We ran for three days and only stopped when the moon rose, giving just enough light to the woods so that we could keep running. We had to run east and a little west, but it wasn't hard to stay on course because of the little compass that my father had in his bag. That ad the fact that with every passing mile the pendant that hung around my neck and Crystal became heavier and heavier. But I refused to slow down, even when my legs began to cramp up. But at around midnight when Crystal ran up beside me, face red with exhaustion.
"Scarlet, Ichigo and Renji can't keep up at this pace all night. And we need to stop before you start leaking your reshi." She had a point, so I begrudgingly slowed down and began to scout a spot to rest. We found one in a small glade near a river and set up camp. I looked up and saw that it was also going to rain in a few hours, so I got the old tarps and set up the mounted hammocks. Ichigo and Renji looked exhausted, but their faces were set in determined frowns. When we finished setting up camp, Crystal started a fire while Ichigo went to look for one of the few rabbits we had seen earlier for dinner. So Crystal and I guarded the camp, sitting in silence when she surprised me. She had pulled out a book that I haven't seen in years and scooted closer to me. It was the complete collection of the Brother's Grimm stories.
"Remember this book? You gave it to me when you saved me from the slavers. Your mother used to read it to us every night when Chris was just four." She looked at the book sadly, like she could still hear my mother's voice through the stories. I swallowed a lump in my throat, chest tightening. I thought I had lost that book years ago, but I guess I just gave it to her and forgot that I gave it to her. I shook my head and smiled, opening the book carefully. It was old and the smell flew up into my nose, sparking memories when I was in a library. I shut it again as soon as I opened it, shaking my head.
"How could I forget? We used to accuse each other of being the cat when my mother found is sweets." I laughed remembering the memory. Where were sisters and inseparable since she stole my book and I stole her candy. We laughed and talked about our past until Ichigo and Renji returned. They held three plump rabbits, already field dressed. Crystal smiled and began to gather some nearby herbs to help with the soup she was making. Ichigo kept looking out into the woods and said he wanted to check something out, so he drew his sword and stormed into the woods. I blinked and grabbed my dagger and tried to follow him but Renji stopped him with a shake of his head.
"He's fine. And if he needs help, we will know." He chucked tattoos rippling. "He has never been good at 'stealth', you know." I sat down and raised my eyebrow.
"And bright red hair and screaming are stealthy?" I shot at him, making him glare at me and huff. He crossed his arms and sat down near the fire as I leaned over to my left and threw another log on the fire, trying to stay warm. Crystal came back with the herbs and began making the soup, chatting casually with Renji about what he like and what books he has read. Meanwhile, I kept a watchful eye on the woods, hoping to see a flash of orange to tell me that Ichigo was coming back. It was getting late and Hollows were more active at night. I turned around when the talk began to quiet down. Crystal had passed out stirring the pot and Renji was trying to get her into her hammock. I shook my head and helped him, gently placing her head in the hammock. We returned to the fire, seeing that the soup was almost ready and smelled great. Renji rubbed his shoulders.
"I wish I could fall asleep as quickly as she can. Must be nice," he muttered, stretching out. I sighed and started to dish out the soup. We ate in silence, but I could tell something was bothering him. I sighed and put my bowl down, turning to him so I could look him in the eye. He looked up at me then looked away, firelight glinting off his eyes.
"Renji?" I asked, trying to get him to look at me. He shook his head and laughed.
"It's nothing. Just thinking about how my life changed so quickly. Don't worry about it." he said, taking my bowl and going to the river and clean it off. I pursed my lips and followed him, sitting on a nearby rock. I watched as he calmly washed the bowls, shirt rising and revealing his tattoos. I turned my head to the side, looking at them.
"Why do you have those tattoo's, Renji? Do they mean something?" I asked, making him pause and look straight ahead. After a few tense seconds, he sighed and relaxed, standing up. He took off his shirt and turned around, showing me how far his tattoos went and how many he had.
"Yeah. They are from the time before Rukia and I left the City. I was trying to rebel from the stander code and just liked the art. But another reason I have them is a reminder." He paused, eyes downcast; I knew that look. It was a look of regret because of a fallen comrade. I shifted uncomfortably, ashamed I brought it up because I knew how painful thinking about it was.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to wake up the memories" I said, turning back to the camp. He caught my arm again, making me turn around. He had more intricate tattoos across his chest that fascinated me. Getting a tattoo now was not only extremely painful but also dangerous because of infection. And most of the time it would come out crud and often ugly. But his tattoos were clean and their lines were crisp as if it was done professionally.
