Colors of a Dying Day
Disclaimer/Notes: Another late update! I'm sorry. This month was busy, with a week-long trip away from home, my birthday, my sister's birthday, and two of my friends' birthdays. (I'm 17 now, yay!) Thank you to any readers who were able to bear with me this long! Summer is always a crazy time, and now there's my GED, getting a job, getting my license, and camp to think about. Anyway, I had fun writing some other characters in this chapter. Renji is cool.
Numb.
That's how he felt. A billion thoughts and possible scenarios flashed through his head with the detached brutality of a black and white slideshow. Ishida's fingers shook next to the weapon he couldn't draw. It's she who will suffer for any resistance on your part, the malicious voice echoed in his head.
Orihime. He bit his lip viciously between his teeth until he tasted copper. He wanted to kill this man. He'd always been better with logic than battle. It was logic that kept him from allowing his fingers to grab his weapon. If only that silly facade of cool togetherness he put on was real.
How long have we been walking?
It seemed like forever had passed in the moments filled with his thoughts, and he was inclined to believe it when he lifted his eyes and saw only green trees that parted to reveal a small view of hard stone. Anger, colder that the sky above them, washed through the Quincy's veins.
I'll kill him right now.
But what, then, about Inoue? Ishida felt his teeth grind together, and he'd never hated anyone more in his life than the man in front of him—not even his dad. "What did you do to Inoue-san?" he demanded. He thought he could feel her reiatsu, which meant she was alive.
"Oh? She's not here. In fact, she's not anywhere near here. She probably has no idea that anything is wrong."
"What?" Ishida gritted through his teeth.
"My Nemu is assisting your friend at the fourth division. She's observing her. A single order, and Nemu will execute your friend. I'll explain that the wench just malfunctioned on me. Useless. She's my creation, and I'll kill her for doing it, and no one will know. She'll be dead, your friend will be dead, and then I'll eventually kill you, too. It's quite simple."
Ishida felt sick at the cold, emotionless finality in the words of the man ahead of him. Except there was no way that this thing could be called human. He may once have been, but emotion was completely absent in his words. Kurotsuchi Mayuri was a shell of a human driven by the compulsion to study and to know, even at the cost of lives. A man like this... should not be allowed to continue existing.
Ishida unconsciously touched the cold metal of the pentacle around his wrist.
"Don't," Mayuri said, barely glancing back. "Even if you could kill me, your friend would already be dead. What, you think I need those damned butterflies to communicate with that foolish girl? She's mine! She'd hear my orders before I could die. In fact, I could tell her to kill that girl right now, if you wish, if it will make you shut up."
They came closer to their destination, and more than gray stone became visible through the trees. It was a small building—a single level above the ground, but the way it had been dug out suggested some underground levels as well.
"We won't be seen here," Mayuri said. "This is my research complex for things I'd rather not have reach the wrong eyes and ears. If that old man Yamamoto ever learned of some of the more private research I'm conducting, he'd have a coronary. This will be a perfect place to keep you."
Ishida thought that Mayuri was typical, just typical, because even he had to whine about the pains of organizing his little scheme; even he had to talk. Even he had some sort of twisted pride hidden somewhere in that head of his that demanded good work and better results. Ishida hated that even this slime had tattered shreds of humanity in him.
"Why me?" Ishida asked. Surely there are more interesting subjects.
Mayuri answered simply, as if tired of talk. "Because I hate losing. You interest me." He paused. "You're unextroardinary, true, but I will not let your insolence slide. No more questions. Bait doesn't talk back."
Ishida felt a sudden hollow fear in his stomach. "Bait?"
"Of course," came Mayuri's tired reply. "Do you think I'll be satisfied with only you? That other Quincy interests me, too. I thought I'd concluded my study of your kind; I hate leaving things unfinished. As soon as the two of you are dead, I can forget about your kind."
Ryuuken. He wants Ryuuken. My...father. Ishida paused and spoke softly with solid conviction. "He won't come," he said.
Mayuri laughed.
"Excuse me?"
Ishida's words were just as soft as he continued. "He'll leave me here. He could care less."
Mayuri smirked. "You don't even realize it, do you?"
