Thunder, Save Me
Summary: Two years after nearly being executed, Riina Asuka feels as if the entire world has turned their back on her. Mislead; she keeps making the wrong decisions. Where will she turn when sympathy runs out? Will she be able to stand when the pressure crushes her? Will her life come crashing down after yet another, shot in the dark?
Sequel to Rain, Forgive Me (a book about moving past guilt); Thunder, Save Me is about being your own hero and standing up when it all falls down.
Chapter Four: Give it your All
Riina took another bite off of the apple. The rich crunch was all that she heard. The juice from the red fruit spilled into her mouth and the small piece of the apple took up her whole mouth.
Crunch. She chewed once. More water flooded her taste buds. It was hard to describe this taste. It was fresh like air in the forest. It was sweet like a warm afternoon in the sun. It was cool like a breeze.
Her eyes fastened closed. Her focus was sharply on the apple and its taste.
Crunch. Another bit was crushed with her teeth. The sound was harsh. Somehow it was menacing. As she chewed once again, the sound made her furrow her brow.
Crunch, crunch. What once was a pleasant experience now made her think of bones snapping and bodies thudding against the ground. Weirdly, these sounds were alike.
Crunch. Her eyes flashed open. She swallowed the remaining food but dropped the apple in her hand. Her face scrunched up in disgust. The fruit plummeted and hit the cement. It rolled for a second.
Men's screams sounded off in her head from no where. Her eyes widened but then she leaned back on the hard bed when she realized it was only her memory.
Crunch, crunch. Their bodies falling to the ground. The blood slick against her hands. The red fluid dripping.
The piece of fruit slithered down her throat and she gagged. Now all she could picture was a metallic taste like blood going to her gullet.
Crunch. Another bone cracked in half.
Riina jumped to her feet and swooped up the apple and threw it at the wall. Her teeth gritting and her hands pulsing in and out of a fist. Her breath was rough. The apple didn't appease her anger. It hit the wall with little force and plopped to the ground.
The silver cuff on her left wrist reminded her that the apple wouldn't go far. Not with the strength that she had.
"Hey, settle down." A guard tapped on the metal bar.
Riina huffed as she toppled back unto the bed. Her knees drawn up to her chest. She rested her right cheek against her knee. A solemn look was on her face. Her eyes looked out into the distance, not at anything but rather at nothing at all.
Maybe this whole situation was destined to happen. She couldn't think of any other possibilities for her. This was probably as bad as it was going to get. 15 to life in a prison cell. The minimal sentence for someone at her age was fifteen years. The way her luck is, she guessed it would be longer.
She oddly felt like this was where she was supposed to be. That this is the consequence of all her actions over the two years. She deserved this. And yet no part of her wanted to change that past to not end up here. This is what she wanted in a way. To be isolated. To be alone.
Suddenly, Riina heard the cell door slide open. Her eyes flickered up at the interruption. Didn't the guard know she was busy sulking?
The man placed the keys on his belt, "Come on, you have a visitor."
The girl was surprised. Who could have come to see her? She got up and walked with the guard out of her cell. And then past the hundreds of other cells along the way to the visitors section.
There were booths with phones that were on the side of them. A place to sit along with a strong glass barrier that separated these booths from the mirroring booths across. Riina was seated at one of the booths and it was clear then who had come to see her.
Riina picked up the corded phone against the wall and pressed it to her ear.
"H-Hi, Asuka-san." The voice said nervously.
"You have ten minutes." The guard said to Riina and he locked her wrist to the desk with hand cuffs.
Riina nodded and then drew her attention back at the bright haired woman. Her eyes seemed duller than the last time she saw her. There was sadness in them. Riina immediately felt a tinge of guilt rise in her chest.
"Hey, Inoue." She smiled. She didn't even notice the formality was dropped. "How's school?" She noted the silence between them.
"Oh! It's fine." She jumped a bit at the question. Her orange hair bounced and her smile widened. She looked like she was forcing that smile on her face. "Yesterday, we had a trip to the museum. It was a lot of fun!"
