Targets 4
Renji Abari wandered in the sky above Karakura Town. He had been assigned by Byakuya and Ukitake to search for Rukia, who, after being sent to investigate a peculiar spiritual pressure in the area, had not returned. It had been a little over two weeks, and the two captains had become concerned.
"Damn, I can't sense her anywhere…" he grumbled.
"Sense who…?" a slow, rough voice asked in a bored, distant tone.
And blast of spiritual pressure hit Renji, nearly knocking him off his feet. He narrowed his eyes as he raised an arm to protect his face.
"Hn… you have a trace of it on you…" The person, a female, walked unsteadily towards him. She had a slouched stance, her head lowered so she looked at the lieutenant out of the top of her eyes, which were a disturbing blood red.
Her flaming red hair was cut short, framing a pale, narrow face. Her eyes had a subdued look to them, like she was bored out of her mind from tediously doing the same thing over and over.
Her white shirt was v-necked, with a black collar. A thick belt stretched from under her chest to her waist, similar to a kimono. Her pants were simply a white version of the lower half of a soul reaper uniform.
But the strangest thing about her was what was on her head. It was a skull, or rather half of one. Long, sharp teeth stretched down and ended about where her ears were. The eye socket was jagged and though sightless it still retained an evil glare.
As she reached Renji, she pulled at the front of his robe. "Oh... Just a trace." She looked up at him. "You're not who I'm looking for."
"Um-" Renji stammered.
But the woman had already turned away.
"Wait! You smell like a hollow, I can't let you walk away," Renji yelled.
"You'd do well to let this alone, soul reaper," she answered, her voice reminding Renji of the noise a sword makes when it is dragged against concrete.
Renji unsheathed his sword. "Bring it on!"
-X-
Rukia stretched, trying to arrange the light blue kimono-like robe on her thin shoulders.
"It doesn't fit right, does it?" Yoruichi surveyed the tiny soul reaper in disappointment.
"No, actually," Rukia paused as she shifted a fold of cloth, "I had actually gotten used to being covered in bandages, so being able to feel the cloth is odd, not to mention the fact that my movements aren't nearly as limited."
"Oh, I know that feeling," the cat-woman said.
Rukia had finally healed enough for a layer of bandaged to not be needed. Her abdomen was still thoroughly covered in them, though not nearly as much as before, and all the ones on her arm were gone to be replaced by a wrist brace.
"Wow, you can't tell how bad it was until they're all of…" The raven-haired girl flexed her shoulders one more time before letting her arms drop to her side.
"Well, let's go," Yoruichi laughed.
The two females walked out of the room and down the hall, to the sitting room.
"Rukia! Oh, you look so pretty in that!" Orihime jumped up and hugged her friend. Rukia flinched slightly, but endured the uncomfortable feeling the embrace was putting her back into for the blonde's sake. It was thank to Orihime's stubborn will to use her powers to heal Rukia even though she had just gotten over the flu that Rukia could walk steadily again.
As Orihime stepped away, Uryu nodded a quick 'yeah congrats you're better than alive'.
At last, Rukia looked at Ichigo. He was quietly hovering a few feet away, his hazel eyes glued awkwardly to the ground.
The soul reaper opened her mouth to say something, but yelling erupted from outside.
Urahara slammed the door open, and Chad entered, dragging Renji Abari in. The red-haired lieutenant's chest was ripped open with a heinous wound.
"R-Renji!" Rukia cried at the sight of her long-time friend.
"What the hell!" Ichigo yelled.
Urahara and Chad didn't say anything as they took Renji into one of the back rooms as quickly as they could.
Yoruichi hurried after them, and Rukia tried to follow, but Orihime put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back with a shake of her head.
The teens all tried to settle down at the table, but Rukia found herself staring in mute horror at the massive amount of Renji's blood that was smeared and splattered in a gruesome trail all over the floor. Her stomach twisted- few people could survive such an amount of blood loss.
"Rukia…" Ichigo gently took her by the arm and rose, guiding her out of the shop.
The two walked quietly down the street. They reached a small park and Ichigo guided her into it, sitting down on a bench.
Silence quickly engulfed them.
It last a few minutes, until Ichigo finally broke it.
"I'm sorry for what I said at the bridge," Ichigo started.
"I deserved it," Rukia whispered.
"No. It was out of line."
"…"
"I should've listened to your side of the story. I'm sorry about your friend. He must've been a good guy."
"…he had a wife." Rukia said suddenly, quietly.
Ichigo blinked in surprise at the sad, blank tone of her voice.
"A wife and a little girl." Rukia lowered her voice. "She's only five, and I had to look her in the eyes and tell her that her daddy wasn't coming home."
"Rukia…"
"He couldn't come home because of my own inferiority."
Ichigo didn't know what to say. Half-instinctively, he wrapped his arms around Rukia and pulled her against his chest. She didn't bother fighting back.
"Ichigo… do you think he'll make it?"
"Of course he will. This is Renji Abari we're talking about."