Herald
She Who Decides
Toshiro slept like the dead the rest of the day and that night. Unlike him I didn't get a wink of sleep. How could I when I was so worried about him? He was in so much pain that even with his eyes closed in sleep he flinched every time he tried to move. I did what I could to comfort him, feathering my fingers through his soft hair and whispering sweet nothings all night. I knew my touch wasn't doing much, but what else could I do? I didn't know kaido let alone very much first aid. Sure, I had the basics, but it had been years since my time at the academy. I was a good as a novice after so long.
Laying there for hours had given me time to think over everything that had happened. Toshiro wouldn't have to explain what happened for me to have a pretty good guess of the events that had taken place yesterday. My zanpakuto had taken over, spoken to Toshiro early enough that he had the time to communicate what she had said to Uncle Shunsui, and from there to everyone else. They had set guard on every senkaimon in the Seireitei, only for the Espada to use the secret back door that we all weren't aware of.
The Espada wanted the Numeros that were prisoners inside Squad 12's facility. I couldn't imagine how Captain Kurotsuchi was controlling them, but it had to be some way or surely they would have broken free long ago. Espada were supposed to be at the level of a Captain when it came to their abilities, and even some of the Numeros. Clearly, that wasn't the case with the ones that he had trapped in his lab or he never would have been able to capture them in the first case. But, if they were weak it meant that I could probably control them myself.
I had been planning all night. I wasn't the type to typically do things that were against the rules, but holding Toshiro as he slept, feeling him flinch with movement, made my heart ache. I had thought about taking up my zanpakuto and attempting to mend his wound, but one thought stopped me every time. I knew he was troubled over Momo, and I knew that as soon as he felt that he could leave, he would. He was going to save her if he could, and I didn't want him to. I couldn't bare the thought of this happening to him again. When I had been ignorant of the violence that he engaged in I hadn't even known to be worried, but now I consumed my thoughts.
If he left for Hueco Mundo there was nothing I could do. He would fight the Espada when he got there and take back our people by force if he could. It was the only option in his mind. I was positive he wouldn't be alone. Ichigo and Kazui had said enough that I knew they would go with him. I hadn't spoken to them since that night, but I just had a feeling.
Somehow, I would end up in Hueco Mundo too, but I knew it wouldn't be with Toshiro that I went. There was no way I would ever be left alone with Grimmjow in that vision if I had. I did something without him, and I was intending to control how that happened.
I wouldn't let Toshiro go as he was. He wouldn't get hurt because of the stupid things I had done. I would go. I would go to Hueco Mundo and save our people one way or another.
I wasn't stupid though. I had thought this plan through all night. I may have been deliriously tired, but it seemed like a damned good plan to me. I was the only one who had my abilities. I just had to suppress myself enough to not attract any attention, but my zanpakuto could do that. If she wasn't too damaged.
'I am as repaired as I will get for some time,' she responded in my mind.
'How long is some time?' I asked as I adjusted the picks I had taped for my fingers. His bedroom had grown cold over the course of the night along with his body temperature. I had been to the point where it was a struggle to not violently shiver before I finally left him to rest. I couldn't handle the cold like he could, so I had come outside to find the fall morning air warmer than his room. With the light just barely enough to see I had slid my guzheng outside, determined to distract my thoughts from the horribly negative planning I had been doing all night. Clearly, it hadn't worked.
'A few days, or a few weeks. It depends on how much you use our shikai,' she replied with an unseen shrug in her voice.
'Days then,' I replied.
'Your thoughts have been buzzing nonstop. Have you finally decided on your course of action?'
'Yes,' I replied as I returned my hands to the strings and began playing a familiar melody. It was difficult trying to play songs meant for my koto on the guzheng. There were more strings, and my fingers couldn't go on autopilot. It showed clearly how distracted I was as I constantly had to correct myself as my thoughts continued down the path they had been on all night.
