Chapter 11
After I took Hinamori out for a quick feeding, never allowing her to reach the point where she could lose control. Her anger at Ryuu turned to anger at herself. I squeezed her hand as we made our way back.
Why do you let him make you upset? I ask her. You know he does it intentionally. Why let it bother you?
She replied with complete irritation and anger. He's a coward, that's all he really is, a coward. But I also realized that despite everything I have said, I still have some part of my humanity. When I was still human, I was controlled by those around me. Now he thinks he can control me but I do not fight him back because I am afraid that will summon the monster I have tried so long to pretend I am not.
I sighed. She was still struggling with the whole immortal thing.
So why bother? Why pretend? I ask her.
You've already lost your humanity so stop acting as if you still are one. What else do you have to lose?
She answered me only with silence and for the rest of the way we run through the air towards the evil that awaits us.
The heart of the abandoned church is a large building, each window pulses a glowing red light from inside giving the room a blood-washed effect. Fog covers the floors. The benches are polished black wood and look like shadows growing from the mist. Across the room I see Sakamoto Yumi standing on a bench in the far corner. Hinamori's reitsu flickers even as I squeeze her hand once more before I release it. I turn away from Sakamoto and scan the room for the one person I seek. I find his shadow shift in the dark but it's not someone I recognize. It's the man from only a few weeks ago; I believe his name was Satohiko Rokozu.
"I see you can shape shift." I whispered.
He smiled. "I am honoured to know that you figured it out so easily…Hitsugaya-taichou."
I noticed that during my staring contest with Ryuu, his mate was inching forward towards me or should I say Hinamori. But she paused once my eyes flashed to hers.
"Like I'd forget about you, Sakamoto Yumi."
I almost laugh when she sat on the bench closest to us as if she was afraid that I might reach out and grab her if she catches my attention. Hinamori's reitsu flickered once more beside me higher than ever, I flick my gaze to see the slow, lazy, mischievous smile of a cat.
Patience, Hinamori. Once I sent her the message she battered her eyes at me but her eagerness never drained. My attention was averted back to Ryuu with the click of his zanpakutou.
"You have no knowledge of skilled training." I stated as both Sakamoto and Ryuu had drawn their swords. "Ever heard of a sneak attack? Silence is golden."
Before I could say anything further, Sakamoto disappeared from my peripheral vision and the next thing she knew I had her arm pinned behind her back and I sent my foot to her leg slamming her forward into the dusty debris.
"You fool," I say. "You complete fool."
Underneath the weight of my knee on her back now, Sakamoto is struggling to breath. I only laugh.
"You let your underlings…no I'll rephrase that; a woman fight for you?"
I heard Ryuu distant growl.
"You're not the one I am after." His voice was cold but I could still hear his fear.
"What? Are you that of a low life to not fight me but a woman?" I gestured towards Hinamori who was now glaring down at Sakamoto who was now gasping as I released her. Then Ryuu is suddenly out of my sight and in front of Hinamori.
"That remains to be seen, does it not?"
Before he can strike her, my reitsu burst forward to strike Ryuu's and crackled around it. Hinamori jumped back as I search Ryuu's reitsu, looking for weakness as I now he searches mine.
"Why are you so eager, Ryuu?"
He is playing for time, trying to distract me. Why? Because he is afraid he might lose? He thinks he can get pass me. But he jumps back away from me, growling.
"Why are you stalling, Ryuu?" I unsheathed Hyorinmaru and my power snaps out and hits his like a whip. He staggers back as I see and hear the shattering of glass as Sakamoto is thrown back sending a glass bowl tumbling after her. With Hinamori's hand clutching her neck.
Ryuu's power flares out with his anger and I hear the windows crack. One of the benches split in half and I see Hinamori and Sakamoto jump out of the way barely in time.
"Impressive." I say scornfully. But as my reitsu crawls towards him as ice begins to engulf our surroundings the windows fracture into spiderwebs patterns with no single inch left whole. Hairlines of ice run through every surface, but not one object is left whole. Ryuu backs up a step, away from a pool of ice.
He glances around him and for the first time notices my comrades. I see Kai and Tomoe lounging against the wall and Matsumoto sitting cross-legged on a piece of wood, smiling.
Nearby I hear the clashing of Hinamori's and Sakamoto's zanpakutou. Their screams echoing throughout the church. I glance over to see Hinamori unscathed while Sakamoto is…well, finished as a blinding light is sent her way and she's sent flying into a nearby pile of glass. Hinamori watches her until it's evident that she no longer shows signs of movement. With a last scream of her lover's name Sakamoto burst into flames before she can avoid Tobiume's ball of reitsu.
My eyes mist over for a moment and my veins burn from Hinamori's reitsu. I stumble back as Ryuu lashes out as I narrowly dodge, falling back, barely catching myself before I fall to the floor blinded by the reitsu of flames that is slowly turning Sakamoto's body into ashes.
I freeze, feeling the faintest burning sensation run up my stomach as he twists his blade burying it deeper.
"I told you that you cannot win against me, Hitsugaya Toushiro."
He withdraws his zanpakutou from me but I do not feel pain until I struck and hit his wrist, breaking it. His sword falls to the ground and I shove him into the debris that made up the benches. Before he can recover, I strike him with my mind, forcing him to the ground.
