Good evening, and welcome to Part 2 :)
...where stuff explodes, and Ukitake gets an unsolicited cuddle.
He had not even made it thirty yards outside of the Captain's quarters when the cough erupted, without any of the usual warning signs; his breath simply hitched in his chest, as if the wintry air had suddenly turned to solid ice, and the onset made him feel as if he'd been severed in half. Ukitake bent over, finding welcome but unexpected support on Lilinette's shoulder.
For a few moments, in which the creature which lived inside his chest completely overtook him, he only marginally considered that he was far too heavy to fully lean on such frail a thing - still, the desperate desire of not falling to his knees in plain sight was stronger than his protective instincts. Despite the fact that the Shinigami must have weighed thrice more than she did, Lilinette held steadfast, and even awkwardly pressed her little hand to the back of his shoulders as he bent over, as if she'd been attempting to clumsily soothe whatever was ailing.
It was all done soon after; a deep, painful breath finally broke through the muscles' powerful grip, carrying much needed air and clarity. He could not straighten right away, but he struggled to lean less on the tiny shoulder that had been offered.
'That sounded fun,' Lilinette said, her eye narrowed with concern which could have been amusing under different circumstances. 'Don't do that again in a rush, huh? else I'm gonna die laughing.'
Ukitake found sufficient strength to nod, and tentatively tried to straighten completely. The world was still spinning dangerously around him, and though he put far less weight on Lilinette's shoulder, he still gripped it painfully tight.
'What was that?' she asked, when his breath had regained some semblance of a normal rhythm.
'Nobody knows,' Ukitake responded, feeling that the inside of his throat was raw. He looked around, feeling embarrassed of his weakness, and wondering if he'd managed to humiliate himself further by displaying it in plain sight. The road was mercifully empty, however, bright, toothy sunshine making the frozen pavement look like a river of gold, which collected the little streams of shadow flowing from the myriad empty side streets.
'Thanks,' he said, looking down at her and trying to smile.
'Mhm,' Lilinette responded. 'For sure. Wanna sit down?' she asked. 'I've seen funeral flags with more colour than you, eh.'
'Yes, but at home,' Ukitake said, weakly. 'I should not like...'
'For Stark to catch wind of this, yeah, yeah,' she hurriedly completed. She'd given him another appraising glance, and, judging by the look on her features, found him totally lacking. 'He does almost as good of a job pretending he's an asshat as you do pretending you're a woos.' she awkwardly offered, decisively starting in the direction of his home, and almost jerking him off his feet. 'Oi, sorry,' she said, adjusting her pace.
Ukitake remained silent, allowing the old, deep seated pain to regain grip over the new sudden one. The golden ribbon of the road unfolded before them, wide, silent, empty, and looking insurmountably long. How far was it to his home? the Shinigami thought. Less than half a mile? It might as well have been on a different continent.
'I don't think either of us is pretending, Lilinette,' he said, softly.
The girl had fallen into step by his side, and though his hand had slipped off her shoulder, their shadows still looked as if she'd been his crutch.
'Maybe you're not,' she shrugged.
A quick shadow moved in one of the side streets, too fleeting to be fully noticed. Ukitake did not actually notice it either. It was rather as if he had felt it; he looked in the distance, with narrowed eyes. There was nothing.
'Maybe he's not either,' Lilinette added, at some length. 'I don't mean that he's an asshat, that he ain't, but he really, really thinks he needs to be an asshat to you, so he's actually managed to believe and act like he is one for real.'
'Does it make a difference?' he shrugged. 'In the end, actions are what matters...'
'O'rly?' she asked, arching an eyebrow. 'So ya gonna tell me that essence always ends up imitating shape, now?'
'Excuse me?' Ukitake said, frowning at the question.
'Yuh,' she nodded. 'What ya just said is that only action matters, not where it comes from so if that's true then nothing we ever think or do that don't...doesn't end up as action means nothing so we always are what we do.'
She scratched her head.
'That didn't come out right,' Lilinette muttered. 'Gimme a mo'.'
Ukitake nodded, and tried to focus. His attention was adrift, though he found her words thoroughly fascinating; the road still unwound before them, strangely empty.
'What I mean is - you think that if Stark acts like he acts he must be an asshat, and that if you act like you do, then you must be a coward. That essence imitates shape,' she clarified.
'In the long run, I think it does,' Ukitake responded. 'If you do something, anything, for long enough, it ends up by becoming nature.'
