Chapter XXV: Ashes
Akiye whirled around to the doorway of her garden shed and watched as a bloodied and battered Naoto was thrown onto the ground by Ichimaru Gin. She stepped forward, but retracted as the captain strode inside with a soft clasp of the door. She felt Kaito brush past her uncomfortably to halt before her almost defensively. The captain took the hint as he raised his arms with a mocking smile, but her attention slipped past him to her wounded elder brother, taking note of his many injuries and wondering when, within her time frame, he had been caught by Ichimaru, beaten so badly, and arrived within minutes after she made her entrance.
Naoto coughed violently, blood splattering over the wooden floorboards, and his hazy gaze struggled to find an angle in which to gauge the situation. His body felt a hundred times heavier than normal; his wounds were bordering severe. He could have been thrown into the situation dead, but Ichimaru had plans for them. He divulged those words after smiling down at Naoto's demise. Within seconds, the world blurred around Naoto and his body collided hard with the floor. He could barely make out Kaito's towering form shielding Akiye as his heart slowed.
Good. She'll be safe.
"What the hell do you want?"
Ichimaru chuckled.
It was dark and foreboding. It stilled her insides and chilled her bones. She suddenly appreciated having Kaito's imposing form before her when it would normally upset her.
Ichimaru Gin did not bother revealing his full intentions in that instant, not with the pressure looming over the Kurogane siblings' shoulders and the clamors taking reign of Seireitei's tarnished peace. In fact, Captain Ichimaru omitted certain details as though he was only relaying a message rather than giving it himself and went on to say a few defining words—those that allowed them to bask in the first ray of hope breaking through their clouded minds.
He presented them with an ultimatum.
"Ya can ignore me, if ya want. I'll be more than amused watching how ya even get outta the predicament on yer own," he said mockingly. "'Course, ya won't get far enough with all the proof I've got against ya and a captain's word is law."
Kaito stayed quiet since the start of the exchange and she was partially grateful for it. He could easily provoke an unnecessary confrontation. Akiye did as little talking as possible, her expression void of emotion and voice articulate and unafraid. Every word that left her mouth seemed to only amuse Gin and irk her, but not an ounce of irritation showed on her face.
"Well, what do you want?"
"Y'know," he drawled, standing straight, "I hafta think 'bout that."
"Start thinking," she said lightly. "I have a busy schedule and hope to get through it without complication."
Gin chuckled. "I don't think I like ya very much, Kurogane-chan."
"Good," she answered, "I never liked you."
"Don't say that," he said playfully. "Ya hardly know me."
"I don't care," she enunciated as she kicked down the entrance to the underground room. "But I'm not stupid enough to ignore you. So when you think about what you want in return, enlighten me. Chances are, I won't disagree."
His games continued until he finally revealed a portion of his ploy. They—she and her brothers—would meet by a familiar river deep in Rukongai at midnight at the end of that week, where the omitted details were to be explained and their ultimatum fleshed out. With that, the creep took his leave, and she was left with an emptiness filling her entire being.
She wasn't sure what sort of emotion to feel at that moment. She thought she should be furious enough to do something crazy, but…the anger seemed to have evaporated from her body the second she admitted to herself that they had been caught. Maybe she should have cried. For Naoto's sake, at least. Everyone on their death list had permanently damaged her brother—indirectly if not directly—with few exceptions that served to free their frustrations, or Kaito's. She only pulled the strings behind both her brothers. She had not killed another since she arrived to Seireitei, but she was guilty of a few murders in Rukongai when she was younger. It was around the time the idea came to mind. Vengeance seemed tangible at that moment, as she bore witness to various crimes that twisted her insides and tarnished her mental stability.
She could cry. Maybe that would be the best emotion from the pile.
Instead, she turned her head to Kaito's silent form, crimson orbs staring directly into his frustrated expression. "What do I do now?"
Her question was almost rhetorical, but her tone was pleading.
"You'll figure this out is what you'll do," he admonished, shooting a fleeting glance to their unconscious brother, "I'll prepare his room. You heal him there. We go from here, got it. So fess up."
How pitiful, she thought unconsciously as she watched her blond brother storm out of the shed. The sun blazed through the doorway, blinding her enough to see spots in her vision, and she felt cold.
For the first time in years, her mind was void of the next best idea.
They ran out of time.
She grit her teeth as emotion swelled in her chest, making it harder to breathe. A terrible feeling bore down on her shoulders and something told her it could have been avoided. She was being followed for so long ago. Something felt incredibly wrong, yet she had been so tied up being sociable and going on dates when a more rational response would have been to pursue the feeling.