"Realize what?" Ishida asked.
"He'll come," Mayuri said. "I don't doubt it."
"Oi, Renji!" Rukia leaned onto her knees, breathless, as she caught up with him. She slipped into step beside him, easily matching his long strides, and gasped deep breaths from running. When her breathing had evened, she looked up. The grin she gave him was the same grin she'd given him when they were little in Rukongai. "You look as high-and-mighty as always, ya bum! Just 'cause you're a Vice Captain and I'm not doesn't mean you can pull your holier-than-thou act on me."
She elbowed him, dropping the facade of nobility and becoming the laid-back girl he'd loved to watch ever since he'd met her. "Slouch, heathen!" she laughed. "You look like some noble when you walk straight. It's infuriating. I see enough of that, you know."
That, too, was like always. When they'd been younger, she hadn't bowed to his tough attitude, maintaining her in-your-face aggressiveness even when they had joined the academy. She'd smothered it when she'd been adopted into the Kuchiki clan, but it was by no means gone. "Yeah, yeah. What are you coming around here for? You're always hanging around Kurosaki. Didn't figure you'd stray."
She sighed. "Yeah. About that..." Her eyes wandered, staring at some close object even though he could tell she was somewhere very far away from where she stood.
Renji rolled his eyes, letting his posture slouch a little. It was okay if it was just her who saw, anyway. "Somethin' wrong, Rukia? You're distracted."
She jerked back to the present. "Nothing's wrong! Nothing at all. It's just... I thought I should tell you. I'm...going to be gone. I'll be fine, but... Please don't tell Nii-sama. We'll be leaving soon—"
"We?"
"...Ichigo and I. We have to leave...to do something. Renji—you're one of the only people I can trust with this. I wanted to say goodbye, you know? You're my best friend ever. If I hear that you leaked this to Nii-sama to get on his good side, though, I will totally beat you senseless, okay?"
He jumped a bit when she playfully grabbed his arm. Friend, huh? "Of course. I wouldn't tell, Rukia. Not ever. Ya gotta have more faith in me than that!"
"Of course I do! Just making sure."
"Rukia... the game. You're going to miss it, then?"
He'd invited her to play a game of real-world "Poker" with him and some old eleventh division friends that night. He had to admit, he'd been looking forward to it.
"Oh...that." Her eyes took on that sad, heavy look, like she was able to see into his soul to what he really felt. It was unnerving. She bit her lip, slowly raising her eyes to look at him. "I'm really sorry, Renji. I can't. I didn't expect this to happen. I really meant to come..."
"Don't worry about it!" He tried for an encouraging smile. He wondered how pathetically he failed.
"Maybe next time?"
He laughed, but it felt too loud, too forced. "Yeah. Next time, then. I'll hold you to it!"
"Thanks, Renji! Anyway, there's someone else I need to see. Better be going." She nudged him playfully and ran off.
He smiled until he couldn't see her anymore, but then it slipped from his face like watercolor paint.
Once she was gone, he leaned his head against the nearest wall. "Rukia..." His voice faded and he clenched his teeth. If that orange-haired maniac didn't bring her back safe, God help him...Renji would murder the poor sucker. Renji growled and slammed his fist into the rough wall until the life faded from his anger and left him with a few muttered cursewords and a raw and bleeding fist. He stared at the empty space she'd once been in, and wished he'd never let her go back then.
"See you, Rukia."
Orihime lowered the shield and wiped her face. "Good!"
Kurotsuchi Nemu observed impassively as the Orihime leaned over the hospital bed in exhaustion. She watched the sunny-haired girl's plight for breath. Humans really confused her to no end. She spoke up with clinical coldness. "Were you not told to heal them only until they are in no critical danger?"
Orihime glanced up, head cocked at an odd angle while resting on the sleeping shinigami's blankets. "I suppose so. But I couldn't leave him like that. I really couldn't."
Nemu tried to understand the girl's logic. "It's inefficient," she said. "Your own energy would be conserved if you healed them only until they were out of immediate danger. The number of injured demands compromise."
A muffled laugh echoed from the covers. "Well... yeah. But I'm not the one who's hurt. It'd be kinda silly of me to let them stay hurt when I could do something about it."