Her eyes fell down the same time her smile did. Her right hand was on the desk in front of her and it clenched as if she was nervous. She didn't speak for several seconds. "...why?" She finally asked.
Her voice broke toward the end of the word and her eyebrows indented in sorrow.
Riina felt the tinge of guilt grow inside of her. It went to her throat and she did her best to swallow it down. She clenched her jaw shut tightly before murmuring, "I don't know." That was all that she could think of to say.
Their eyes met. Her purplish gray ones were squinted and tears started to form in them. The situation hit Riina like a ton of bricks.
She could be in this prison for a very long time. An excruciating painful reality. Her life could consist of being behind bars. No fun to be had, no people to see. No hope.
In those abysmal eyes she saw her own terror. Her eyes were wide and lips parted in fathom. Her face was in complete shock.
Of course she didn't need those windows to reflect that to her. She knew it. She swallowed harder this time.
The water in Orihime's eyes accumulated more. Her lips turned down. Making a completely heart twisting mournful face.
"D-don't cry." Riina clenched her teeth together until it hurt. She couldn't bare to see such a sweet and innocent person cry. "It'll be fine." She reassured though clearly things wouldn't be.
It was a sweet lie. But it didn't work. It didn't dim the flames of passion in her friend's face.
"But-" Orihime choked out. "I can't help it." Her voice cracked and the tears streamed down her face.
Riina grunted lowly trying to hold back this strange compassion that filled her. But it was no use and the red head had to close her eyes. She couldn't witness this. It was too tormenting. It hurt her more to see this girl cry than to think about the lonesome years ahead of her.
"Stop, Inoue." She couldn't help her lip from quivering. "It's going to be alright."
"B-but I won't be able to see you anymore." Orihime said through a sob. "We won't be able to finish our lessons."
Riina gripped the phone and showed her baring teeth. She wouldn't let tears fall from her eyes. She wouldn't allow it to happen. She wasn't that weak! She wasn't that weak! She told herself over and over in her head that she had better not cry.
Crying was for those who couldn't handle situations. She was strong enough to do this on her own. She didn't need anyone else! So what if she'd be alone the rest of her life! She could handle it! She wasn't weak!
Riina frowned at the sight. Her sharp teeth gleamed. Her lips still quivered and her hand shook as she held unto the phone.
She told herself so many lies just to try to make herself feel better; to relieve this heavy guilt. It wasn't working in the least. But still through her pride, she wouldn't allow herself tears.
Riina looked away from Orihime and slammed the phone against the receiver on the wall. She couldn't watch this. If she talked any longer she was going to explode from emotion. She wouldn't allow that to happen.
The red head kept her eyes closed. She shook her head. If she wasn't chained to this stupid booth than she would have left already. Being in that booth, unable to leave was causing her more angst.
"Don't think about it. Nothing happened. Why are you so sad? There isn't any reason to be. You're just sitting at a booth. Nothing special." She had to think that way to keep her from losing her sanity. To dwell on what she did would make it worse.
In the darkness of her own consciousness. This is where she would be spending a lot of her time. Alone. This is what she deserved.
This is what she deserved for betraying all the humans she had grown to care about. She loved them from the bottom of her heart. And not just the ones that she knew either. Deep inside she cared for every single human.
She liked to doubt it. She liked to pretend she didn't care. After all, caring about people is a way for them to make their way to the heart. And her heart was so hardened that she didn't want anyone in.
It hurt too much to think about such things. She had grown so close to them and yet she refused for them to care about her. She was always fine, she wouldn't let them console her, she wouldn't let them do much for her.
Riina wanted to be alone even though she cared for these humans. In the depths of her soul she knew that she did but her thoughts told her otherwise. Who cares about humans, her thoughts would tell her. And her heart would want to answer back and say, I do.
But she wouldn't allow such weakness such as love and compassion into her. She refused to. And yet emotion always had this strange way of not listening. And no matter how hard she tried, it was always there at the door of her heart. Waiting to come in.
Riina kept her eyes shut tightly. She wasn't weak was she? She was able to block out every human from her life. She was able to block all her friends. She was able to block out complete strangers.