I was going to go to Hueco Mundo before Toshiro even knew what I was doing. With my shikai, I would figure out how Captain Kurotsuchi was controlling the Arrancar and I would take control of whatever tool he had made. I would abscond with the Arrancar into the Rukon districts and force one of them to open a garganta… or maybe I would take them to the World of the Living. I wasn't entirely sure which was the better option yet. Getting out of the Seireitei wasn't all that difficult, it was not getting caught in the process. I had a plan for that, I just hadn't been able to stay focused by the time I had started to think things through. I had never been much of a planner, but there was no better time than to start now.
Anyway, once we got to the world of the living or Hueco Mundo, it was just a matter of attracting Grimmjow's attention. If I gave him what he wanted, he would give me what I wanted. There was no reason for conflict to ensue after that. Momo and the other Soul Reapers would be happily returned to the Soul Society and all would be well.
Sorta. I would probably be exiled if I did that. I didn't think Uncle Shunsui would let me be executed, so it was better than Toshiro being hurt like this again.
No… that was stupid. If I did anything, I would have to do it without being caught. Maybe I could get away with just stealing Luien? Maybe they wouldn't suspect me? After all, the reason they were keeping him was for Mio. Why on earth would I sabotage that? Sure, I didn't think that he was valuable any more because she couldn't be treated, but I had only voiced that on one or two occasions. Would they put two and two together?
Toshiro would. He was smart and he knew me so well. It had to make me wonder if he would forgive me for doing something like that. I was doing it for him, but would he realize that? If he didn't, I was going to do this for nothing. I wanted to keep him from getting hurt again because of me. And this… this was the only thing I could think of where I could do that for him.
'Your thoughts are becoming muddled, Herald.' My zanpakuto's obvious observation wasn't really helpful. At all.
'Yeah, well, if I knew how the next day or two was going to unfold, I wouldn't be sitting here making horrible music and stewing,' I said bluntly.
'Right now, I don't know what is going to happen. You keep changing your mind. You have four choices. Pick one so I know what to focus on.'
'What, is this some turning point or something?' I asked as my fingers paused.
'The day ends the same, its how you get there that is undecided,' she said in a soft reply.
'That's not very helpful,' I grumbled back at her with a heavy sigh. Four choices… that was more than I had come up with. Clearly she knew more than I did and wasn't planning on sharing.
'What is my name today?'
'She Who Decides.'
I started to ask her another question, but stopped myself when I heard the snick of the shoji door. Toshiro was up. The thought brought relief to the knot of worry that had been in my chest, while throwing my thoughts into a tizzy. I kept playing despite knowing he was right behind me, trying to give myself time to compose my thoughts before I said anything.
I felt the weight of his hand as he placed it on my shoulder and used my body to steady him as he sat beside me. I glanced over at him and smiled just before my fingers fumbled over the strings and I had to return my eyes to what I was doing. I tried not to look tense as I started the chorus over again, fighting with my fingers as they tried to do what I did on my koto. It was difficult to transition like this.
Toshiro didn't say anything as his hand slid down my shoulder and drifted across my back. It took me a moment to realize that he was rubbing circles into my skin, but as soon as I did tears pricked my nose. I fought against the burning sensation and forced my fingers to continue plucking away at the strings.
He knew I had been up all night. He probably even knew that I had been worried the entire time, maybe even how my thoughts had been wandering. He was so perceptive when it came to me and my actions. It was horrible, wonderful thing.
It was probably a good five minutes or so before Toshiro finally broke the silence by asking, "How is it compared to your koto?"
I swallowed back completely different words that had been on the tip of my tongue before I answered him. "Odd. The strings are spaced out differently and there's almost a dozen more. I have a hard time not falling back into the motions that my fingers have memorized."
"You've been playing the same instrument for two decades now?" he asked.
"Over three," I corrected. "I started learning when I began taking lessons at the Kyoraku estate. I was about ten back then and had a starter koto, but I purchased the one I have now a few years later when I decided which one I would specialize in."
He shifted closer to me, the line of his body pressing lightly into my back. "You told me once you play like this to distract yourself. Time to think without thinking."
"Yes," I murmured.
"What are you trying to not think about?" He asked.