Nemu shook her head. She looked at the girl and wondered why Mayuri-sama would want to kill her. She wondered if she should ask. Maybe this human would know the answer. She held her tongue though—held her tongue, such a silly phrase, but Mayuri-sama always said it; "Hold your tonge, child," he'd say, or, "You have no experience in these matters. Hold your tongue and get out of my sight."
Mayuri-sama would be irate if she said something out of line. So she just watched, as she had been told to.
If Mayuri-sama wished it, she would have to kill this girl. That was a new phrase to Kurotsuchi Nemu. Have to, she had learned, was a phrase one used when one did not wish to do something, but did so anyway. She supposed that this was an appropriate application. She really did not wish to kill this girl. She did not wish for that other boy to be killed, either. The kind one who had spared Mayuri-sama's life.
She had asked him if he would spare the boy's life, as well. Mayuri-sama had laughed at her. Most people told her that laughter was a thing that people did when they were happy. She didn't believe them. Mayuri-sama never looked happy when he laughed. He'd spared her the smallest glance. "Why would I do that, foolish girl?" he'd taunted.
"Because," she'd replied. "He let you live, Mayuri-sama. Wouldn't it be right to do the same?"
Mayuri had scowled. She wondered if she had displeased him. "You shouldn't talk with those other divisions. They're putting strange ideas in your head." Then he'd said something about how annoying it was when a mockery of humanity tried to be human.
"Nemuuuuuu-san! Nemu!"
She snapped to attention. The honey-haired girl was in her face. Slender fingers waved over her eyes. The girl called Orihime laughed. "Oh! That's good! I thought you'd gotten lost in thought. You know, if you get too lost in thought, you'll be gone forever, and no one will be able to find you again!"
Nemu cocked her head. "Really? I haven't heard of this."
"I heard it from my brother," Orihime said, nodding.
Nemu nodded, too, slowly. "I see."
I don't want to kill you.
It was the first thought in her mind when she looked back down at the girl. "Sooo," Orihime said. "Where to next? I think there's a patient in the next room that needs tending to..."
Nemu nodded. "He is the fourth seat of our division. He was unfortunately involved in the accident."
"Let's go, then! He'll be fixed up in a jiffy!"
Nemu followed slowly behind the young healer as she pranced to the next room. "What is this jiffy?"
Orihime thought about it. "I dunno! Just something I heard."
"Jiffy..." Nemu said the word slowly, testing it out on her tongue. It rolled off strangely, in the kind of way that begged to be repeated. "Jiffy," she said again.
"Quirky, huh?" Orihime giggled.
Nemu smiled. "You're very strange," she said. "I'm quite glad I met you." Her smile grew, and she allowed her happiness to make a small sound that one might've called a laugh if they'd listened hard enough.
Those people were right. You really did laugh when you were happy.
"That's good," Orihime said. "I'm glad I met you, too. You know, when Ishida-kun gets back today, I think we can all go pick flowers together! We can pick some for all the hurt people in your division, okay?"
"Ishida...kun?"
"Oh... he's the big, tall one who's really skinny and has glasses and a bracelet—which I think is funny because I don't know many guys who wear bracelets—and he's a Quincy."
Nemu's footsteps abruptly ceased. She lowered her head. The Quincy.
Was it this feeling that was called shame?
"Of course," she said slowly.
Orihime opened the door and held it open for Nemu. "You coming?"
"Of course," she said again. Before she could walk inside, words she shouldn't have spoken spilled past her lips. "I don't want to you die," she said. "I don't want you to die, and I don't want him to die, either."
Orihime froze. "What?"
I should stop. I should. I shouldn't say anymore. Mayuri-sama will be displeased with me.
Nemu did something else for the first time in her life.
She'd always thought that hold your tongue was such a strange phrase, anyway. "There's something...I need to tell you. It's about the Quincy."
Rukia entered the division barracks, and a quiet swept over the people inside. She would never get used to it. After all, she was the member of their division who had almost died, the one who'd harbored the hougyouku, the one who had fraternized with a human boy. Even though no one harbored any hatred toward her, a hush always followed where she went, as if she was just a ghost.
