'm fine you guys, stop worrying." Fal sighed in exasperation, she wasn't in the mood for this, and her mind was elsewhere.

Tekuto watched Fal quietly, "as Shiro said, she's been like this for awhile now." He muttered to his girlfriend and friends.

"I said to stop worrying about it." Fal hissed. After that she wasn't aware of her friends' conversations, at least they weren't talking about her anymore. Her eyes watched her drink that she had cupped in her hands in front of her. Within her head her mind was in complete turmoil and chaos. "Please stop worrying about it you guys. It's just something that I have to sort out by myself." She whispered softly.

"Fal, go stop that pecking on the window." Shiro growled as he looked at the small, black white and brown moulted falcon.

Fal glanced up at the falcon and smiled lightly when she saw Aishwarya on the window sill, "What's she doing here?" she mumbled to herself. Dragging her hands away from the comfort of her cup, she stood and went to the window. Her eyes were on the bird as it jumped into the room. With a ginger care she began to caress the supple feathers of many colors. Light coons of love came from the falcon. Fal was also saying a few things too in coon-like tones.

She wasn't aware of the four sets of eyes that were watching her. She didn't care about her friends that were watching her. If they were to pay attention to what Fal was uttering then they'd hear that she was telling the bird about what was going on and the mental trouble she was trying to sort herself out of. Fortunately for Fal, they weren't paying enough attention to what she was saying.

Tekuto tightened his arm that was around Sabrina to pull her closer to him. His silver eyes began to wander the room as he remained there on the couch with his girlfriend. Whispering something into her ear, he got off the couch. He came back after a few seconds with two cans of pop. Cracking the first one he passed it over to Sabrina before doing the same for his and sitting down.

"Is everyone sure that Fal's okay?" He heard Sabrina whisper into his ear.

His shoulders rose and fell in a shrug, "Who knows? It is Fal after all. She's like this sometimes… but this seems to be the worst it has ever been so far. Plus, it hasn't passed on like it normally does," he whispered back to Sabrina. As he said he wasn't sure if Fal was okay or not, but his friend would never tell him what was wrong. Bothering Fal would be a waste of his time and breath and he wasn't going to make that waste. He just had to trust that she would tell him or get over it on her own.
He didn't like it.

Tekuto was the kind of person that would try to help his friend. He was over protective at times and sometimes a bit possessive. The last thing didn't seem to bother Sabrina, if anything she was possessive too. They seemed to be able to manage it though.

He took a mouthful of his pop. He swallowed it slowly, letting it trickle down the back of his throat. In the background he could hear Fal and Aishwarya seeming to have a conversation in which the only one speaking was Fal while Aishwarya replied in trills, tweets, and crooning sounds. He was paying attention to his conversation with Shiro, Akira, and Sabrina. The conversation soon turned into a debate.

Debating stopped when Fal walked over and sat down on the cushion she had been sitting on before, she still seemed to be troubled but not as badly. Tekuto nearly snapped when he saw that Aishwarya was there and her talons were digging into his coffee table. He stopped since the table was chipped and damaged already. It hardly managed that more marks were going into the tender wood.

"So, you feel better Fal?"

"I think so. I'm not completely sure…"

"A bit better is better than nothing."

"Yes, you're right."

Tekuto could feel the sense of worry that everyone had plaguing the shadows of their minds begin to vanish. He glanced around the room. A smile came across his face when he saw the other ones begin too.

"Hey guys, you know what we should go do?"

Tekuto looked at the sky as he and his friends stood by the river. He had heard that there would be fireworks going off at some point tonight. It was just a rumour so he could be wrong, but he didn't believe that he was. He, despite not caring for gossip, managed to hear a lot of what was going on in the town.

They hung around there for hours without seeing anything that could be even slightly equivalent to a firework going off. Most of them were shivering and they were sitting close together. None of them had brought more than a sweater to Tekuto's apartment and the night was chillier than most had expected it to be. It hadn't seemed to be cold at first, however the longer they sat there the colder they became. If they moved around a bit they'd probably begin to warm up, but no one wanted to move. All eyes were glued onto the sky.

"Hey, guys, maybe we should get back?" Sabrina asked as she moved closer to Tekuto to try to get warmer.

"Any minute now, I may have heard the wrong time. But I'm sure that there's going to be fireworks tonight. Some big-shot having a party of some sort." Tekuto said. He tightened his arms around Sabrina, pulling her closer to him. He wanted her warmth just as she wanted his.

At the same time as Tekuto drew Sabrina closer to him, the sky lit up into a million different colors. The group watched the fireworks, awe on each and every face. None of them noticed their shivering as they watched the night sky light up even more than the lights that were on down below. When the fireworks ended the group of five lingered on the soft grass by the river. They listened to the sounds of the city that was beginning to go to sleep.

"We should probably begin to head home… it's getting late…" Someone in the group muttered. Taking the cue from the unknown voice they began to stand up. Tekuto started to walk with Sabrina to her house. He'd end up going back to his apartment for the night. He had only spent the night at Sabrina's a few times, and most of the time he fell asleep on the couch during a movie that they were watching there-to make sure that one of his friends didn't barge into his apartment during it.