The feel of his hot breath ghosting over my ear made my stomach flutter and I had to fight not to let it show. Instead, I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth to stop myself from spilling everything I had been thinking throughout the course of the night.
I felt one of my picks give under a particularly forceful movement against the strings. My steady rhythm faltered and my notes became jumbled before I jerked my hands away from the strings to stop the jarring sound. My eyes were all for the picks on my fingers and I quickly caught sight of the broken pick still taped to my index finger. My fingers began to tremble, but I quickly hid it by pressing the picks flat to my palms, effectively balling my hands into fists.
"I should have changed my picks a few days ago," I quickly said, trying to cover the shock that my broken pick had given me. The picks were actually new, but I had pressed to hard against the strings. I didn't want him to know that though, so I said, "they weaken over time. I have a fresh set in my room."
"Do new picks break so easily?" he asked, his voice gentle.
I went stiff as I realize that he knew what I had been trying not to mention. He had seen me take them out of their packaging last week, so I should have known better. I turned to him then letting him see the conflict in my eyes. His own aquamarine eyes were soft, gentle and not at all half-lidded with sleep like I had expected. He must have been awake for awhile.
"No, they don't usually break very easily," I admitted under the pressure of his gaze.
"Ria, I can't help if I don't know what's wrong," he cooed.
"I don't want to say it out loud," I said, my voice small.
He watched my face for a moment, waiting for my expression to change or maybe just waiting for me to say more. When I didn't, his hand lifted and he ran his fingers gently up my neck. "You're worried."
"Yes," I sighed out as the tension eased from my body. "I know it's silly and at the same time I can't help it. I want to ask you to stay, but as your third seat I can't let myself and as a lady I have to respect your responsibilities. It is my place to support you, not stop you, even if I really want to do."
"I know it's not what you want to hear, but she is my responsibility even though by no official means is she really. I cannot idly sit by let someone else go when I know that I could and that she needs me."
"I understand that, I really do," I said quickly not wanting him to misunderstand what I was trying to say. "I just don't want you to get hurt again."
"I've had far worse than this before, Ria."
"But I've never seen it-" I cut my words off before I could say more. I was worrying too much. I didn't need to drag him down with my own paranoia. "I'm sorry. I should have faith in you but I'm clearly showing a lack of it right now."
A soft laugh fell from his lips, surprising me with the sound of it. "I've never had somebody worry about me like you do. It's comforting to know that you do."
"I'm sorry," I said automatically. My thoughts paused for a moment as I considered his words. "Wait, you've never had somebody worried this much about you before?"
"No, I think the next closest to you was my grandmother, but she's been gone for a while now."
"You know Rangiku worries about you, right?"
"Not like you are right now," he murmured as his fingertips trailed down to my chin and lifted. All the plotting in the planning I had done all night washed away as thoughts of the here and now consumed me. I leaned into him as he kissed me, his lips softly teasing my own with a gentle caress. My hand rested on his thigh so I could balance as I leaned further into him. I wanted to feel him. His body, spiritual pressure, his lips, his everything.
He didn't try to push me away as I crawled into his lap, taking care not to bump his bandages as I pressed as close as I felt I could to him. I was careful of my picks as my fingers slid into his hair and I opened my mouth for him. The taste of him rolled over my tongue and I moaned into his mouth, unable to help myself. I didn't know why I was so desperate, but right now I just needed to feel him. I didn't know if he felt the same way or if he could just feel my urgency, but he didn't complain as his hands found my hips and pulled me in. The sudden urge of desire that washed through me was fueled by the knowledge that if we did this, it might be the last time. I didn't want it to be the last time. Oh god…
His hands trailed down my outer thighs until he found the hem of my yukata. As I felt his hands brush against my skin my body lit on fire. My hand trailed down his neck and caught the edge of his collar. I gently pulled it open, exposing the bandages that I knew were still wrapped around his chest. I pulled back then, just enough so that I could speak against just lips.
"Will doing this hurt you?" I asked between short pants.