Well... almost always. Kotsubaki Sentarou didn't seem to have any problem with her. He ran forward, awkwardly stumbling over his own feet. His voice was all hot breath in her face. "Rukia-chan! Are you here to see Ukitake-taichou?"
Kiyone, not to be outdone, rushed ahead of Sentarou, slapping her hand on Rukia's shoulder. "I'm not sure if he's in, Rukia-chan," she said. "The captain has been very busy lately."
"I was going to say that!" Sentarou raged, and the argument that ensued had to do with "stupid, illiterate Rukongai swine!" — this particular insult hurled, of course, by Kiyone — and something about booger-faced babies, as usual.
"I'm sorry, I'll come back later," Rukia murmured amidst the uproar.
The door to the captain's room opened, and Ukitake peeked out sleepily, causing the argument's pitch to lower drastically. "Kiyone, Sentarou," he said. "What is it this time?" His eyes settled on Rukia, and widened. "Oh! You look so serious, Kuchiki!" A smile spread over his face. "Come on in. Sorry about the confusion. I was actually feeling a little bit under the weather—today has been a horribly long day... I'm afraid I fell asleep on my desk!" he laughed. "Here, come on in, sit wherever you like. I was wondering if you'd drop by."
Rukia perched on the edge of his chair. "You were?"
He nodded.
Before he could say anymore, Rukia spoke up. "I... I have to go."
Ukitake blinked. "The restrooms are outside."
Rukia laughed despite herself, but the sound was more like a choked sob. "Taichou!"
His smile was wistful this time. "I hate seeing you all serious like that. It doesn't become you. As you were saying?"
"I have to leave. I mean... Not forever, you know. Just for a while. I mean...I guess it's because—"
"I know."
"—because—Wait. What?"
"I know. Kurosaki-san told me. He visited earlier."
"He—he did?"
Another nod. "Yes, and we had an interesting conversation about the tree outside of this window, and what it would be like to be chained to it for all eternity."
It was Rukia's turn to blink cluelessly. "Oh. Okay. Umm... so... about what I was saying...?"
"I've already told Kurosaki that it's none of my business what he does."
Rukia's head lowered shamefully. "I... we're gonna go to—"
Ukitake held up a hand and shook his head. "Please, Rukia. Don't tell me; I'll only worry about you."
She nodded. "I'll come back safe, don't you worry."
He smiled gently. "You should be going, I suppose."
Rukia got up off of the seat, which she'd never actually sat in, and walked to the door. Ukitake stood and followed behind her.
"Goodbye, Ukitake-taichou."
"See you soon," he corrected.
She got to the door, and her fingers wrapped around it, but she didn't open it. "Ukitake-taichou," she blurted. "I understand... about life and pride. But I think that there's something much more important."
"What is it?" His words were quiet.
She bit her lip, but her words didn't suffer for it. Clearly, she said, "Love. That's what it is."
She didn't expect it when he reached up and mussed her hair. "Stay safe, Rukia," he said, and she couldn't help but think that his voice sounded horribly sad. She opened the door and closed it. The smile remained on his face until then, but when she had taken a few steps outside—only then did she hear the violent coughing.
And all she could think was I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
Ichigo was waiting for her when she came out, leaning against the railing of something or other, gaze straight ahead. He looked serious. Rukia nodded solemnly as she caught up with him. She tried something happy. "He said something about a tree," she said. "And tying you to it."
"Yeah, yeah. I remember," Ichigo said; a smile quirked his lips just slightly. "Are you ready?"
"Do you need to ask?"
He sighed. "The scouting mission leaves in about fifteen minutes. The guess wandering around outside that frickin' barren wasteland has its advantages, because I know of a secluded entrance. We'll get in that way."
The sun had hidden behind the clouds, but it was there, all the same. The bloody red and fiery orange hues of a sun about to set had been painted across every cloud, and to Rukia it felt like a very foreboding farewell.
"Are you sure?" she asked, and he didn't answer, because she knew he was.
And she would follow him, because she couldn't let him go alone. She'd even follow the idiot to Hueco Mundo, that damned pale, lifeless place where she'd almost been killed.