Yes, she was so strong. So strong to keep people at arm's length... or perhaps; so weak to keep people at arm's length.
"Bravo." She congratulated herself as the guard came and unlatched her from the booth. "You have successfully lost everything."
One week later...
Riina slept on the thin mattress. It was so thin that she could feel the bars under her. They made it very uncomfortable here. She could only guess that the bad food and the beds made it so that everyone would be miserable here.
It was prison after all.
The girl knew that the morning bell would come at any second. In which case all the prisoners would jump up and face the bars. Waiting to be taken out for breakfast. Meals and breaks were welcome and also loathed. Bad food, bad company but at least it was food and company.
Riina creaked open her eyes. Just so slits of light could come in. It wasn't much light, they still needed to keep watch on the prisoners so they would dim the lights at night and that's how it was until morning too.
Her vision was filled with gray. The whole jail was gray. It was just that exciting.
She clenched the sheets. Her eyes opened fully to the plain sight.
Just that exciting.
The bell rang and she felt numb with it. The same routine. Everyday. She got out of the bed but her eyes were hazed. She ate breakfast alone at her table, she went back to her cell until they got a break at eleven. Then she sat alone in the activity room.
The whole time she just felt numb to it all.
"Today, there were two more bodies found." The t.v rang inside the activity room. While some played cards she would just sit in the corner drawing flowers with a pen and paper. The t.v was loud enough that the news drew her sudden attention.
"The string of recent murders haven't let up since a week ago. Two bodies have been found every other day. This could be the work of a serial killer. The police say, however, that is probably still gang related."
It only peeked her attention for a few seconds. Until that is, when she was pulled out shortly.
"You have a visitor." The guard said and walked her down the hallway.
"I don't want to see them." The girl spoke as she stared at the uneventful tile.
"...this could be the last visitor you have for awhile. During the trial it is forbidden to have any. And the trials can last as long as two years."
Riina sighed. She had the right to deny to see any visitors but the guard was right, it could be her last contact for a long while. She nodded as she looked up at the guard and they entered the room where the booths were at.
It brought back some painful thoughts.
"Ten minutes." The guard chained the girl to the booth. The chair was as uncomfortable as the rest of the place.
She wouldn't have guessed that this person would be sitting in front of her. And for several seconds she just stared.
"...Hey." She whispered. The phone was heavy in her hand.
"Inoue said you could use some company." He smiled just barely.
"So is that why you're here?" Riina scoffed a little. "You shouldn't have bothered."
"No. I'm here for something else."
The girl furrowed her brow. "Hm?"
The male sitting across from her wasn't one that she would have called a friend. Even before what happened, she never felt that close to him. Sure they talked many times but he was surprisingly reluctant to talk about himself. That made the two of them rather uneventful whenever they talked to each other.
He always gave off some type of aura. She couldn't tell if it was happy or sad, it was more neutral than that. It was strong yet peaceful. Strange.
His orange hair was similar to that of Orihime's only it was even brighter.
"Did you do it?"
"Do what?" Riina was confused. Then she laughed as she realized the answer. She looked up at the roof as if accepting stupidity. Her eyes rolled back to the man. "Yeah, sure I did. That's what everybody thinks. So who am I to say differently?"
There was a long pause on the line.
"I don't care what other people think. Did you do it or not?"
Somehow those brown eyes were coaxing. They made her want to become serious. To tell the truth. Maybe that's why he was always so successful in what he did. He had that determination about him.
She knew when he got back his shinigami powers just how determined he was. That event only took place a month or two ago. The memory was still fresh in her mind.
Ichigo was that type of guy that could get to the truth without much effort.
Riina's smile dropped. She leaned against the phone and felt her muscles relax. "No. I wouldn't ever do that." She shook her head and had a soft look to her eyes. "I might have been a scoundrel, but I don't kill humans."
Caring about humans or not she did know one thing. She knew at the very least, no matter how badly she beat those guys up, she would have never killed them. She was incapable of killing a human, even the few that she hated.
"Alright." His voice was deep and brought her away from her thoughts. "I believe you."