"Yes, but I don't care," he said in a husky voice just hands squeezed down on my thighs. I knew that tone and it made me smile that he was able to use it even with his injury. It was the demanding tone that he always used when he knew I wouldn't tell him no. I had never denied him what he wanted, but when he was certain, when he knew I would do whatever he desired he sounded like that.
"Do you remember when I stitched myself up with my shikai?"
"The golden reishi?" He asked.
"Yes. I didn't realize it, but it's meant for healing. It's not real flesh but it's as close as I can get to with my shikai. I wanted to offer to fix your wound with it back in Squad 4's barracks, but I couldn't bring myself to do it, knowing that if you were healed you would probably leave." My words had grown smaller and smaller as I spoke and I grew more ashamed of my selfishness.
He didn't acknowledge my shrinking words, instead his hands slid further back until he was cupped the backs of my thighs just under the curve of my butt. The feel of his battle roughened hands against the tender skin was just enough to make me shudder against him.
"Would it stand up to my spiritual pressure?" He asked as he leaned closer and caught my lips and a quick, demanding kiss.
I couldn't help the pleased sigh that escaped my lips before I pulled back enough so I could meet his gaze. Just as I started to speak I felt my zanpakuto manifest behind me. If anyone else had appeared I would have been embarrassed, but she was me and I didn't care that she saw me like this with him. She was already privy to everything we had done. She was me after all.
"That is a stupid question and you know it," she snipped at him.
I turned to glance over to her and my eyes slowly ran up royal blue fabric to see patterns of feathers dancing in vibrant hues of warm colors all the way up the kimono. Her obi matched the feathers in its red and orange vibrance while the collar at her shoulders had been pulled down further than normal to completely expose her upper chest and shoulders. The same jagged lines of gold I had seen yesterday decorated her skin looking like a kintsugi masterpiece. Her mask was fuller than I had seen it in days, covering her from cheek to hair line in a white mask with jagged golden edges and lines running through it, much like what was across her skin. Her hair was down today, the long black length currently swept over one shoulder to fall down to her waist in a perfectly straight sheen.
"My bankai will freeze anything that is touching me when I fully release it," he said bluntly.
"Your ice will not affect the reishi that is infused with our spirit energy," she said dismissively.
"What? Why?" I asked with surprise.
They didn't seem to acknowledge my words as Toshiro replied to her. "You're sure of this?"
"Of course," she scoffed. "I may have kept it, but you let me. I couldn't have kept it if you were going to reject us."
"It's not about rejecting, its about-"
"Yes, it is," she quickly interrupted him. "We allowed you into our inner world, but you are the one who offered yourself up."
"It works both ways," he seemed to say more to himself.
"You are the one who allowed it," she said stiffly. "I couldn't have kept it if you hadn't."
"Are you certain?"
"Of course," she snipped. "I am the seeker of fate. That you question my judgement is a blatant show of your lack of confidence."
"You couldn't see the future two days ago. How am I to know if you've had enough time to look?"
"I will admit my downfalls if they are relevant," she said stubbornly as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"If you are forced to, is more like it."
My gaze flicked between the two as they continued to exchange cryptic words. What they were on about was a mystery to me, but I wanted to know.
'What are you two talking about?' I asked her in my head.
'You realize that doing this will ruin all the plans you have made, correct?' She asked, changing topics.
'I-I know,' I answered, letting her get away with it. 'My plans weren't the best ones anyway.'
She was quiet for a moment as head turned towards me, telling me she was looking at me from under her mask. 'You have two choices left Herald. Pick one.'
I dropped my eyes and turned back to Toshiro. My gaze wandered over his bandages as I replied, 'I want to support him. If that means helping him rescue Momo, so be it.'
'Then I will help you,' she said, repeating what she had said yesterday.
"You'll have to let me do this," I said as I lifted my gaze to meet his in an almost timid fashion. "Just like Hideo or Amagi, I can't do anything if I can't overpower you. You'll have to let my shikai manipulate yo-"
He kissed me, covering my mouth with his to effectively silence me. I didn't try to pull away, but enjoyed the kiss for a long moment as he pulled my hips tighter against him. When he finally forced our lips to part he murmured, "I already have."
