A/N: Another chapter, so here we go. Let me know what you think.
Chapter 11:
Imprint on the Soul
Namika felt restless. The vague answers Kensei and Hiyori gave only seemed to confuse her further. She sat alone in the corner away from the group. It wasn't until the door slid open did she raise her head from her knees. Her eyes caught those of Shinji's absent mindedly. The amber of his eyes looked different than they had earlier on.
"You took your great old time getting back here, Shinji." Hiyori scolded.
"Bite me, Hiyori."
"Instead of fighting with me, why don't you talk to the girl."
Hearing Hiyori argue with Shinji, made Namika stand up from the spot she was sitting down at. Her long curls fell over her shoulder as her eyes narrowed in annoyance. "The girl has a name, Hiyori. Or did the fact that you are so short make your memory just as short?" Namika countered with her own insult.
"Why you little ingrate!"
Out of anger, Hiyori lunged in Namika's direction. A smile curved her lips at the impending fight. Shinji just watched, debating on intervening to prevent any kind of damage. Hiyori swung with her blade only for her adversary to flash-step out of harms way.
The hollow inside always seemed to enjoy a good fight and he suspected it was the same with Namika's inner hollow. She was testing the waters of her new powers even though she knew little about them; but one of the things he loved about her was the fact that she could easily adapt to new things fairly quickly.
"You couldn't beat me while in the Soul Society and you sure as hell won't be able to beat me now." Namika taunted, dodging every single attack Hiyori tossed in her direction.
"Cockiness will be your downfall."
Once again, Hiyori swung with her blade swiftly only to connect with the metal of Namika's blade. The ocean blue of her eyes were swirling with the yellow of her inner hollow. The longer the fight went, the more she was learning the ways of the new power flowing through her veins. Breaking through the stalemate of blades, Namika had an opening to strike.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Shinji bellowed.
Both women froze at the sound of his anger. Namika's eyes returned to their normal blue as she returned her blade back to its sheath. She didn't wait for him to say anything else before bolting out of the warehouse. She had already gone too far than she normally would have. The hollow that now resided inside her, changed her and she didn't like who she was becoming.
Shinji narrowed his eyes at Hiyori as she re-joined the group. She didn't bother to look at him. Instead, she retreated up to the top level of the warehouse where her room was located. "Shinji, you probably should go after her. If she's not fully in control of her new powers, then she's a danger to society." Rose urged.
Rushing out of the building after Namika, his mind went back to another memory he held close to his heart. The words she spoke that day would forever be embedded inside his soul, like an imprint that would never fade.
Weeks after basically telling Namika Shiba that there was something between them, he found himself buried in endless paperwork. The look on her face that day hadn't left his mind, haunting him. It was hard to concentrate on his duties as Captain. Perhaps she had been right in saying that it would be greatly frowned upon. She was a distraction.
"Sir, why don't you take a break from that." Sosuke urged stepping inside the office.
"No need."
"Sir, you haven't left the office for anything other than a quick nap. Is there something going on?"
"Nothing that concerns you."
Sosuke let out a short sigh. Shinji peered through the two large stacks of papers at his lieutenant. There was a concerned look upon his face. "What's with the concern, Sosuke? You never cared before." He asked standing up from his desk.
"The squad is worried. You haven't been yourself for weeks. I continuously tell them that you are just overworked; but that is just a lie. That girl has gotten under your skin and you can't let go."
"I don't know what you're talking about; but now that you mention a break, I think I will take one."
He continued on out the door, leaving his lieutenant to work on the mess that he had been drowning himself in for weeks. The moon was high in the sky and the courtyard fountain could be heard from the walkway. The sounds of the night were soothing his inner turmoil, until he heard a voice that was awfully familiar.
"What part of no don't you understand!" The voice shouted.
He recognized the voice as that of Namika's. Without thinking, he chased after it. He could see her walking along the Squad Five barracks walkway and one of his squad members was following far too close to her. Leaping in between them, she turned around with tears streaking her face as her eyes made contact with his. "Don't you have someplace to be." Shinji stated, glaring at his obviously drunk squad member.
"Yes..yes...sir…"
He turned around and walked in the opposite direction. Namika turned away from him, wiping the tears away from her face. Shinji closed the distance between them, hovering inches away from her back. His warm breath caressed the sensitive skin of her bare neck. "Are you alright?" He asked softly.
"I'm fine…"
"Namika...why are in the Fifth Squad Barracks?"
Another sob escaped her mouth, breaking the barrier around himself he tried to build. He wrapped his arms around her from behind. She trembled in his arms as she thought about the reason she was there in the first place. It was most unsettling and though it really shouldn't come as a surprise to her.