'Ah, so if I pretend like I'm grown up for long enough, I'm gonna be a grown up?' Lilinette shot. 'Well then, instead of sittin' on a fence and trying to hate ya, I'm gonna sit on a fence and pretend like I'm grown up. Maybe that's gonna work out better, huh?'
'I'm sorry,' he awkwardly offered, not knowing what he was apologising for.
'Yeh, you always are,' Lilinette said, softly. 'Why did you not tell that dude in there that you ate crap for him?' she suddenly attacked.
He was too shocked to answer.
'I mean,' Lilinette continued, in a sudden onset of fury, 'how do you let him think that you're licking Stark's boots, when we both know you're doing anything but, tho' he's been doing his best to shove them in your face every which way? The amount of stuff that you've eaten up over the past months would be enough to make me wanna cough up a hairball, but ya still stood there and let the guy kick you in the nuts, like he was entitled to it...'
'Well, he is,' Ukitake said, simply. 'He was right in everything that he said.'
'Quit talkin' like we didn't all know what we know 'bout West Rukongai, eh,' Lilinette frowned, trying to look menacing but only succeeding in crumpling her pretty features into the most comical expression Ukitake had ever seen.
'Alright,' he honestly laughed. 'Alright. Maybe not in everything, but I could not really afford to let my intentions be transparent, before now. If they all had realised that I'm trying to concentrate them, then, word would have spread among them, reached you, and I would have failed. I still might. Can we stop for a moment?'
He stopped, without waiting for her assent; he'd heard something unnatural.
Clinking of glass? On a deserted road?
Ukitake looked about, trying to discover what it had been. The nearby houses' were locked and bolted against the bitter cold – the sound could not have carried out of an open window.
'What, can't laugh and walk at the same time?' she chimed, drawing his attention back to her.
'Nope,' he conceded, and this time, she too smiled in earnest. He was sorry to have to steal it. 'How long have you and Stark known about what I am doing in West Rukongai?' the Shinigami asked.
Lilinette fidgeted, and looked at him with great suspicion. 'For a while,' she answered, in as non-committal a way as she could muster.
'Has Stark informed Aizen...' he began, only to be interrupted by a fit of crystal clear laughter.
'See,' she said, between chuckles, 'you ain't a woos, and you're definitely not as much of a nice guy as you pretend to be. Trying to weasel information out of a little kid, eh? You should at least bribe me with candy.'
'Sorry,' he shrugged, scratching the back of his head. 'It's really important to me.'
The sound did not repeat, so he reluctantly moved forward.
'Will you answer?' Ukitake softly insisted.
'Nope,' she swiftly replied, clenching her arms behind her back, and amusedly watching him through the corner of her eye. She winked, to demonstrate his attempt had caused no ill will, then caught up with him with a skip and a hop.
Her sleek shadow moved along the wall, only to be swallowed by the deeper shadows of an alleyway - it was only know that the sound repeated, and Ukitake knew that he'd heard it. Something, too slow to be her shadow, moved in the semi obscurity. Then, there was a tiny glint of light.
Ukitake did not wonder whether he had truly seen that.
He decisively placed one hand on Lilinette's shoulder, keeping her in place, and not allowing her to cross before the alleyway; his other hand swiftly descended to Sogyo no Kotowari's hilt.
Lilinette spun around by half, then froze and instinctively attempted to pull away. The expression on Ukitake's features was something she had not only not seen before, but had never truly imagined possible on his normally benign and peaceful face - eyes narrowed in fierce concentration, and jaws menacingly clenched, Ukitake looked as if he'd intended to sever her in half with a single blow. Biting lines of reiatsu rose all about him, causing his long, white hair to sway, and his fingers, which had until but a moment before, felt frail and weak, gripped her flesh like an inescapable vice.
The Hogyoku had done nothing to erase the deep, bestial instincts that had kept her alive in Hueco Mundo. It was those that screamed out through all of her body, telling her to either run away or strike the Shinigami she'd been so intently studying but clearly failed to read. Instinctively, she brushed Ukitake's hand aside, her little forearm burning his, and leapt back out of the man's reach. Deep in the back of her mind, she knew Stark had already felt her and that she's only have to evade the Shinigami's reiatsu for a few seconds.
Still, it was not her that Ukitake's gaze was fixed on.