I didn't understand exactly what he meant by that, but I took him for his word. Knowing that his grip on my thighs was firm I let him take a little bit of my weight as I leaned back, arching my back as I reached for my zanpakuto's sword. Snagging her blade from beside my guzheng, I drew her from her sheath one motion and returned to vertical, pressing myself back against Toshiro.
"Maebure no Shukufuku," I murmured the name of my shikai. My armor formed around me, cascading down my body in a sheen of golden reishi as my emotions slid back into the box I kept them in along with the rest of the information my shikai flooded me with. I felt Toshiro's hands leave my skin only for a moment before they clasped over my armor. The sensation of his touch on drew my mind's eye fully to him, but unlike before I didn't fight it. He was what I was trying to focus on so I let him draw every bit of it. With my zanpakuto held in my left hand, I used my right to gently coax his yukata from his shoulders so I could fully expose his chest to my gaze.
I felt my zanpakuto slide into my head and I let her take control from me. Her hand guided mine, trailing our fingertips across the bandages. The white and blood stained gauze dissolved away, becoming flecks of golden reishi that wafted into the air surrounding us. His chest didn't look nearly as bad as it had yesterday. It had scabbed over, the surface of it mimicking the pattern of fabric from the gauze. It was still deep though. I could feel the difference in strength in his arms with my heightened senses. Whatever my zanpakuto did, she would need to give him that strength back.
With his wound exposed I turned my gaze on his face to catch the tail end of a cringe he had been making. His expression gave me pause, but my zanpakuto continued undeterred. The reishi we had turned his bandages into shifted, pulling into a long string like what I had seen her using in our inner world.
I met his eyes for a brief moment, giving him a chance to stop me. When he didn't say thing I gave my zanpakuto a resigned nudge. The string she had created slid along the edge of his wound until it laid flat across his chest as if it were a muscle. Layer after layer of our golden thread wove into his body, filling the wound that he had taken to save me.
"Does it hurt?" I asked when the red and scabbing wound was no longer a wound, but rather a crater of gold in his skin.
"It stopped hurting as soon as your reishi touched me," he said softly.
I nodded. I'd need to figure out how she did that. When I stitched myself up it hurt like real stitches. Then again, maybe he was saying that to keep me from worrying… yeah, that had to be it.
It took my zanpakuto a good amount of time to finish her work. I watched as she layered the reishi string across his chest to mimic muscles, sinew and skin until you wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between what was him and what was our reishi. Well, if it weren't for the obvious transition from his pale skin to the glowing gold of our reiatsu. His hands remained on the thigh plates of my armor, but over time his thumbs had started running circles across the metal. I found it to be a welcome caress, but I could feel my zanpakuto becoming irritated as she tried to work. It made me want to laugh.
I reached out to run my fingers down his chest once she was done, barely feeling the transition even with my heightened senses.
"Can you feel my touch?" I asked.
"No," he responded after a moment. His hands slid up the armor of my thigh plates and over my obi, drawing a pleased sigh from my mouth.
"You should probably make sure it won't give under your strength," I said, my gaze meeting his.
"I've seen how strong your reishi can be," he murmured as his hands trailed higher and his touch ghosted over my breast plate. "The last thing I need to worry about is it breaking."
My breath hitched in my throat as my body responded to him and things low in my body tightened. He had teased me with my armor before, but I didn't want to be teased. I wanted him.
'Thank you,' I murmured to my zanpakuto before I set her down to free myself from the emotion limiting features of my shikai.
'We need him,' she replied like it was reason enough.
'We do.'
I dismissed her words as my armor flitted away and my mind's eye diminished. Toshiro didn't bother waiting for it to completely vanish when his mouth found mine. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me tight against his bared upper body as I made quick work of removing my picks from my fingers. I willingly gave into his silent demand as his hands sought my skin and I hurriedly untied the sash that bound my yukata around me.