That stupid Onmitsukidō was dead, too.
And we were so close, too.
Kaito returned shortly after she managed to turn Naoto on his back and checked his vitals. His heart was faint and it probably scared her the most. Kaito picked Naoto up the ground effortlessly and made the walk to his previously abandoned bedroom quickly. Akiye followed suit with a furrowed brow and uncharacteristically shaky hands as she prepared herself for the worst of life.
Her brother turned with a glare. "Are you seriously crying? Now of all times?"
She ran the back of her hand over her eyes, feeling the moistness of tears upon her cheek that proved she had been. She didn't notice until he mentioned it. Everything was already spiraling out of control and she couldn't handle it.
The blond turned his face and inhaled deeply. "Just tell me what you need," he started softly. "We need Naoto. It's his decision in the end."
She nodded quickly and took a seat beside Naoto. "Everything should be underground in a tin box," she said, taking a sharp breath. "Bring me water and lots of towels."
He had taken his first step outside when she called him again. He stepped back in, staring at her straightened back. "What?"
"Then go to Tokiwa and make sure she doesn't find out about this."
"And the investigation?"
She closed her eyes tightly. "I'll take care of everything else."
"You sure?"
She nodded with confidence. "Yeah. Just go with Tokiwa."
Kaito disappeared through the hallway, his footsteps faded, and she slumped forward. Her hands fisted tightly. Every possible insult flitted across her mind at that instance. She lost track of her primary duty to go frolic with idiots.
Damnit!
Everything was as well as could be.
Naoto survived another bout and opened his eyes nearing morning to a younger sister collapsed at his side holding close the zanpakutō that protected them without fail until yesterday afternoon. Kaito was far and Tokiwa even farther. A weight on his chest lifted, yet having Tokiwa far was not the reason. Even if he lied and said she was always reason to his peace of mind…he would struggle. The lie was too large to burden. Tokiwa was their center, the core that pulled them together, but not the reason he could see the world with a smile on his face.
It was Akiye.
She had been a child when she shouldered his burden and held him as he cried. She felt incredibly small in his arms so many years ago that he felt he should have been the one protecting her. He could have torn her apart and forced her into eternal silence, but it terrified him how easily she had gotten away with murder. It stopped him—that fear. It immobilized him and scared him. Her innocence had long ago been shattered and he wondered if it had been his fault.
"Why would you do this?"
"I wanted to see them dead."
Naoto struggled onto a seat, groaning painfully in the process, eyes blearing and a searing pain threatening to rip through him pinching along his torso. He inhaled deeply and rubbed his eyes before staring in his sister's direction, lying snugly at his bedside looking as tiny and fragile as she had years ago. Looking as seemingly innocent under a smoky halo stretching from the aperture in the window and he almost considered her faultless. She could do no wrong. She might bully a person and play on their insecurities, throw cruel realities in their face and speak honestly when she feels no need to hide behind lies. But she would never hunt a person for her own sick gratification or dissect a man starting by castrating him while alive because he had wronged her. She could never keep an innocent man stowed away in her underground laboratory feeding him scraps and rations until she grew so bored of him she might ask either one of her brothers to off him because he knew too much.
But she was not innocent.
Never.
She did those things and far worse. She could tear a person apart and that wicked smile would never falter. She could read any individual like a book and use their weaknesses against them until they sank to her feet or stood with their fist a few inches from crushing her face. The smile would never vanish.
She was not alone either.
There was Kaito. Stupidly loyal Kaito, so in love with his sister it's obsessive. Easily manipulated and easily enraged, but simple-minded and stupid enough to fall for honey-coated words so long as she uttered them. Kaito who would willingly kill a man that insulted her, playfully or seriously. He had done it so many times that he lost count.
But Kaito had been right in stopping him from hitting her. He was right. They should never hit her. Not after everything she did for them, him especially…even if she pissed him off enough to want her dead. If he had punched her, she might have laughed so hard her voice would have given out, and he would have the ring of her laughter in his ears for the rest of the day. He might wander through empty streets despising himself more. He would apologize on his hands and knees until they bled, so long as she accepted his forgiveness. He might not think of living if she was angry with him.
Akiye shifted. Her eyes fluttered open and found his body casting a long shadow over her smaller frame. She bolted into a seat and threw her arms around him in an unexpected gesture.