Riina blinked, "Wh-" She only muttered. Then she tried again shaking her head, "How can you believe me? I could be lying!"
"If you say you didn't do it, then I know you didn't." He seemed so confident.
Riina almost wanted to mock him for being gullible, but he had seen right through her. He had gotten her to say the truth. For that, maybe she was the gullible one.
"Look, it doesn't matter what I believe. Doesn't even matter what you believe. I'm stuck here. And they're going to convict me of murder." She now leaned on her right hand and the phone was held by her left.
"Don't worry. I'll get you out." His voice was determined as usual.
Riina's eyes widened and she looked left and right making sure there wasn't any guards listening. She leaned forward and whispered harshly, "Are you crazy?! You can't say stuff like that, they'll arrest you!"
She huffed, "Besides, I wouldn't let you do that. You can't risk your life doing something like that."
"Seeing that you're tied up, doesn't seem like you can stop me. You might as well give up already." He barely smiled.
"Absolutely not!" She lowered her voice back to a whisper. "Look, I'll get myself out of this mess." She paused for a moment. "I heard about the newest murders. It sounds odd. Almost like something else is happening."
"I know." Ichigo leaned back in his chair. His opposite hand ruffled his hair. "Inoue, Chad, Ishida, and even Rukia are looking around town for anything. Turns out the Soul Society is involved somehow."
Riina hummed in thought. "I wonder what it could be." She heard some foot steps coming her way. "They might have been listening in on the call." She said quickly leaning in. "But either way, don't do anything stupid. I can handle myself."
Ichigo didn't even seem to hear her, "Sit tight. Just a little longer."
Riina opened her mouth but the male hung up the phone.
The guard came by and un latched the hand cuffs, it seemed like he hadn't heard them after all. He simply came as soon as he saw they were done talking. All the meanwhile, she just stared off as Ichigo turned around, placed his hands in his pockets, and left.
"You're insane." She shook her head.
That night she watched as the guard closed her cell. She sat down on her bed.
"Lights out!" He called and the lights were dimmed.
When he was out of sight, Riina dropped to the floor and looked under the bed. Her orange uniform, the clothes she was forced into the day she got here, blocked her view a little. She felt the loose cloth on her when she bent further down and leaned in.
The bed was held up by metal poles. She started to unscrew one of the ones that held up the mattress. She loosened them earlier today and now there was only a little left to do before the metal bar would be free.
While she undid them she tried to take deep breaths. She had to do this quietly but her heart was pulsing so fast that she couldn't help but gasp every once in awhile. She undid one and went to the other.
She didn't want to cause anyone else trouble. That's why she had to do this. It wasn't just her pride that didn't want to be saved, it was her will to protect others from her messing up their lives.
In that way, she knew that she still had a heart. Hardened as it may be, she was tired of hurting those innocent people. Orihime and the Urahara household especially. She had used them and then betrayed them with this.
She wanted to get out of this place, find whoever was committing the murders, and put a stop to it. That would show them not only with words but with actions, that she was sorry.
That she wanted to do what was right still.
She wasn't ever going to be able to do enough for those people because she knew that she hurt them deeply. At the very least she could do this to apologize. Even though she knew it wouldn't be enough.
She finished the last screw and removed the metal pole. She crawled out from the bed taking the metal pole with her. She placed it on the bed while she grabbed a pillow. She took off the pillow cover and rolled it up.
Riina grabbed the two items and walked over to the desk that was attached to the wall. Every cell had one that way you could write or draw or just have some place other than the bed to hang around.
She leaned on it with her left hand. Her left hand crunched into a fist. Placing the bar down on the desk quietly, she focused on the pillow sheet.
Riina felt sweat drip from her chin. She swallowed and sniffed up some air to help her. She let out the breath slowly. Her palms were sweaty and she wiped them on her clothes before placing the rolled up pillow sheet in her mouth.
Her teeth held the cloth in place. It was thick enough that her jaw was open decently. The sides of the sheet hung down from the sides of her mouth. Her tongue pressed against the cloth.
She inhaled deeply from her nose and picked up the bar.