'Go home, Saitou!' The tone is one she's never heard from a man whose voice seemed only to deliver subtle suggestions and urgent pleadings. It was sharp, commanding and spoken with the implication that the other man move now or face consequences.
The other Shinigami moved slowly out of the alleyway and into plain sight, his heavy face set in rigged fear and twitching with conflicting desires. He stood stock still, gaping at the object of his pursuit.
Free of Ukitake's grip, Lilinette found herself standing in between them, suddenly trapped between two frightened dogs as they bristled and snarled and readied themselves to tear each other's throats out. Her breath moved in shallow pants. Ukitake's fingers curled a bit more around the hilt of his sword. The man named Saitou remained stricken in his confusion at being caught and took an unthinking step in retreat.
Ukitake misconstrued the gesture for a sign of victory.
'Whatever you intend to do, I am not worth your life and the life of your family,' the Shinigami captain said, his voice returning to its soothing, gentle tone. 'Go home, Saitou.'
As if the words had suddenly reminded him of his once beloved captain, and the very memory had suddenly fed his resolve, the man looked up, beads of sweat dripping over his fiercely furrowed brow.
'I...' he heaved, reaching for the folds of his kimono, 'no longer take orders from...'
The man willed himself forward, moving awkwardly slow, as crushed under a tremendous weight.
'...from traitors!' he shouted, flinging his arm forth. A small glass sphere of the deepest blue flew out as well, tiny lines of yellow lightning flashing in its interior.
Ukitake's reaction was pure instinct: Severing Void before shadow stepping between Lilinette and Saitou at the very moment when scalding light began to grow from the shadows; in the time vacuum that Shumpo created, he watched her eye growing wide in surprise, as the rolling fire mirroring in it approached.
The shockwave shredded through his instinctually erected barrier, not leaving him as much time as he'd hoped - he put his arms around Lilinette and attempted to lift her, only to encounter more resistance than he had imagined one so frail could put up. Attempting to move her felt like attempting to lift and shift a marble column. It was not that she was actively resisting, Ukitake thought, desperately redoubling his efforts, and sensing that the tongues of flame would reach him soon. It was simply that her body was frozen in shock, and her reiatsu had frozen along with it, giving her lithe form more weight and concentration than she could consciously summon in battle.
An overwhelming roar briefly filled his hearing, threatening that his ear drums would soon burst from the pressure.
Then, as unexpectedly as it had manifested, the resistance vanished, lead turning to feathers in less than a heartbeat. The girl's arms encircled his neck, threatening to steal his breath, her body clinging so closely to his that he stopped feeling her as a different entity altogether. Propelled by the explosion's push, and his desperate Shunpo, they flew forward.
It was already too late, however.
Fire spread through his hair as rapidly as through the fabric, yet the sudden panic at the realisation that he'd not been fast enough and that he'd have no time to get them away overpowered the pain - he breathed in, forcing sulfur into his lungs as he drove them both to the ground, shielding Lilinette with his body as his hair and clothes burst into flames. Lilinette winced, and Ukitake felt her heart racing in his own chest. Through the red glow that surrounded his vision, he saw that her entire body had begun to glow white, and her embrace burned as fiercely as the fires behind him.
For a heartbeat, he had the sensation that the girl had literally begun to melt and seep into his flesh, as if she had been entirely made out of molten metal. The dust and sharp pebbles bit into his face, and she coiled underneath him; the fire swept over and about them both, stretching itself thin towards the edges of the horizon. It was soon spent, but, in its wake, clear water and melted ice rippled over the smooth cobbles of the road, like a river of lava.
The twin spirits in his soul shrieked in childish fright as flesh blackened and boiled - a wave of cold water conjured from thin air swept over them to douse the flames. The contrasting sensations were painful in themselves - Ukitake gasped at the sudden change, and struggled not to pass out. He remained motionless for a few minutes longer, frozen in pain as well as incomprehension; his pulse had only now begun to race, but he was still too shocked to perceive any genuine pain.
Small blessings, he eerily thought, as the delicate breeze swept the smell of sulfur and burned flesh away, rendering the air unexpectedly crisp.
The horn of Lilinette's mask had gone clear through his shoulder, but he only noticed it when he attempted to lift himself on his elbow. He clenched his teeth, and softly pushed his blackened fingers between his chest and the Hollow's mask, beginning to press outwards. His hand was burned beyond recognition, but willpower served him well - inch after torturous inch, the horn slipped free, leaving a perfectly round and cauterised wound in its wake. Lilinette did not put up any resistance.