His heart was in a flurry as she wrapped her arms snugly about his neck and buried her face in the nook of his shoulder. Pain shot through him like a bullet, but he scarcely felt it.
She was warm, tiny, and frail in his arms. The sunlight lingered on her skin and her tightly bound hair smelled of strawberries. He could break her in two. He could have her dead in an instant. But he could never live with that burden, not when the current one weighed twice as much.
Her fingers threaded through his loose white hair, pushing back strands with the palms of her hand. She lifted her face slightly so her warm cheek was pressed against his. "We'll be fine."
Naoto had thought that notion was quite unlikely, nightmares plagued his long sleep that assured nothing would be fine upon waking—if he hadn't died—because there was no way out of getting caught by a captain, especially one like Ichimaru Gin.
Yet, the words left her lips like a statement…with an assurance the strongest man alive would be envious of…and he foolhardily believed them. He nodded slowly and held her closer to him as if the pain had subsided.
"I promise."
He could only imagine how Kaito must be. He might be standing on pins and needles waiting for opportunity to rear its ugly head and succumb to that killer instinct of his.
It helped him to have Akiye, levelheaded and reassuring; otherwise, he might have lost it.
He believed her.
He would always believe her.
She was honest when it mattered.
But reality sunk deep like a rusted blade colliding with his ribcage, churning noisily. The ache doubled over and memories flashed through his mind of a world he could never truly escape. He swallowed hard, hands fisting the clothes on her back, as his body trembled in anxiety.
Her grip tightened as he started fighting against her suffocating hold. She pushed him to the futon with force, his apprehension building. The splay of dark locks on his chest started resembling the coils of snakes slithering and mouths clamping at him. His heart quickened, his mind turned bleak, his eyes watered.
The attack was inevitable.
He was losing it, again.
He felt hands pawing at his body, holding him down and a searing pain that shot through him like the burn of alcohol rushing down his throat. His clothes melted away on his limbs and the hands remained, slithering around him…touching, feeling, groping…and disgust filled him.
"S-stop!" he choked back. "S-stop touching me!"
His voice was piercing.
Akiye felt her heart rush as she struggled to hold Naoto to the futon. She knew the pressure would upset him, but there was no reason for her to keep silent in the midst of trouble. She felt it had been the right thing to do. Let him acknowledge the events rather than distorting them for his benefit. Regardless, the frightened expression on his face made her heart plunge, her breath catch in her throat, and blood run cold.
It had been years since he last hallucinated. His pupils were dilated, he was speaking nonsense, he fought back (smacking her harder every time), and dug his nails so hard ripples of blood emerged. He remembered the past. He recalled the pain and relived it as freshly.
She anticipated the worst and panicked.
Akiye reached for her zanpakutō, fingers lacing about its hilt, and drew it from the sheath.
'Don't do it.' Suisen's voice was firm.
"I have to help him."
She was shaking.
'You're killing yourself.'
"I don't care—"
The door rattled open and the sound upset Naoto. As she whipped around to face her visitors, her brother's hand slapped straight into her face, shoving her from him as he scrambled to his feet, eyes wide in shock.
Renji stood at the doorway, mouth opened. His eyes lingered from her sinking form to Naoto's panic-stricken face. "What the…?"
Her sword was drawn and sparkling underneath the pale sunlight.
Every possibility rushed through her. The negativity clung to her being. Her hands turned clammy as her blood boiled. She chose to ignore Renji and refocused on her crazed brother.
Naoto had blood staining his robe, fresh wounds reopened, and eyes stricken with fear. He noticed her coming closer and the image distorted in his head to darker shadows. "Stay away from me! Get away from me!"
'Let him go.'
She blocked out Suisen's persistence and took another step toward her white-haired brother, startling him until he hit the wall. "Calm down, Naoto."
"Get away from me," he whimpered, tears rushing down his face. "Just stay away from me, Akiye. I'm filthy."
His memories were overlapping. She remembered those words clearly, from when he first spoke them, but she hugged him until he was all cried out and exhausted. He slept in her arms like a child. But his defenses were up and she couldn't find a way to break through them.
"What's wrong with him?"
Akiye glared at Renji as he took a step forward. "Stay there!" she ordered. "Don't you dare come any closer."
He stiffened, but his eyes flashed toward Naoto as he slapped the sword from her hands and shoved her toward the fallen blade. The white-haired male made a swift escape through the partially opened window and she shouted for Renji to catch him.
He didn't. He only had time to catch her before she landed on top of her sword.
"You okay?" he asked worriedly.
