© Copyright 2011
Written work by MsMifuyu
A/N: I managed to upload it so soon? big o-m-g much. School's started and all the attention's on work now so s'cuse me if there are any general story errors / grammatical / spelling errors. I'll try and update asap though since I love the amazing response I've been getting for my story thus far :)
Thanks for reading.
love,
Mifuyu
"Because… you're a traitor," Rosa said through gritted teeth. She looked away solemnly. Chinatsu's mouth was agape as she heard this.
"Wh-" was all she could manage in her shock. Traitor? Of what? The hollow race? "I … don't understand."
The arrancar looked at her with a raised brow, then her blank eyes turned furious at the memory. She lunged forward, knocking Chinatsu back against the wall. She felt a bone crack somewhere through the immense pain. She couldn't quite pinpoint it though, as the pain was already spreading throughout her body. Chinatsu fell to the floor directly after, unable to move.
Her eyes widened as Rosa's leg came flying at her head. Chinatsu lifted her arms up into an 'x' above her head, trying to protect it but to no avail.
Crrrrrkk went her arm bone. Her body parts went numb. She couldn't help the scream that echoed around the room, alarming even the arrancar. Despising the moment the sound left her lips, the temperature dropped even further. The door probably still locked. Nobody could hear. Nobody would come. She'd die for someone else's wrong doings perhaps?
"I don't know what you're talking about…" her voice came out hoarse. This 'Rosa' girl didn't even confirm whether it was the person she was looking for or not. A mere human getting punished by an arrancar for what sounded like a hollow's problem! Preposterous! Though perhaps if she took it all in, the other girl would be spared.
Rosa's face distorted, stuck in her memories of a girl that perhaps had some resemblance to her. Her leg again came flying into Chinatsu's stomach as she screamed,
"You know!" her shrill voice accused, "We loved you. Revered you!"
We? There were more that hated her? For what? Chinatsu coughed out blood as the leg landed on her stomach.
"And you… you left us," she fell down in a heap in front of her. Rosa sobbed a tearless sob. "How could you?"
"I…" Chinatsu's face screwed up. Rosa obviously loved this girl more than she had ever imagined.
"You know," she interrupted, lifting her head to look at Chinatsu, "you're the one who named me Rosa."
Chinatsu's eyes widened. In her uncomfortably dislocated position, she was unsure of herself. What? I named her Rosa? Her head spiralled as she tried to regain composure.
Light footsteps ran up to her room. The hands tried to lug the door open but failed. Tessai banged on the door with his fist.
"Are you okay?" he asked, slamming the door constantly. It was paper. Why couldn't he just tear it open?
As if she had read her mind, Rosa said,
"It's my ability. That door is as tough as steel now… like the thorns of a rose," her voice died out at the end.
Chinatsu saw Tessai's blood gradually appearing on the door from punching it. He was hurt. He had punched the door and blood had come out. She looked back at Rosa.
"…amazing.." she said, examining Rosa through the numbness she now felt. Rosa's eyes widened at her praise. A pained, unsure expression crossed her face. With the one hand that was connected to the unbroken bone, she tapped the floor in front of her. Rosa stared at her incredulously. She had just beaten the girl up senseless and here she was, willing her to come forward.
Chinatsu was leaning on the wall as her legs and arms were sprawled in odd positions in front of her except for the one arm. Rosa crawled up to her hesitantly at first, then lay her head on Chinatsu's thighs.
Chinatsu's unbroken hand stroked her fiery red hair. Why did she feel so empathetic toward the girl? Didn't she just try to kill her? The back of her mind told her, she was going easy.
"Tell me," Chinatsu's voice whispered.
Rosa looked up at her sadly, closing her eyes as she spoke. Chinatsu looked up at the door. There were three silhouettes standing there, yelling something she could no longer hear. Had Rosa done that?
"I missed you so much oujo-sama," her voice softened. "you were like a breath of fresh air every day… but then you just up and left. Why did you leave? I didn't know what to do when you left. I kept asking myself, what do I do without you? What can I do? We needed you so much. And you just left. I was so lost, wondering where you went. I thought you just took your daily leave again…
"But then you never came back. I wondered where you went. I tried tracking you down, but you're essentially untraceable because… well you know."
Chinatsu in fact, did not know. But she nodded, willing Rosa to go on. She was finding more and more about this girl…
"And then they said you died… and I was devastated. I mourned for you every day, hoping in vain that it wasn't true. That you were actually alive. But it was a vain hope. So I was on the brink of giving up. But I came to the human world, hoping to find your human form. Perhaps I'd find you in your human form. I searched the whole world for you. Karakura town was the last place. The last place… and then I would give up. Then I found you. Here. Alive. I was so angry that I found you. It meant that you actually left us. Of your own will. And hid out here.
"But I see now…you don't know me. Which means something has happened. I don't know what. But I'll find out. I'll make you come back to us oujo-sama, I will!"
It was hard to accept all the facts so quickly. This girl… had searched the whole earth looking for this one girl. She could understand why she'd easily mistake her for her oujo-sama. If anyone was so desperate to find her, they'd probably hallucinate that they looked similar.
"How long?" Chinatsu asked.
"Oh. Many years." Rosa replied casually, shrugging.
"How many years?" she made a disapproving face at Rosa.
"A couple of centuries." Rosa shrugged again.
"… Centuries?" Chinatsu stared at Rosa incredulously. Of course the girl was dead. The oldest person she'd ever seen was only just over a century old.
"But you are… forever, my lady," Rosa took Chinatsu's broken hand and lifted it to her lips.
Chinatsu shivered.
"I'm not her," it was barely audible, but Rosa obviously heard it.
"Of course you are, there is no difference in appearance."