I didn't care that we were out in the open when he took me to the floor, his body covering mine in sweet bliss. The only thing I cared about was his touch, the feel of him as he bared my body to the chilled morning air. His mouth trailed down my skin in a burning, freezing path of pleasure that had me struggling not to moan too loudly. He filled me completely and my back arched, my hands clamped down on him to hold him to me as he brought me to the edge of oblivion before pushing me over to fall into a pit of senseless pleasure...
It must have been midday when I had finally recovered from the boneless mess he had made of me. I was exhausted, but I refused to let myself sleep when I knew I would only have a limited amount of time with him before he left for Hueco Mundo.
Captain Kotetsu had come and gone, stopping by to check on Toshiro for a moment. I was endlessly thankful that she hadn't come by first thing in the morning. While we were in the act, I hadn't thought about how exposed we had been. She could have walked in on us! She had wanted to stay to examine what I had done, but he hadn't let her. She had tried to protest, but by then they had moved to the front door and I hadn't heard his reasoning. My ears still weren't healed completely, but I wouldn't say anything. He didn't need to worry about me right now, not like that.
I was working on putting on the shihakusho I kept here for emergencies while he had been shooing her away. It had been a few days since I had actually donned my uniform and it felt odd after so much time. If I had a choice, I would have gone back into a yukata and spent the entire day here, with Toshiro. As it was, I didn't have that luxury.
I had resigned myself to going to Squad 12 as Lady Nanao had told me to. As much as I wanted to be with Toshiro as long as I could, Mio needed me. I could only hope that it wouldn't take too long.
"You're leaving?" Toshiro asked me as he came back into the room.
I turned, surprised that I hadn't heard him come back. "Yes, Lady Nanao told me to go to Squad 12 this morning and it's already midday."
He hummed his understanding as he came up to me. His hands found my waist and he gently coaxed me forward until I was in his arms.
"You're going to leave your hair down?" He asked.
"I don't have my ribbons or my kanzashi. Putting my hair up is kind of difficult without them," I said as I pushed my hair back over my shoulder. My hair wasn't as pin straight as my sister's but even still it was long enough to reach my waist.
He let out a soft laugh. "You're always losing it."
"At least I haven't broken this one, I don't think," I commented. I still hadn't fixed the hummingbird kanzashi that my sister gave me years ago. I knew I was hiding behind the fact that she was hospitalized, but I couldn't bring myself to fix it even now. I had broken it twice since she had given it to me, once when I was attacked by a hollow in the world of the living, and again when Mitsugi tried to take me over with his soul candy. I had failed to save my sister and because of that I didn't deserve to wear the delicate item that had been passed down to us by our mother.
"No, it's not broken," he said gently. I went to push the rest of my hair over my other shoulder, but he gently caught my hand and lifted it so he could kiss my knuckles. "Rangiku took it for safekeeping."
I nodded as I dropped my gaze. He had donned his uniform like I was working on doing. I didn't know how many Captain's Haori he had, but he had donned a fresh one that lacked all the horrible stains his previous one had gained.
"What's on your mind?" He asked after a long moment.
"Do you know when you are leaving?" I asked, struggling not to let my voice sound pinched.
"It's been almost two days since Captain Sui-feng left with the execution squad for Hueco Mundo. I can only imagine that she will be back in the next day or so."
I nodded and heaved in a deep breath before blowing it out in a rough sigh. "I guess I should get this over with."
"Do you want me to go with you?"
I smiled and shook my head. "No, you have more important things to do I'm sure. You've been out of the office for two days, so I'm sure there's paperwork stacking up or some administrative fire to put out."
"Ria."
His tone made me lift my gaze to meet his.
"If you want me to, I will." His aquamarine eyes were intensely focused on me and it made a blush race across my cheeks. He meant what he was saying, and he wanted me to know how serious he was.
"I-I'll be fine," I said after a moment. "Thank you, Toshiro."