Akiye shoved him and kicked her feet. "I told you to go after him!" she cried. "We don't know what he'll do!"
"You were about to land on your own sword!" he shot back, furious.
"Naoto comes first!" she shouted. "I don't care what happens to me!"
She wanted to punch something so hard that her knuckles bled and she trembled. In the midst of her frustration, tears threatened to fall from her eyes. She lost track of Naoto the second he slipped out the window. He would be nearly untraceable…and there was no telling what could happen within those missing hours. She knew she needed to find him immediately, but exhaustion weighed heavy on her and as she turned to pick her fallen sword, she watched as a droplet of red ran off the bridge of her nose. It splashed atop the tatami mat noiselessly, but to her it was the sound of thousand waves crashing into a harbor.
Her fingers rose to her face, gingerly touching the tender flesh torn by Naoto's nails. The pain of his hits were suddenly accumulating, hitting her all at once. She felt bruising on her face, tears along her arms, and an excruciating pain in her muscles.
"What are you…?"
"Everyone's looking for you," Renji answered calmly. "You've been missing since…that incident."
Her eyes widened and lips trembled. "W-what?"
He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah," he started. "When you didn't turn up…rumors started flying, y'know, they said you might be the next victim. I thought I'd check your house, again."
I blacked out.
'Yes.'
For how long…?
"Abarai?"
"Ah." Renji turned toward the doorway. "Hisagi, she's in here."
Shuuhei appeared at the doorway, hand clamped to the frame as he dipped his head to have a look at her standing perfectly still. "Akiye, where've you been?"
'A week.'
She shook her head. "I don't remember."
Where the fuck was I?
'Hiding.'
She wanted to smash her zanpakutō, knowing he was jumping around the answer, but there were more important things at hand. "I have to find Naoto."
"I'll help," offered Renji.
Shuuhei blinked. "What's going on?"
"I'll explain, just help," the redhead said quickly.
She took her sword from the ground and slid it into its sheath. She turned toward them. "Don't touch him," she said, almost pleadingly, her expression frozen, torn between melancholy and confusion. "Trap him, but please, don't go near him if you find him."
Both nodded, though Shuuhei worried more about her well-being than anything did else. She seemed sluggish and painfully exhausted as if she hadn't slept for days. His mind wandered at the possibilities of where she could have been that entire week, but there wasn't enough time to question her. She was frantic and strange—absent, even—and he had quickly taken an opposite route to Renji's to search for Naoto.
Akiye rushed straight to Eleventh Division after unconsciously noting her mistake in asking two lieutenants to help search for Naoto in his current state of mind. Naoto would easily distort his vision. His mind would roll a different film before him until he was blinded by it and once he reached his peak; there was no telling what would happen. She feared the worst.
No.
They were already there.
She skidded to a halt after scouring Eleventh Division's barracks when she found Kaito drawing his blade on the far end of the training grounds, across from him stood Madarame Ikkaku.
"Kaito!"
He jerked toward the sound of her voice, eyes widening in shock and turned in his superior's direction. "Hold on!"
Ikkaku noticed her. "Damnit, Kurogane, go away!"
Kaito appeared before her and grabbed her by the shoulders, eyebrows knitted brightly. "Where the fuck have you been?"
"Around," she said snippily. "We hafta go. Naoto's having hallucinations and he ran off."
He dropped his arms at his sides and shouted, "I'm gonna have to skip today, Madarame."
"What?"
Her brother took off before Madarame could finish and the bald man cried obscenities. She ducked out of view, heading straight into a different direction. She kept track of the others, everyone spread out through Seireitei, but she sprang forward towards Rukongai. Everything happened so quickly.
Vivid colors surrounded her peripheral.
Heart rushed in her head, breathing turned erratic, palms were moist and clammy, and her memories festered. Her vision darkened at the corners, threatening to give out with every blink. Her mind was teetering, threatening to fall.
Sandaled feet slapped against packed dirt, and in her quickened step the scenery blurred—huddled homes became vast wastelands until a clutter of trees hazed at the rims. She scrambled through hills of grass, eyes wandering wildly in search of Naoto's huddled body. She would search everywhere, inside homes, between streets, beyond the trees, over hills, in darkness, in blazing heat—she didn't care. She wanted him back, more than anything.
The damage was too grand.
Hazy memories clouded her mind as she huffed down larger streets, pushing past crowds, zipping through in silence.
Naoto and Tokiwa picked them up as children.