It was really a bummer that Urahara-san had strapped on this silver constrictor before she left in the cop car. She was helpless with the spiritual limiter on her left wrist. And unlike before, it was hooked on unbelievably tight.
The red head closed her eyes for a second. This scenario played out so much better in her head. She was so anxious. The thought of the pain to come was making her extremely unsettled.
Unfortunately, she wasn't strong enough in this gigai to get this over with one blow. She knew it would take much more than that.
"No, stop thinking about it." She whined past the cloth."Count back from three."
The girl held the bar firmly in her right hand. She looked down at her left fist which was clenched so tightly that her knuckles were white. She whined lightly again and drew her arm back.
"Three."
She inhaled deeply again. Her face scrunched in fear.
"Two."
She clenched tighter on the cloth in her mouth. Her right arm shook.
"You can do this. Proof of your loyalty. Proof that you are strong. Proof that you are sorry. You'll get out in no time. It'll be worth it once this is off." Her face turned into a determined one. Her eyes narrowed and her breath became rapid, through her flaring nostrils.
"One."
She drew her arm back further and gripped it tighter. Her heart was beating wildly.
"Now."
Her arm whipped forward.
BANG!
The metal bar hit right next to her left hand. The red head turned around and the bars of the cell were pushed apart. Ichigo stood there with shikai in hand and wearing his shinigami clothes.
Riina had barely moved her hand in time when she heard the metal bars of the cell screech. Ichigo had seemingly pulled them apart with ease. And to her surprise, he hadn't drawn much attention. There wasn't a huge whole in the wall. So how did he get in?
Though hearing the bars screech and a loud bang from the metal bar, the guards instantly came running.
She took the cloth from her mouth. "How did you-?" Riina began to say but was interrupted.
"Come on." He said quickly as the guards were closing in on the two.
Riina felt her pride fall as it dawned on her that she wouldn't be saving herself from this mess. Which she was also half grateful for. She wasn't exactly looking forward to breaking her left wrist and hand to bits.
She ran next to him, "Why are you doing this?" She huffed, "You know you could get caught."
It wasn't the right time to have a conversation and the guards were only a few feet away. They were shouting to halt and pulling out their stun guns which wouldn't be fun to experience. Yet, she wanted to know and refused to go anywhere till she got an answer.
"Because I don't leave friends behind."
"Friends?" Riina didn't have time to ask anything else. Suddenly, she was thrown over the man's shoulder, to which she squealed. And they were off in an instant.
They flew down the hallways to the front door and broke out with ease. Dust trailed behind them as they headed into the night sky. Out of sight of the guards who were confused as to what just happened.
The cosmos were clear up here in the sky, past the clouds that covered them from the ground. The spots of light above were like glimmers of hope and wonder. The large silvery moon was casting its light on this cloudy night. It's reach went to every building and person below.
Graceful clouds pecked the skies and caused a slight fog on the ground. The mist was enough to rejuvenate the skin and heal the lungs with crisp air.
Each stride forward on the sky left the girl in awe. It had been a long time since she was so high up. She swore just a little higher and she'd be able to touch the lights in the sky. Her hand reached out and a smile grew on her face.
Her hair whipped in front of her but her vision was still so clear. Both physically and mentally she felt new. Her right hand grasped the clouds mist that curled around her finger tips almost like a ribbon.
Sweet and soft like a comforting friend. The sky and the clouds together caressed them happily.
"Friend?" She questioned in her thoughts. A smile still present. "Ichigo, I hardly know you."
Two years. And through all the conversations and memories, all she knew was that he was a loyal person. Maybe that was enough.
Her pride was at an all time low, being carried off. Yet, at the same time, she felt like she was capable of anything. And she knew somewhere that with her friends by her side, they would be able to find out the situation.
"Ichigo-san." Riina felt the man below her shift slightly.
"Yeah?"
She chuckled, "I still think you're crazy."
Author's note: Whooo Riina is finally in a good mood! Go protecitve Riina that we all miss and love! 3 (or at least I hope you still love her XD) *forgot the san after Ichigo hehe. Sorry this takes some getting used to.