They made quick time to the place of departure, where a group of equally solemn shinigami rested in wait, ready to go through. "Late again, Kurosaki," spoke the man at the head. Seeing the female behind the orange-haired substitute, the man immediately straightened. "You! I mean, Kuchiki-taichou said—"
"He's allowing me to attend, this once. Shall I tell him that you doubt his words?" Her eyes glared icicles.
"N—No! I was quite surprised that I did not hear about it, first, though. Welcome, Kuchiki Rukia-san." The man's attention diverted to the other shinigami in his group, and he spoke loudly. "Head out!"
The last thing Rukia saw before heading through the gate to Hueco Mundo was the dying colors of a day that was already dead, and just didn't know it.
"I cannot disobey Mayuri-sama's will, but please... go away so that you are not here. If you are not here, then I cannot harm you." Nemu sat next to the unconscious fourth seat from her division, hands clasped between her legs. Deep black bangs fell over her eyes. "I'm very sorry."
Orihime shook her head. "Thank you, Nemu-san. I don't really understand everything, but that was something really hard for you to do. What I said before, though, I meant it, okay? You and me and Ishida-kun, we'll do something one day."
Nemu nodded.
"Where is Ishida-kun?" Orihime asked.
The young woman lifted her gaze so that deep blue eyes met Orihime's. "I'm sorry; I don't know very well. There is a complex far away from here, where Mayuri-sama conducts his more dangerous research. It's quite secluded; he likes to do things there because it's difficult to find. It's where he does things that he says... others should not know about. I'm sorry that I can't say any more than that."
"Thank you, Nemu-san. Could you please tell Unohana-san that I'll be gone for a little bit? Please tell her that I'm very, very sorry I had to leave, and that I promise I'll make up for it."
"I will," Nemu said.
Orihime nodded, and the black-haired girl watched her run out, her pace frantic and her eyes even more scared, and she prayed that the honey-haired girl would not fail.
Outside of the building, footsteps making frightened clatters against the buzzing streets of Seireitei, Orihime ran. She wondered if Ishida knew that his reiatsu was a fragrance like grass and skies and sunny days. She wondered if he knew that it lingered, just a little bit, even when he was gone. She ran until her feet hit something on the ground, sending it clattering and shattering across the pebbles. She stopped, then, and her heart skipped at what she saw. Splayed out on the sidewalk, dying, were the flowers she'd forgotten to bring to the hospital. Orihime drew in a breath and got ready to run again. The scent of his reiatsu was fading too quickly, and it was almost gone among this maze of streets.
She ran, but she couldn't get images of that shattered vase out of her mind.
Terror; that's what she felt, but even more than that, there was emptiness. For the longest time, she'd been a little bit empty, filling it and filling it with words she tried to say and smiles she forced on herself. One day, the emptiness had disappeared, filled with something warm and soft, something that caught her when she fell and held her through the dark. Somehow, she hadn't realized when the emptiness had gone away, but she knew exactly when she'd started feeling whole for the first time in her life.
It had been with him, when they'd been stranded together as unlikely allies in Soul Society. She'd never felt as safe as she had then. Somehow, he'd coaxed out smiles that were not so worried and forced. When worries did arrive, he'd soothed them. Somehow, he'd been near her in some way or another ever since then.
Only now that the emptiness had returned did she realize how whole she'd felt in those crazy moments with him by her side.
She didn't know what to call it, but there was an unfamiliar feeling building and solidifying inside of her saying that if anyone got in her way, she'd sic Tsubaki on their ass.
Author's Notes: Finally some IshiHime from the Hime part of the whole thing! I figure it'd take her a little while to get it through her head that there's someone else out there but Kurosaki-kun. I already have most of the next chapter written. Hehe, about that last line... I figure if Orihime was determined enough to do something, she could use Tsubaki with the conviction needed to carry out a strong and effective attack. I totally wish she would do something like that in the manga. Her innocent nature is nice, but even innocence has to have some thorns, sometimes, to stay alive. Well, some major fights are coming up along with the climax and end of this story... I'm not too great with fights. (gulp) Wish me luck! I think a few more chapters should bring about the end. Please Review? I'd appreciate any thoughts more than I can possibly say.