I picked up my shihakusho top and started pulling it on when I felt the spiritual pressures of three individuals on the edge of my senses. Normally people didn't pop up on my innate radar until they were closer, but clearly I was still on edge from the other night. I knew it was Kazui, Ichigo and someone else moving this way. The feel of that someone else had me frozen as I expanded my senses, allowing myself to really feel them. Was it a Hollow? They felt like it, but they didn't possess that sense of dangerous like the ones I had met the other night. This one felt... Small?
"You sense something?" Toshiro asked as his hand rested on my arm. He knew how sharp my sense for reiatsu was.
"Kazui, Ichigo and someone," I said, my voice slow.
"Nel," he said almost too quickly for me to understand it was a name and not a word. "She's one of the Espada."
"What?" My voice was a squeak as my attention came back to him.
"She's not with the other Espada. It's a long story, but she's on whatever side Ichigo is on."
"You mean that child?" I asked.
"She's not exactly a child," he said as he turned, heading for the door.
I followed him out, watching his back curiously until he walked out onto his front porch. I glanced down at myself then and realized that I had fastened my shihakusho in place and stepped back a bit into the entryway so I could make quick work of my sash without being seen.
"Toshiro," Ichigo's deeper baritone called out in greeting.
"It's Captain Hitsugaya," Toshiro corrected him automatically.
"Sure thing Toshiro," Ichigo said dismissively. "You look like you are healing up well. How's the shoulder?"
"Perfectly healed," he replied nonchalantly.
"What? Already?" He asked, clearly surprised.
"Yes," Toshiro answered, giving no hint at an explanation.
"No way," Ichigo said with a small laugh. "Orihime is the only one who could heal a cero wound like that so quickly. I'll bet you-"
"Do you have news?" Toshiro interrupted.
I could hear the pause in the air like a screaming, intense silence had rolled over them. It made me pause as I was tying the knot in my sash.
"Halibel has taken Las Noche's as her throne, along with most of the other Espada. Captain Sui-Feng was positive that's where they would be keeping the people they took there," Kazui said, his voice serious but still easily discernible from his father's.
"But Nel knows better," the loud but still childlike voice from the other night said. "Nel lives in Las Noches too, so Nel knows where they keep peo- Woah! Don't startle Nel like that!"
"Ah, Seeker!" Kazui said like it was a greeting. That didn't sound good...
"There is a rock in the middle of the desert, and many that look like it," my zanpakuto's said, her voice startling me when it wasn't in my head but coming from the front porch. "They're in one of these locations, are they not?"
I stepped out of the entry way and stopped at Toshiro's side as I found my zanpakuto standing next to a very startled child at the base of the stairs. I easily recognized the broken mask that sat atop of her head, sheltering her blue-green locks almost like a hat. The way she spoke of herself I knew who she was, but it was hard to believe she was an Espada by her appearance. She was still dressed in the overly baggy garments she had been in the other night. They looked like they should have fit a slim adult rather than a child, the fabric of her shirt almost dragging on the ground.
"How did you know that?" the child exclaimed. "Nel thought Nel was bringing good news. You weren't supposed to know!"
The look my zanpakuto gave her wasn't friendly and it made me wonder if she had never dealt with children before. I hadn't had much exposure to them myself, but I had several encounters with them in the Rukon districts. When they weren't acting like little terrors, they were kind of fun. We didn't really have children inside the Seireitei. It was rare for children to be born to anyone outside the Clans and Noble Families, most of them were souls that had moved on as children and ended up outside.
"Well?" My zanpakuto prompted her in a tone that matched her expression. "Are they being kept in one of those rock formations or not?"
"Y-Yes, Nel is pretty sure the little Soul Reapers are," the child chattered out between her teeth as she inched behind Kazui's leg. She appeared to mutter something that was too soft for my ears.
"I am not an Arrancar." Tankyu no Unmei's words were clipped with anger as her eyes narrowed to a glare.
Kazui interrupted then, stepping towards Tanku no Unmei as if to hide the child Espada. "You had to admit, your mask today looks like it could be a Hollow's."