"And that's where the similarity stops," Chinatsu made a face. "I'm sorry…"
"No. I will not accept this." Rosa's intense eyes looked at her, "You are my master, oujo-sama."
"I'm not. Please leave. Please find her. Because I'm not her."
"Don't worry oujo-sama, I'll reintroduce myself, I'll reinvent myself to suit you. I'll follow you to the ends of the earth!" her fearful eyes looked into hers.
Touched by her dedication, it gave Chinatsu more determination than ever to get this girl to go find her actual master.
"Then listen to me," Chinatsu said, grimly preparing to say what she had to.
"Yes oujo-sama?" her eyes lit up.
"Leave. Never come back. Never return here. Do not keep tabs on me. Do not follow me. In fact, go back to heuco mundo. Surely, someone who looks exactly like me will already be here. In the centuries that you were gone, my clone will have returned there. Find her. And leave me." Chinatsu stared at the arrancar with unwavering eyes.
Rosa's enthusiasm was crushed so harshly, Chinatsu wanted to hug her. But she obliged,
"… Yes, oujo-sama," she stood up mechanically and bowed with one hand on her chest. Her hair fell in locks in front of her. As she began her slow walk away, she gave Chinatsu one last pained look before jumping up and out.
The change was immediate. The temperature in the room rose dramatically, and the room had a slight glow to it. Chinatsu closed her eyes. So tired from the drama that had just occurred.
The door was immediately slammed open.
"Chinatsu," Rukia looked at her in a mix of astonishment, shock and rage. "Who did this to you?"
"I don't know," she lied, deepening Rukia's frown. "I don't know what happened. Everything went black…"
She tried her best confused look. After all, it wasn't completely a lie. Just not the whole truth. She smiled weakly at her best friend.
"You…" Rukia looked at her literally broken friend and grabbed her in a hug. Quickly turning back, she yelled, "Well Tessai are you just gonna stand there and watch?"
He jumped and quickly leaped forward. This time, he went into the cupboard and broad out a kit. It looked old and battered, made out of bamboo and unusually large –almost the size of a briefcase. He opened it to reveal concoctions of all sort and mixed a few together before handing the cup to her. Rukia snatched it off him,
"I'll do it," she insisted, gently putting the cup up to Chinatsu's lips. Chinatsu chugged it down as fast as she could, hoping the numbed pain to never emerge.
"Now, you." He pointed to Rukia, "leave please."
"But-!"
"It'll be a long process. Leave."
Rukia furrowed her eyebrows.
"Fine. But tell me as soon as you're done."
"Yes of course. Now go. Ururu," Chinatsu hadn't noticed the small girl holding a small box in her hands until then, "come."
Ururu immediately ran up behind Tessai, holding the box up like a crown. A prized possession. As Rukia bitterly left, Tessai opened the box lid, revealing odd cheap-looking gloves. Chinatsu raised an eyebrow, still in her half sitting position, too afraid to look at her injuries.
"My hands get worn easily," he said, as if answering her mental question, "with the amount of healing kido I have to use, it will be almost certain my hands will wither away."
"I see…" she pondered.
Facing the door to the room, Rukia shuddered at the sight of Chinatsu. Bones sticking out where they shouldn't be, blood everywhere, guts almost hanging out. It had taken all she had to not gag in front of Chinatsu. The blood from Chinatsu's torso had smeared her outfit. Sighing, she didn't bother with it. Right now, her best friend was all that mattered. Turning around, she saw a flicker of orange followed by an outraged face.
His eyes scanned her from head to toe and they widened at the blood on her shirt.
"What happened?" Ichigo looked at the door to the room furiously.
"It's not my blood." Rukia said numbly. She knew this would happen.
"Then who's…?" he looked at her grim face, the room she came out of … and connected the dots. His eyes widened further, "Chinatsu-!"
"Tessai and Ururu are treating her." She stated, still quite affected by the sight of Chinatsu, "you probably don't want to see her…right now…"
As much as she tried to hide it, the shock of not being able to protect her best friend took over her. The guilt of her unconsciousness. Tears flowed out of nowhere as she desperately tried to gather her emotions and lock them away, but she couldn't stop the flow. Why was she so weak?
Ichigo grabbed her in a bear hug, hiding her face in his chest. He stroked her hair softly.
"It's not your fault. You didn't know…"
Rukia sniffed,
"I was right THERE," she reasoned, "I could've-!"
"No one felt the reiatsu. No one. Not me. Not even Byakuya or Urahara. If they couldn't then neither could you. It's our fault. Not yours."
Rukia shook her head. Why was he being so nice? Why was he treating her like the victim here? Sometimes it was so frustrating. Her sobbing stopped and she rubbed her eyes on his shirt.
"What happened when you got here?" he asked, leaning down to look her in the eyes. His intense look gave her so much determination.
"A-after I ran here, I watched Tessai try opening the door… but it was locked. And he kept punching and hitting the door but he just got blood all over it. I don't know what happened! The door's paper! I-I…"
Ichigo sighed and pulled her back into a hug.
"It's alright…She's fine…"
Rukia stayed silent. Ichigo hadn't seen her. He hadn't seen the white protruding from the broken skin. She hadn't seen the red pool beneath her. She didn't even think Chinatsu herself had seen it. By the calamity on her face it was obvious.
"Shh…" he continued uttering soothing words as he rocked her gently in that hallway.
Urahara watched the scene unfolding in front of him. His gigai had crumbled away whilst he was within what he called the "restricted zone" which was a certain number of meters away from her. The bags on his eyes seemed to deepen with the ever-growing scowl on his face.
He looked down, examining the dirt on his zanpakuto. Skilfully, he shook the red lock of hair mixed with blood off benihime and sheathed it.