"I don't know why I came here. I shouldn't have…"
Shinji removed his arms from around her shoulders and turned her around to face him. The tears were gone; but the sorrow still remained in her eyes. Forgetting about the conversation they had weeks prior, he reached out to cup the side of her face. "What's got you so sad? I'm no fool, I can see it in your eyes."
"My family...I swear Kaien is the only one who cares about me. I know I'm just a half sibling to them; but Kaien is the only one who treats me the same...equal…"
"They are lucky to have you as part of their family. Anyone is lucky to know you…."
"Shinji…"
He dropped his hand from her face, remembering her words from the last time they saw each other. The loss of his warmth, alerting her to what she had spoken before. He had told her wonderful things that got her heart pounding and she had been cold, just like her sister was to her. Seeing that first hand, she refused to be that way.
"I am sorry for being so cold to you the last we spoke."
"You weren't wrong. It would be greatly frowned upon."
Namika smiled, reaching to touch his face with her fingertips. "I can see that Kaien isn't the only who cares for me and I've been such a bitch to you. You've listened to me when you really shouldn't be giving me the time of day."
"Will you shut up…"
She went to open her mouth to respond; but his lips captured hers instead. Her eyes closed instinctively, drowning in the sensations his mouth on hers was bringing. Her free hand held onto his Captain's haori tightly. Every touch of his lips against hers brought a new light to her horizons, a new faith that maybe things would be okay.
Shinji held onto her, not wanting to let go of her. He had no idea why he decided to kiss her; but he regretted nothing. Her lips were soft and absolutely addicting; but he knew that he needed to stop. Pulling away, she opened her eyes to meet his gaze.
"You are absolutely addicting…" He whispered.
"From the time we met, I felt like you'd be someone important to me and it only seemed to grow within me. Kaien could tell that I was fighting against it and despite his overprotective nature, he encouraged me to do what my heart told me to do."
"And what does it tell you?"
"To give this a chance...to not give a damn about what people think."
He loved hearing those words, because no matter what people would think, he wouldn't care as long as he was happy with her. The fact that the Shiba Clan fell from noble status a while ago, left it much easier to court her. Had she been still a noble, the process would have been so much harder.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Namika sat upon the hillside looking down upon the river. Ever since coming to the living world, the place reminded her of her favorite spot in the Soul Society. The spot where she went to escape the reality of being a disappointment to her family.
The sound of the water rushing was soothing to hear and it calmed the inner turmoil that raged inside. It was beginning to get crowded inside her soul. Not only did she have Kurori ryū's voice inside her head, she also had her inner hollow's voice in there as well.
"I thought I'd find you here." Shinji said pushing the voices out of her head.
"Reminds me of home…"
"You know that will never be home again now. What happened to you can't be undone and they will never understand it."
Shinji waited for her to answer; instead, she stood up abruptly. A few moments of silence passed by before she finally turned around to face him. The look on her face reminded him of that night they finally accepted that what people thought didn't matter. "I don't really understand what happened to me, how can they judge me when I don't have a clue."
"Because they sentenced us to death the second they got wind of what we had become. Central 46 won't care that it's been a century since the first subjects happened."
"It's a good thing I didn't plan on going back. My family pretty much disowned me when Kaien died. I don't belong there anymore or maybe I never did…"
She started to walk back up the hill and stepped passed him. He reached for her wrist and held on, preventing her from going any further. The feeling of her skin gave him a familiar comforting sense that things would still be okay. "Don't do that...you always belonged...and you are not alone here."
"So why couldn't you look me in the eye?"
"I thought I lost you when I was turned into this and you were still in the Soul Society. I tried to push the sorrow away and drown in other things, like vengeance. So when you showed up, it brought back all those emotions and it hurt even more when I realized that you had no memory of me."
"My memory is back...I remember everything."
"I know and it's a lot to take in all at once; but that doesn't mean I don't still care."
Namika understood where he was coming from. It was a lot to take in. It was an emotional rollercoaster than he never should have had to go through, especially alone. She relaxed against his grasp and he let go of her wrist. Tilting her head to look at him directly, the amber of his eyes were once again soft. Exactly how she remembered them to be. "I think I should still stay with Kisuke. After the outburst between Hiyori and I earlier, I think I overstayed my welcome."
"I mean you did insult her, which was funny as hell by the way. I didn't think you had that in ya."
"That's something new about me. I guess you'll have to stick around to learn more."
"I don't plan on going anywhere; but you are going to have to learn better control over your new abilities."
She smiled coyly in agreement, then started to walk away towards Kisuke's home. Shinji only smiled to himself, realizing that he was going to enjoy learning all the new things about her that he had missed out on knowing. It was like starting all over again, except all the feelings were already there.
