You guys are the best and I'm really glad that you enjoyed the last chapter!
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He had his serious face on again, his eyebrows were drawn together and a deep concentration marred his features. He looked older that his 24 years of age, like he had seen the horrors of the world and then some. Orihime decided that she did not like this face, it scared her. Biting her lip in thought Orihime glanced at her brother again, the pain in his eyes was just two much to bare for her ten year old self. She shifted and he turned his dead gaze to her, looking but not really seeing.
"Brother?" she prompted softly.
He let out a breath and patted his knee, she got up from her position by the fire and walked over to him. He patted his knee once more and Orihime felt an irritated protest begin to form on her lips, she was not a child anymore after all! He seemed to sense what she was going to say though and he closed his eyes sighing.
"Orihime please," his voice was broken and hitched and she was suddenly glad that she could no longer see his eyes. Thous dead, dead orbs that glittered with a fractured beauty. "please just...just sit. I need to tell you something."
So she sat and was immediately engulfed in her brothers warmth. They sat like that in silence for a long while and Orihime was not sure, but she swore she felt something wet on the back of her head.
'tears?'
but that was silly, he didn't cry. He was strong.
"Brother?" she murmured once more as she became uncomfortable with the heavy silence. "You-"she swallowed the lump in her throat, "you said you had something to tell me?"
She heard him take a shuddering breath.
"I have d-done many bad things." he whispered to her. She nodded, "I know."
"I still do in fact. I have broken and hurt and taken, God. I have taken so many things that were not meant for me."
Orihime tilted in his arms to see his face and was shocked to find that there were indeed tear tracks leading from his eyes. "Brother," she shook her head, " y-you have told me all of this before."
"I know," he whispered, "I know, but not all of it."
"Brother, this is... I mean we are just trying to survive!"
"ORIHIME" her mouth snapped closed and her eyes went wide.
"Orihime y-you need to listen. Listen to me please." her brothers teeth clenched and his body shook from anguish, she nodded.
"In this world, this banged up and bloody world, there are three very different kind of people. There are hero's, people that save and help and pick up the shards of a broken person and make them whole again."
"Like doctors?" she whispered.
"Like doctors." he nodded. "Then there are villains. Bad people who love nothing more that to cause pain and destruction. They are the ones that hero's must clean up after."
"Daddy, was he a-"
"Yes."
She let out a shaky breath. "Oh."
"And then there are survivors. People that pick themselves up from utter destruction and live. They stay in between the gray area of being a hero or a villain. They are neither good nor bad, they do things just to survive."
Orihime smiled at him shakily, "I guess that were survivors then, huh?"
"No," his voice shook. "No. You are a survivor."
"But brother... we both... I mean we both steal, right? That makes you just as much as a survivor as I am!"
"Orihime," he said softly. "When some one kills...they walk straight through the line that separates themselves from the villains. They become monsters."
Her heart clenched and Orihime realized just exactly who he was talking about.
"It was self defense though, He was beating you to death!"
Fresh tears gathered in his eyes and Orihime felt her eyes moisten also.
"No. No. He. Wasn't. T-that's the thing I've been keeping from you. He stopped. God the bastard had stopped hitting me and had left me bruised but not dieing. Not even close. But I was just so fed up with being a punching bag for him and you...you were growing up. I couldn't let you have the same fate as me.. so I took a knife."
Horror, fresh, hot, and stinging washed over her and Orihime felt herself go dizzy.
"W-what did you do with the knife."
He stared into her eyes, broken and lost and in so much pain.
"I stabbed it through his heart."
A sob broke out of her lips and she buried her head into his chest. "It's OK, it's OK, it's OK. You were being abused. You had no choice!"
"No Orihime, you always have a choice in life. Always."
Lip quivering, Orihime felt her heart beat ferociously in her chest. "Why are you telling me this?" she cried.
"I don't have much longer, Hime. his 'friends' will find me soon."
"Friends?! What friends?!"
"I'm a monster Orihime. The bastard that tried to save you but only will cause you so much more pain in the long run."
"Then your a hero!" she shouted, grasping at straws. "You helped save me!"
"No," he whispered. "Hero's don't kill their fathers."
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Orihime caught herself glancing down at the box of bandages once more in the time span of six minutes and she groaned to herself in exasperation as she caught the name and number inked onto the face of the cardboard box. A smile played at her lips as she recalled his self satisfied strut as he walked away, proud that she had actually told him her name.
"He was quiet persistent," she murmured to herself. In fact, if she had not caved and told him something she was sure that he would have most likely pushed her until he got his information. He was a determined man and Orihime found that a police officer was exactly the perfect job for him. He had the tough man scowl the strong spirit and the need, the desire to help the innocent, to be a savor, a hero. The word brought up a distant and unpleasant memory, shuddering she forced it down deep into her heart.
"Somethings are better left untouched." she thought to herself. Something clattered to the ground behind her and Orihime instinctively jumped to the side and pressed her back firmly to a brick wall. She looked around wildly and noticed a trash can knocked to the ground, it's contents strewn over the concrete. Her heart was thumping wildly in her chest and she swallowed dryly.
'Somethings not right,' her mind whispered. She scanned the surrounding area and saw nothing. 'somethings there. I can feel it.' was her last thought before a hand curled around her wrist and she was yanked into an alley.
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DUN DUN DUN! I'm an asshole, I know and I can assure you I take pride in it. Thank you all so much for reading and please review!