"No, it's ok Scarlet. I've come to terms with it and I'm working for their sake to get stronger," he said, not letting go of my upper arm. I lowered my eyebrows, glaring at his hand.
"Great, but could you let me go?" I asked, getting ready to attack. He paused for a second before letting me go. He stepped back, muttering an apology. We stood there a little awkwardly before he cleared his throat.
"So, um… I'll just hit the sac and I'll see you in the morning?" he said, blushing a little. relaxed a little, seeing the Renji I was familiar with. I bid him goodnight as I began to close up for the night. But one thing still bothered me as I looked out into the woods. Ichigo hadn't come back and his food was cold by now…
I picked up my dagger and sword, sprinting into the woods. It's not that I think he got hurt, but he might have gotten lost. I ran around, not daring to call out his name. I began to panic a little after twenty minutes of searching and almost called out to him when I felt a huge burst of a familiar; but dark, reshi. My eyes widened and I sprinted in its direction, thinking that maybe Ichigo might be there. I ran until I found the spot, Ichigo panting a little and staring at a charred clearing, glaring into the woods. His shirt was a little torn and dirty, but other than that he looked fine. I surveyed the area, thinking that there was no way it was just a normal hollow that could create this much damage. It had to be a Menos Grande, but I haven't seen one coming…
I jumped down to Ichigo's level, approaching slowly. He seemed upset, like actually mad, which confused me because it took a lot to make him even frustrated. I tapped his shoulder, ready to jump out of the way if I had to.
"Ichigo? Hey, what happened?" I asked, watching him as he turned around to face me. His body blocked out the clear moon, but he was like a shadow. I was actually a little frightened of him, backing away. This isn't a side of Ichigo I have ever seen and I wasn't sure how to respond. He was suddenly right in front of me, picking me up by my waist and throwing me over his shoulder.
"Hey! Ichigo!" I yelled, trying to squirm out of his grip. He ignored me and started to run, jumping over rocks and trees with ease. I tried to squirm out of his grip, but he just held my hips tighter, not letting me move. I huffed.
"Damn it Ichigo! What's going on?!" I was yelling now, fear starting to creep into my voice. This side of him was really starting to scare me, making me nervous and desperate for answers. He finally stopped about ten feet from the glade, putting me down gently. I scrambled back, glaring at him and fixing my shirt.
"What the hell, Ichigo? Why the hell did you do that?" I snapped, but I got no response. I was now scared, because his eyes had gotten a silvery glow to them, making him look like an avenging angel with the moon at his back. I swallowed, backing away. He finally looked at me, face never changing. I backed up until my back hit a tree with a rock wall on either side of me; I was trapped. I started to panic, having been in this situation but not with someone I knew wouldn't hurt me. He wouldn't hurt me, right?
He was right in front of me, forcing me to crane my neck to look up at him. His eyes still had the silvery tint to them, but his grimace had changed to a concerned frown. He reached out his hand slowly. I almost reached up to touch his hand but he made a fist quickly and punched the tree next to my ear, looking down at the forest floor and shaking with rage. I was now very scared of him, unsure of what to do or how to react.
"Ichigo?" I asked quietly because I didn't know what would set him off. He finally looked up at me, eye slowly fading back to their normal calf brown. He then went limp, slumping against the rock wall next to me, holding his face with one hand. I was trying to calm my breathing, but I never took my eyes off of Ichigo. He started breathing heavily, gritting his teeth.
"Sorry…"He muttered, clutching his face with both hands. I still didn't move, terrified that he would have another outburst. He shook his head and turned away, squeezing his own head tightly and muttering. "I'm sorry. This isn't me, I don't want to hurt you," he turned back and looked at me sadly, letting his hands fall to his side. I slowly began to relax, but I still kept my guard up as I walked closer.
"Ichigo? What happened?" I asked forcefully, trying to control my fear. His jaw tightened and he looked away, not answering. I set my jaw, hands forming into fists. "You need to tell me." I said, but he still didn't look at me. I huffed, gritting my teeth. "Fine, don't tell me." I snapped, but I gripped his arm, forcing him to look at me. "But if this comes back and bites us in the ass, I 'm going to drag you over the coals," I said in a very low voice. He blinked in surprise, but he set his jaw, tearing himself out of my grip. I watched him go straight into his hammock, not even bothering to eat.