Tekuto and Sabrina talked in hushed voices as they walked towards Sabrina's house. Their topics ranged from the fireworks to just about anything else thinkable. He stretched his one arm that wasn't snaked around Sabrina's waist. One of his feet were asleep and wasn't waking up as fast as he would have liked it too. It was a constant annoyance at the back of his mind and made his gait seem off. When the foot woke up he didn't notice it that much.

Arriving at the two story house with a brick fence around it Tekuto looked at it. He started to push the gate open then walked with Sabrina up the steps and stopped outside the door to her house. "Well then, I guess its goodnight now huh?" He asked Sabrina quietly.

Sabrina nodded softly. In the dim lighting she noticed that Tekuto's eyes seemed to be brighter than most eyes in this sort of light. "Your eyes are pretty…" she whispered. She was beginning to lose herself in them as her light blue eyes remained locked on his.

Tekuto chuckled lightly, "Most people call them uncanny, but not you." He was confused by that, "why is that Sabrina-chan?" He didn't receive any answer.

Back at the river Fal, Shiro, and Akira were beginning to walk to the apartment block. They were talking about the fireworks as they walked.

"Weren't they pretty?" Akira asked. Hyper was the only word to describe her state of mind at that particular moment.

"Yes they were, but we froze our asses off to be able to see them." Shiro said, pumping his arms as he did so to try to warm his self.

Fal giggled, "Oh well, it was fun shivering together as we waited. I guess Tekuto's rumours he managed to hear didn't give him the exact time. Or if they did, then the time was wrong. At least there actually were fireworks. His rumours have been wrong before."

"Like the time he said that there would be a video shooting here? We came out to see if it was true and we just got poured on." Shiro said. His voice contained some anger at Tekuto for that. In the end it had made for a funny memory for them.

Both Akira and Fal laughed. "I remember that, I was freezing by the time we managed to run to the apartments." Fal said. She was laughing as she said it.
"Did we even make it to the apartments?"

"No… I think Tekuto ended up finding a soccer ball on the way so we played some in an empty lot. But it was muddy and we were tackling each other and all that. We were filthy by the time we stumbled to the apartment block. Then the landlord wouldn't let us into the place because of how dirty we were. They sprayed us with the hose before they'd let us in."
"I remember that. Man that was fun. We should do it again sometime, but lets let Akira and Sabrina join in." Shiro laughed.

"It sounds like fun." Akira stated as she walked.

"It is." Shiro assured her then pulled out his key to get into their apartment block. He opened the door and let his girlfriend and friend go into the building first.
The warm air felt like heaven when they stepped into the building. They said goodbye before each going to their own rooms in the apartment. Fal walked inside her apartment and looked around. It was almost as if she was searching it for any unwanted visitors-more like one certain unwanted visitor. Seeing that he hadn't found out her apartments she relaxed. She would be all to weary about the shed that she had her many falcons in.

The bite in her wrist started to hurt some more with the sudden warmth to the tender skin around it. She glanced down at it before going to take off the Band-Aid that was falling off on its own. She looked at it, it was a bit raw still but that was because it hadn't been able to scab over with the Band-Aid on it. She left it uncovered now. It'd be awhile before she tried to sleep and it was no longer bleeding so it seemed like it'd be fine to leave it uncovered now.

She walked over to her window and sat down by it. Her eyes stared out into the night sky. She began to ponder about the things that were plaguing her mind. Most of them had to do with Ryoichi. She wanted to get him out of her mind but she couldn't.

Ryoichi lay down on his bed. His eyes stared at the ceiling. He was tired, that was for certain, but he couldn't sleep at all. Eventually he closed his eyes. Within the backs of them they lit up like the night had when the fireworks had been going off. He had seen them. He had actually liked them.
They brought back memories.

When he had been younger and had first gotten a promotion in his division his friends had arranged for some fireworks to be shot off that night in the Seireitei. It had been a fun night. Even after the fireworks had ended he and the others hung out and partied most of the night. Haru, who was rather quiet, didn't get too into the celebration but he did in his own way. The others hadn't cared about the noise they were causing, they were just another group out having a good time at night.

The next morning had been hell. He had woken up to a wicked headache, plus, some of his friends had shown up again in the morning to have breakfast and hang out some more. At least one of the drinks one of them had brought had soothed his headache a lot and made him feel up to the day at his division. Without the drink he didn't think he would have been very good during that day.

The next morning he woke up and got dressed quickly. He was once again to be sent to the world of the living for a few more days. Last night had been the one time in awhile that he'd be able to return to the Soul Society for a night's rest. It wasn't long until he was running after his hell butterfly through the white-blenched portal. He breathed more easily once he was out of it and back in the world of the living. At least this way no one can accidentally find out about her, he thought to himself. He was still torn on what to do. If it came down to it he wasn't sure what he would do. He didn't want them to get their hands on his friend. Even it that friend had cut her ties from him. It's not like she meant to cut her ties though I don't think. She really had no other choice, he thought.

Fal was outside on the streets already. Last night, during the fireworks, she had been sure that she had seen Ryoichi standing nearby and also watching them. The thought of him being near didn't make her feel too good. She didn't like the idea of him watching her. Why does he have to be so goddamn stubborn? Why can't he just listen to me and stay away like I told him too?! She thought.