Kaito huddled close in the winter to keep her warm, though his toes had frozen and those tattered rags he called clothes weren't helping. He gave her every piece of extra clothing he had, pressured her into laying with her back to the corner of a rundown hub where large gaping holes allowed the frightening cold inside. He held her hands tightly, covered her face with a thin scarf, and whispered to her until he knew she slept.
Naoto discovered them, two tiny shadows shivering in a corner. He thought them to be kittens and entered on that pretext to discover a pair of children, as cold as icicles. His warm hand touched her cheek, delicately. It was burning hot, but it had been her imagination, she had much to spare.
It started that day. Akiye had grown terribly attached to him. He was childish and strong, but stupid and horribly overprotective. Tokiwa was trying to win Kaito's affections during that time; he fumed about Akiye being stolen from him and cried for hours as the redhead told him it wasn't true.
Akiye could never deny it. She loved Kaito dearly. But she hadn't talked in years. Not since she found the blond.
So, Naoto never noticed she followed him. Her short legs made it difficult to catch up to him, but she never intended on letting him know. She wanted to surprise him and have him carry her home, to Kaito and Tokiwa. Long curls framed her round face as she came to a sudden halt behind a crate watching as five men surrounded her thin brother.
Naoto was a fragile thing. He was thin with delicate features. His white hair swept past his shoulders like a glaze hitting a waterfall and his eyelashes were long and beautiful. He was beautiful. He astonished her.
He murmured underneath his breath, fisting his hands at his sides as he stared firmly at these strangers.
One of them grabbed him by the chin, jerking him forward. His voice was so harsh and loud that it rippled through her being like a shock of lightning awakening the mechanics of her body. He said his name, pulled him closer, agitated him.
His name rolled off his tongue like poison. "I've missed you, Naoto-chan."
The events happened in shambled blurs. Bits and pieces came alive in her memory as she bore witness to the savagery those hulking brutes committed. They called him disgusting names and shoved old memories down his throat, even though he could barely handle them without vomiting. He was constantly reminded of who he was before meeting Tokiwa.
Akiye never truly understood until a few years later. She only watched, horrified, as repulsion bloomed within her. It didn't last. His assailants were gone. A numbing feeling replaced it after watching her brother teetering on his feet with tears running down his face, blood spread across pale skin like paint upon a canvas—covered in swirls of purple, green, and slits of deep crimson, the rippling blood.
He sank down and cried so loud it resonated through her like a beckoning bell.
White hair, matted and tangled, glassy eyes widened in terror. He dressed shamefully, wiping his face upon the shabby fabric.
She stayed completely still, unable to feel or move. Just breathing.
It had not been the first time, but it would be the last.
Tiny brows knitted as blue-gray orbs blazed, little fists clenched tightly until little dots were littered across her palms.
She felt rage.
A new emotion.
Even after watching people being massacred, the only emotion present had been sick curiosity.
This emotion felt different. It threatened to eat her insides. It promised to burst. It consumed her thoughts. It dominated her.
Akiye wandered the street, disappearing in a slight blur to any itinerant folks, waking to step into their early shifts along the poorer districts. She didn't catch anyone's attention, even in a crowd.
She slipped by unnoticed in her current disposition and went on until a familiar laugh strum in her ears. She halted involuntarily, turned her eyes to see the same men clanking bottles in front of a dingy, old tavern.
It had darkened out; tiny candles encased by glass spheres lit the murky street. Obnoxious laughter resonated in the middle of the night as she stood there silently staring at them, learning their faces, telling one apart from the other, imprinting those smug expressions into the farthest inch of her memory.
One of them spotted her. Wild, matted hair that fell in tangles about his shoulders and eyes that glared at her sharply.
She pivoted and rushed into darkness.
Naoto huddled in the corner of their humid domicile, a tiny home shared with two other families, and stayed far from everyone, avoiding contact. She observed him throughout the night, not sleeping a wink; he started crying once a hush fell over the large room. He thought everyone had gone to sleep, but she still watched him through darkness after her eyes adjusted.
Akiye ducked out of her home in Tokiwa's company before running off the following day. The redhead never noticed until she whirled around to see the tiny girl went missing. It was nothing out of the ordinary. She usually did that sort of thing. Leaving once her interest was piqued by something else, but she found her way home every time, so it never caused them worry. Though, it had the first time. And the second. Quite possibly the third as well. Eventually, Kaito convinced them she had a tendency of being sidetracked.
She ran into a bit of trouble when she rammed straight into a short-tempered man that blew up in her face. She scurried out of the way, not bothering to apologize, but that was the only problem.