My zanpakuto looked like she wanted to argue, but she quickly bit back her reply and turned in a huff. If I wasn't mistaken, her cheeks appeared to be… rosy? Was she embarrassed? I didn't have a chance to look closer because her image blurred for a moment. It only took her a few seconds to become clear again, but this time her mask was just as sparse as it had been since she repaired our bond.
As she turned back to face everyone I realized she had been wearing her mask that way to hide her face. I couldn't see her eyes before, but now that they were unveiled I could easily see the thick golden line that ran from her ear across her face to the other side in one long line. It passed over her eyes, and just like her skin a golden line ran through both of them, a clear sign of the repairs she had to do. The white mask was completely gone, replaced by a golden weave of vine like patterns that made the jagged lines across her forehead almost indiscernible from her mask.
"Now there is no question of my origins," she said bitterly.
"Wow, you look like a broken doll," Kazui said as he stepped towards her, probably to get a closer look. "How did you do that?"
"I am broken," she said in the flattest tone I had ever heard come from her mouth.
Kazui hesitated, his next words faltering. "I-I didn't realize."
Toshiro turned to me then, blocking my view of the visitors and my zanpakuto. "Why does your zanpakuto speak of Hueco Mundo like she has been there?"
I stared up at him blankly for a moment, trying desperately to come up with an answer that wouldn't completely give away the future I had seen. But, there was nothing I could say that wouldn't be a lie. His question was so direct…
"She can see the future," I tried to answer simply.
"She can see your future," he corrected me. His eyes narrowed in a way that I had never seen him do before. I thought after so much time with him I would have known what every expression meant, but this was new to me. "You've never been to Hueco Mundo, that means that you will be going there if she has seen it."
I cringed and dropped my gaze to my hands. Was this part of the decisions my zanpakuto had been nagging me about all day? Damn it.
"She said that what I saw happened no matter what, but I only saw a minute of it. I don't know how it comes to pass or what context it's in. It may not even be Hueco Mundo. The glimpse I had wasn't enough to determine where I would be. I just know who I was with, what I was doing."
His hands rested on my shoulders and he pressed down, putting enough weight on me to tell me that I wasn't going anywhere as he asked, "What did you see?"
I swallowed hard and struggled to answer him. "G-Grimmjow."
"What?" His question was clipped, almost angry sounding.
"I-I help Grimmjow to do something, free someone."
"How?"
"I don't know," I mumbled. "I didn't see enough to know anything. I just know that it happens one way or another."
"You can't go to Hueco Mundo, Ria. That place is something that you aren't ready for." His words sounded so convincing as he stepped closer, completely hiding my body from view of the others. "It isn't like here nor the world of the living. It's all deserted wasteland and everything wants to kill you. You cannot go there."
"I don't think I have a choice," I said quietly. "It happens no matter what."
His hands slid up, one finding a place on the side of my neck while his other coaxed me to lift my head, his thumb tracing the underside of my jaw. "Are you certain?"
"She is," my zanpakuto said loud enough that we both perked up with her words. "It will happen one way or another, but how we get to that point is still at fate's mercy."
Toshiro hadn't taken his eyes off me while she spoke, but I could tell when his attention shifted back to me. He was silent for a long moment as his eyes wandered over my face. His thumb shifted, drawing up and over my lips in a tender caress. His eyes softened and I quickly realized that the foreign expression I had seen had been suppressed anger. Suppressed anger at me.
"I had intended for you to stay here when we went to Hueco Mundo," he started to say loud enough for more than just myself to hear. "I see now that you would follow, whether it be by your own design or another's."
"I didn't mean to keep it from you, but my zanpakuto warned me of telling you what I've seen. If I try to change it-" I stopped myself as my hand automatically went to her hilt. "I can't break her again like this. We changed my fate the other night and it resulted in this, my near death and her broken blade when she saved me from it. I can't do that to her again."
"I'm not asking you too. I'm telling you that you are going with us."
Note from the Author: Thank you guys for the reviews! It's so exciting to see people reading and enjoying the story. I hope y'all enjoyed the personal time that Ria and Toshiro shared over the past few chapters, because it's about time we got this story moving forward!