"Hitsugaya-taichou!" my comrades screams interrupted my deathly thoughts. "We've got to go or this place is toast!" I heard Matsumoto's voice. I looked at my surroundings and sure enough Tobiume pretty much had this place in flames when Hinamori summoned her. Everyone but Shiki Ryuu was out of the building before we heard the remains of what was left collapse and then the sky was clouded in a big grey white cloud. In the distance was a faint echo, a scream.
365 days. Midnight. Full Red Moon.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" my voice was low; anxious but giddy. Her scent clouds my senses, our powers colliding at full force. Her aura is gentle as she nuzzles my neck and kisses the cold skin.
"We've been waiting for this for a long time." She purrs into my ear, her voice frisky like the wind that tangles our hair. Our lips meet added with an electric current flowing through both of us as our minds become one; she speaks my name in her mind as she trembles with the grass beneath us. I press my body against her as she grazes her nails deeper into the folds of my haori.
Now only our light breath is audible. Hinamori placed her hand on my chest then I felt her feather like touch push me gently away yet our eyes were still locked as I look down at her with an uneven smile.
"I'm ready when you are." I whispered when her hand flew to my cheek, she only sighs. Then she frowned.
"What's wrong?" she only shakes her head. You're not scared at all, I mean the pain…
I only laugh. "I've endured much worse experiences than pain, Hinamori. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
She blinked then her expression replaced her worries with determination, I can feel her hand run up my back and then grasp the back of my neck. She's pulling me forward as I brace myself with my hands in the green grass on both sides of her head then my fingers slowly tighten in her locks spewed across the turf.
As still as a statue, I feel her tongue run across a pulse point on my neck as her fingers slowly tousle my hair further between the pressure of the wind. I shifted my weight slightly to the side but then her arms were around my neck in a vice grip and I heard her hiss under breath. Don't move.
I closed my eyes and let her hand roam freely beneath the layers if my uniform barely feeling the coolness of her pale hands on my chest; it's just a slight tingle. I don't know whether it's the coldness of the wind in the stillness of this night or the scent of my blood but she shivers in anticipation.
She grabbed my shoulders and pressed me deeper into the dampness of the grass. Long-nailed fingers twining in my hair, she leaned so that her lips touched my throat once again. I glimpsed the shiny whiteness of fangs before they pierced my skin.
The feeling of having your blood drawn out is both seductive and soothing, like that voice in my head telling me to relax. It makes you want to cooperate, yet you can't help but squirm and if you do, it hurts.
Hinamori's teeth were in the vein that ran down my throat, but the pain hit me in my chest. It felt like liquid fire was coursing through each of us, instead of blood then suddenly it was over.
Hinamori's thoughts flowed into me filled with the essence of immortality. Flashes of thought came to me too fast for to realize at first they were not of my own. After a moment my head began to clear and discovered that they were childhood memories from Hinamori. I saw a laughing image of her as child.
My vision returned as her mind faded from mine. Beside me she bounced up to stand and licked her lips. She looked satisfied as a kitten with a bowl of milk. She stroked neck with a long finger nail.
"It's so easy to kill someone isn't it, Hitsugaya?" she asked me. "And it gets easier the more you do it."
"No," I answered. "You will not be a killer." How many times have I told her that? What affect did it have anymore?
"I won't be." She said, skipping away from me. I stood and turned to keep her in my view. She sounded so sure and I felt so unsure. "We're shinigami after all, protectors of the innocent."
I did not answer because I could not fully agree with her. Yet she continued.
"The law of world says be strong or be killed. The law of our world says be strong or be dominated."
"So we can't just kill because it's not our full right, I am no longer human yet humans are still our prey. But we can't just kill humans. It's-"
"Evil?" I finished for her. "The world is evil, Hinamori. Humans kill which they fear. Survive and be strong or die cornered by your pretty, trembling because the night is dark but you'll never know what's watching."
"Hmmm." She hummed under her breath as I took her hand as we strolled towards home. "Yet we protect those who fear us…" she whispered.
"It's our duty. Think of it as protecting our loved ones." I looked up at the starry night sky with the red moon shining over us knowing that evil will most definitely lurk in the darkness. Hinamori stopped walking beside me to wrinkle her noise, I smiled as she dropped my hand and then her figure began to deform. I closed my eyes and after a few moments I was flying in the air, my body as cold as night.
I began to flow low and fast whipping through the empty streets. I love you. I caught the faint voice of Hinamori in my mind. Protect our loved ones. I repeated the message to myself.
My kind can live forever. I would have a long time and many opportunities to keep that vow. I landed and shifted back into my usual form, I heard the repetitive tapping of Hinamori's tracks and then a black cat brushed against me. I smiled and scratched its head as it proceeded to lick my fingers but stopped short in the same moment I smelt it. I ran towards the smell of freshly spilled blood. The black cat landed beside me and it purred.
"Are you going to follow me around like this all night?"
I heard a laugh and then suddenly Hinamori was beside me with Tobiume in her hand. She flashed me a wink before she sped off ahead. Hey!
Catch me if you can, ice boy.
I frowned and in the breeze I heard a snickering laugh, somewhere ahead of me Hinamori was hiding in the shadows of the night ready to pounce like a cat waiting for its prey.
The End.
Authors Note: Well I guess that's pretty much it for this project, just something to keep my mind occupied when I am bored! Anyways I hope you enjoyed it! Now I need to get back to reality so see you in August!