In fact, he worriedly noticed, she did not move at all.
Sustaining her head as if she'd been an infant too young to carry it for herself, Ukitake lay her down and lifted himself above her. His stomach turned.
He'd failed to protect the right side of her body; her arm and thigh were disgustingly rosy and raw, the burn mark eerily interrupted by a thin stretch of healthy skin, which resembled the contour of his arm. Her body still glowed, but the light which surrounded it was growing dim, looking as if had been literally draining out of her wounds. Unsure of what to do, Ukitake put his hand on her shoulder, then pulled it away as if he'd been burned.
Perhaps he had been, he thought, swallowing dry.
The brief contact had made him feel as if the marrow had been sucked from his bones, but oddly, it had numbed all sensation of pain in his fingers. He'd glanced at his hand, acknowledging that the raw flesh should have hurt hellishly, but feeling nothing of the sort. Tentatively, he reached out again, this time managing to delicately push her and half spread her on her back. Pain shot through his entire body, but deceiving heat ascended his arm for as long as the contact was maintained - healthy strips of skin, as thin as the radials of a spider web, but growing thicker with each passing second of contact, rapidly shot over the burn marks on Lilinette's arm and leg. She whimpered, turning fully on her back, and the sight of her body brought Ukitake sudden clarity.
Hollow, he numbly thought, glancing at the perfect hole in the young girl's belly. Hollow, and hungry for reiatsu...
He did not consider further; biting his lower lip, and fully expecting what would follow, he decisively placed his hand on the Arrancar's chest. Her skin rippled, as if myriad tiny strings had suddenly darted forth to attach to his fingers. The pain lasted little, this time, and numbing, pleasant warmth spread out, replacing all echoes of any unpleasant sensation.
Like a spider, the Shinigami realised, feeling enjoyably relaxed even as he understood he was literally being eaten alive. She could kill me, and I would never even notice I am dying - I would just sink into the warmth, remembering nothing more...
The contact broke violently, and Ukitake was cast several feet back, like a rag doll. The burned flesh on his back tore open across the rough pavement, and he suddenly felt so cold that he began to shiver uncontrollably. Darkness passed over him and through him, thin and punishing strips of reiatsu whipping at his body before darting to cocoon about Lilinette.
She opened her eye, stretched out her arms and smiled, welcoming Stark's embrace.
The Primera sunk to his knees and lifted her into his arms in a motion too desperate to be gentle. Though she cringed at the initial movement, the girl wrapped her arms about his neck and her legs about his waist, crossing her ankles behind him and burying her cheek in his shoulder. Tiny, white fingers ran through the wavy, dark strands of Stark's hair. No longer advancing like a shy spider web, but growing outwards at amazing speed, healthy skin began to spread in all directions. The glow that surrounded her body stabilised and dulled - she closed her eye, sighing with pleasure, and Stark kissed her eyelid, then her forehead, passing his gloved hand over her cheek, and forcing all scars to recede. Faded, blonde strands, thick and healthy, swiftly grew back in place, and the breeze caused them to tickle her chin. She giggled, simply holding him tighter.
'I'm OK,' she soothingly whispered.
Stark grunted as if he did not believe her. He did not let go, and though tides of pain were steadily rising, Ukitake dazedly watched the two simply falling away from the world, and willing prisoners to each other.
'I'm OK,' Lilinette repeated, at length, reassuringly kissing Stark's forehead. He pushed her a few inches away, and attentively scrutinised her. 'So this is what it takes to make ya look at my chest!' she laughed; his reiatsu vibrated, but not with amusement.
Stark looked over his shoulder to Ukitake; his glance only lingered on the Shinigami for a mere second, and Ukitake could not truly tell if he could read any emotion in the Arrancar's blue eyes. Stark's gaze swept over him and beyond him - and it was only now that Ukitake truly acknowledged that he felt panic.
He looked over his shoulder in turn, taking note of the smoking heap of flesh and cloth that the explosion had reduced his former subordinate to; he attempted to move. His body would not obey, but he scrambled, cursing the pain and helplessness which kept him in place as the Primera rose above him, letting Lilinette slip free of his arms.
'No,' Ukitake managed, as Stark's shadow glided over him.
Stark took no notice, and the Shinigami's efforts redoubled with despair.