What the hell was going on?! One day Ichigo is fine and one of the few people that I trusted and now he was keeping secrets? Stomped over to my own hammock, fuming and tossing and turning until I fell asleep. My dreams weren't any better; filled with images of Ichigo surrounded by shadows and Renji grinning at me with a knife in his hand. I woke up with a start, almost rolling out of the hammock. I saw a small hollow at the edge of our little camp, pacing back and forth. I shook myself and began to pack up while the others woke up. I looked at Ichigo and he looked away, looking guilty now. Good, but I wasn't going to forgive him until he told me what happened. That area was far too damaged for 'nothing' to have happened.
I shouldered my bag and waited for the others. Renji and Crystal must have felt the tension between Ichigo and I because they kept looking at each other. When we set off Renji dropped back to run with Ichigo while Crystal talked with me.
"So… You going to-"
"No." I snapped, glaring ahead and jumping over a log. She sighed and dropped, knowing there was no way to make me see sense when I was like this. We ran for another few hours before we were caught up by a band of hollows of about three or four. Renji and Ichigo drew their weapons but Crystal and I had already killed them. Me killing three and her killing one. I was breathing heavily and sweating from all the running and fighting, but there was no way I was going to take a break. So about half way through the day Renji ran to catch up with me, running alongside me. I didn't even acknowledge his presence.
"So are you going to ignore me like Ichigo?" I didn't say anything, making his grunt in confirmation. "Thought so. You two are so much alike it's scary," he muttered, making me whip my head around to look at him. He shook his head and dropped back with Ichigo, Crystal looking between us. I turned around and kept running until the sun started to set. We made camp after more than thirty kilometers of travel, which meant that we were running on our reshi energy by now. We still had another week to travel, but at the rate we were going, we could arrive even sooner.
Ichigo and I never looked at each other unless we had to, and only shared sparse world like hand me this or put that over there. The atmosphere around the little camp seemed much colder than the early fall air usually was. Renji and Crystal seemed to be tip-toeing around us like one wrong move could set either of us off. This was childish and I knew that, but when someone kept secrets from me someone else usually ended up dead. Sorry if I was a little cynical about secrets. And I have never kept anything from Ichigo either; he just has never asked. And when I did keep the secret of sneaking out of the village tell him about my plan to leave I ended up losing Chris and Hope and my father died. I hated secrets.
The dinner was quiet and tense, Renji and Crystal trying their best to get me and Ichigo to talk, but he wasn't budging on his position and I was too proud to give up mine. And the night continued like that, tense and heavy. After all are time traveling, we were never this tense, but it wasn't going to end soon. We went to bed still not speaking while Crystal and Renji packed up for the night.
The next two days were spent like that, not speaking and the situations became very tense. On the third day, the sky opened and it poured bitter cold rain that made the thin trail muddy and hard to run through. We had to slow to a slow hike through the wooded area and pulled the hoods over us. Eventually, the rain got so bad we had to find shelter, or rather build it. Crystal was trying to start a fire while we ate cold, damp bread before it could mold. The mood of the little group wasn't improving with the stop and the rain, and being in such close quarters with Ichigo made it only worse. I wanted to apologize but I was being too damn stubborn to do it. So we decided to get some rest while we waited for the rain to let up. I unrolled my mat and realized that there were only two mats. Renji and Crystal were already back to back and sleeping comfortably. Ichigo and I glared at each other as we begrudgingly laid back to back and drifted off to sleep. Or I was about to.
"You know I have a twin brother, right?" Ichigo muttered, pulling the blanket around himself tighter. I blinked in surprise. Was he talking to me? I thought back to when I talked to Urahara and he spoke of Ichigo's brother turned Hollow.
"His name is Shiro, right?" I asked quietly, making him nod. "He killed our mother. That's how he became a Hollow. And I helped him." he muttered, I nearly jumped off the mat, dripping my dagger tightly. Did He kill his own mother? He turned around and looked at me with sad eyes.
"She drowned in a river trying to save me. Shiro had tricked me into going into the rapids and I wasn't a very strong swimmer. He ran to get my mother; who was coming down with some nasty cold, got me out. But she used up all her reshi trying to save me and drowned." His brown eyes seemed to grow dim and distant. I was shocked, he watched his mother die just like mine? I laid down next to him again, listening to the rest of his story. He gripped the necklace around his neck, holding it like a lifeline. "it was all my damn fault. If I hadn't listened to Shiro I would still have my mother… and maybe even a brother…" He whispered.