Saitou too struggled to rise, but his efforts were as doomed as Ukitake's own. He lifted himself on his knee, than eerily stood for a mere moment - charred and wavering, he fell back down. Ukitake cursed under his breath, while Stark passed him with assured, heavy steps.
The Primera began to slide off his right hand glove. Jagged, fanged mouths had taken shape about his figure, writhing in anticipation; long, nervous fingers stretched impatiently.
'He did not mean to...'Ukitake said.
This time, he managed to push himself to his feet, and though he immediately wavered, and had to seek support on the wall he'd been cast against, Ukitake felt as triumphant as if he'd ran barefoot though hell, and emerged on the other side.
The other Shinigami had stood as well, thin wisps of smoke rising out of his burned body. He only stood against the Primera's white, resplendent figure for a fleeting second.
'Go back to Hell, Hollow,' the man said, in a voice that was not human.
Stark tilted his head to the side, and slowly lifted his arm. To Ukitake's horror, Saitou did not waver, impending death and the weight of his injuries cancelling whatever shred of self preservation instincts he might have had.
'And take all of your minions with you,' he cackled, his insanity filled gaze triumphantly fixed on Ukitake. The words were his last.
He screamed, and bent over abruptly, his entire body breaking as if it had been no more than a twig. Ashes drifted loose of his body, quickly morphing into shards of blue light, then swirling towards the Primera's open hand.
Ukitake pushed himself forth, his hand leaving a bloodied trail on the wall as he dragged himself onwards.
'Stop,' he breathed. 'Stop.'
The other Shinigami screamed once more, collapsing to the side. His body was stripped bare of the burned cloth, and all wounds had all but melted away - tiny fragments of skin and flesh, held together by thin wisps of blood now tore loose of his body, melding into streams of blue light.
Ukitake tensed his fingers against the wall, feeling each tiny imperfection as if it had been a canyon and each ridge as if it had been a mountain. He pushed himself straight.
And come what may, he thought, as he resolutely stepped in between Stark and the other man's fallen body.
Stark's reiatsu absorbing power had nothing in common with Lilinette's. It only made sense, Ukitake thought, feeling that what remained of his own flesh was being shredded and torn loose. On her own, the girl was weak. She needed her deceiving warmth, she needed it to numb the prey before it could break loose, whereas he...He had no need of numbing, of pretending, of disguising his strength...
The Primera closed his fist, the snappy gesture bringing an abrupt end to an abyss of pain.
'Step aside,' Stark said.
'He did not mean to...' Ukitake heaved, slipping to one knee.
'I now owe you a debt of gratitude.' the Primera growled. 'Do not make me renege it - step aside, Ukitake Jūshirō.'
'He did not mean to hurt her,' the former captain pleaded. 'It was me. He meant to kill me...Is this not what you wanted?' Ukitake asked, his voice as frail as his wavering strength. He fell forward, having to lean on his fist to keep himself up, but worriedly glanced over his shoulder nonetheless. 'They hate me enough that they wish me dead now - this one, who attempted it, but also all of the others, who locked themselves in their homes and left him the space to do it...is this not what you wanted, Stark?'
The Primera did not look to him, but to Lilinette.
'I'd be dead without him,' she whispered.
Stark swallowed dry, visibly torn between the fact that he recognised her words as truth, and anger which demanded an outlet; when his glance once more shifted to Ukitake, it carried little gratitude. It was, Ukitake thought, almost as if the Arrancar had been desperately trying to find some dastardly, rational explanation for his enemy's gesture, anything that would help him dismiss it, and allow him to return to his hatred. He could find none, and, for a single second deprived of the feeling which had guided his actions for months, Stark looked lost, weak and thoroughly alone.
Ukitake slipped slowly to the side, feeling the thin sheet of ice melt underneath his fingers; he tried to close his eyes, and imagined that darkness would bring peace and release from all pain and all doubt.
Stark knelt by his side. As in a dream, Ukitake saw his enemy's eyes riddled with pain and hesitation.
'Help him,' Ukitake whispered. 'Help him first.'
Up next - Had Ukitake known that help implies Szayel Aporro, he probably would not have asked.
Note - ;) Just to clarify - these early chapters break my (Abstract's rule) of ~4.5-5k words per chapter. IVI himself is a man of few rules, when it comes to chapter length :) In any event, that is the reason why these come as multiple postings - they are simply too long to up all in one, but should be read as one.