"Why are you so sad? He killed your mother, Ichigo. He tricked you and specifically got your mother to save you in the hopes of killing off both of you. What kind of person would do that?" I snapped, rolling over and looking up at the leaking ceiling. Shiro …
"He was always hated because he looked like a hollow," He said, looking at me. I turned my head to look at him. He looked so vulnerable like he really didn't want to about. "When he was born our babysitter tried to kill him. When we were five none of the kids would play with him because they were scared of his white hair and yellow eyes. The only one who ever could talk to him was our mother. And he killed her." He gritted his teeth muscles clenched. I placed my hand over his pendant, trying to get him to relax.
"Ichigo, why are you telling me this?" I asked, confused. This wasn't something you told someone when you were arguing. "I know you want to get it off your chest but-"
"In the clearing," he said, making me stop. "He was there in the clearing. That's why I was behaving like that." He rolled on his back, looking at the ceiling. "He always knows how to get under my skin, like when he was in the village and he taunted me with you. Then he showed up saying that the only reason he wasn't going back to Aizen was because he wanted to wait for me to make a mistake and..." he paused, shaking with anger. He covered his eyes with his arm and took a deep breath. "Waiting for me to lose control again," He said, gritting his teeth. I blinked and reached out to him.
"Lose control...?" I probed tentatively, not wanting to hurt him anymore. I also felt bad for getting mad at him but... He did keep a pretty big thing from me, and I would have helped him if he would only just ask! He sighed and removed his arm from his eyes and looked at me.
"When I faced Shiro for the first time two years ago I got so angry I must have accidently unlocked some code that kept me from turning into a Hollow. And I... changed into one of those things when I got angry and hurt Renji, Rukia, and Orihime." He moved his hand up to his face, staring at it like he didn't even recognise it as his own. "I don't even remember anything. I almost killed them before I got control back, and I don't even know what I did and they refuse to tell me. But Shiro knows and taunts me with it every time I see the bastard!" He clenched his fist, closing his brown eyes tightly. "I just wish I didn't have this... The thing inside of me! I wish that I never had to see Shiro ever again and I never hurt anyone!" He was angry and so emotional that his reshi started to leak from his skin. I panicked, grabbing his hand and touching the side of his face. His eyes snapped open, looking me in the eyes but he looked lost.
"Ichigo. He is your brother, even if he killed your mother. It's not your fault that you lost control. He knows how to get into your head and he wants to twist you like him." Ichigo closed his eyes again and rested his head against mine.
"Why? Isn't it enough that he took our mother from us and our sisters that will never remember her?" He asked. I sighed and put his hand against my heart, making him blush as he looked me in the eyes. I held his gaze for a few moments, letting him feel my steady heartbeat as his calmed.
"He want's to twist you like him because he's all alone. He wants to belong and he only wants your attention. That's why he killed your mother. And I will always be with you, so if you ever lose control I'll be there. I'll protect you from yourself." I whispered, feeling his heart in my hand as I placed it on his heart. He looked me in the eyes, moving his hand from my heart to my cheek, frowning.
"But who will protect you from me?" He asked, looking pained. I thought about that. If he lost control, how could I help? I had never seen him out of control. The one time I thought he was scary was when he was just angry and sane, never enraged and insane. Could I really keep my promise? I looked into his eyes, seeing the fear and desperation to believe my words. I smiled and did something I thought I would never do again. I kissed him lovingly, gently. When I pulled away and hugged him tightly.
" I'm not scared of you, Ichigo. And am I forgiven for yelling at you?" I asked, trying to distract him. He sighed and ruffled my hair in annoyance but let the subject drop.
"Yes, but I should be the one apologizing." he said, making me smirked beside myself.
"Apology accepted," I said, cuddling against his chest. I used to be so against anyone touching me, now I find the warmth of his arms comforting and almost like a security blanket. My breathing soon fell into rhythm with his, allowing me to start fading into the darkness. However, I just managed to catch what he whispered.
"But you should be scared of me, Scarlet"
Author's note: Eh, too cheesy? I like it, but if you have any suggestions and comments just leave a review or PM me. I'm more then willing to take plot suggestions and as always,thanks for reading and read on! ^_^