Once darkness fell, she traveled around until she found them in a different district, betting rancorously over a game. There were five, all the same individuals, and they deviated from their first conversation.
"What was the brat's name again?"
"Naoto."
"I remember that face anywhere, pretty boy. He worked at that rundown brothel."
"Pillaged by your bandits."
"He was my favorite."
"Not all b—"
She was spotted. Her rage welled at the pit of her belly and it took every ounce of willpower to disappear. Bits and pieces of conversation still reached her.
"Who the hell's the brat?"
"Beats me, she's fucking creepy."
Akiye went back again and again. Those times, unnoticed.
She turned up the final day with an unsheathed sword in hand. Its blade was rusted and chipped—abused, obviously. She kicked over its drunken owner and observed him for two mornings straight. He was suffering from a hangover. A sharp, echoing sound sent painful waves to his brain and forced him to double over. She timed the wavelengths of each pitched noise as she slammed every hollow object at arm's length together and forced it to go higher until the headache clouded his better judgment. She kicked him in the shin, snatched it out of his hands, and thrust the end of the scabbard to his neck. He dropped to the ground unconscious. She checked his vitals.
The burly one that stunk of sweat, dirt, and alcohol caught sight of the light reflecting off the blade. He pointed her out noisily. She didn't budge.
They were sitting in front of their favorite tavern. It was owned by a sickly old man that was oftentimes taken advantage of because his memory was poor. First customers had one drink on the house; one could only acknowledge how many of those existed every day. He forgot faces quite easily.
There were two insignificant men that were smaller in frame, weaker looking. The fourth was a built male that paraded around Rukongai without a shirt and had a beard. The final was the taller one with the wild hair and vigilant gaze, stronger in terms of power and smarter.
Once she was signaled out, she was surrounded. The street was empty. Lights flickered in her peripheral.
"You lost girlie?"
She shook her head, the sword heavy in her hand.
"You been following us, eh?"
She nodded in affirmation. She kept her vision fixed on a stone sitting a meter from where they stood. Her anger bubbled.
"What's yer deal?"
She stared at the insignificant pair. "Nao…to-nii."
Eyes went wide. She moved swiftly, catching them by surprise. She tackled over one and rammed the sword deep into another ones chest, tipping it upward to strike the heart directly. A courtesan once taught her the vitals in a the human's body; she learned it from one of her customers because killings enticed her in the bedroom. The red-lipped woman offered her much guidance in terms of survival and protection—secondhand help, but she appreciated it.
She learned by listening.
Her hands clenched the sword tightly, shaking underneath its weight. The insignificant male she tackled fell atop the stone she had been eying during the slight conversation. He cracked his head open and blood pooled underneath him and his other unimportant friend.
The burly male sunk down, arms wide at the ready, while one watched in dread and their leader watched with an eerily twisted expression. He fell and skidded over dirt, tearing his chin open. She slinked away in time to swing the blade at the shocked male's leg. He stumbled backward, tripping over one of the bodies. It was his mistake. He seemed most suitable for battle, but he was clumsy to a fault.
She thrust the sword through his skull, having to use every ounce of strength to manage. Blood splattered on her clothes, droplets dripped from her chin. When she turned, a wicked smirk adorned her face and her eyes looked almost evil underneath the pale light. The last two waited, one holding his damaged face as he cursed the world.
The burly male fell first. He was slower and she sliced his head clean off, letting the grip of her sword slide from her fingertips and clatter to the ground. The last man stepped forward, amusement replaced with anger.
"Yer fucking dead, brat."
He laughed obnoxiously and approached her slowly. Every step forward meant a step back. Eventually, he skipped a few and grabbed her by the face to slam her onto the ground.
She coughed out, saliva coated in blood.
He wrapped his hand about her slim neck. He could snap it in two with little force. She was but a quarter of his size. His maddening hysterics caught the attention of the tavern's owner, who stepped out to noisily rush back inside screaming bloody murder. He snorted.
"What's yer name, brat?"
She fumbled through the lapels of her yukata, pulling something slick and shiny from within. Her body shook when her windpipes were forced shut, but she mustered the strength and jabbed that piece of glass deep into his ribcage. The scrape of bones sounded, blood dripped from her palm.
He jerked backward, loosening his grip for a mere second.
Time was imperative. She calculated it.
She jabbed two fingers to his neck, knocking him backward. Her clawed at his neck, breathing erratic. She bolted to her shaking legs, grabbed the sword and returned to watch him struggle. He reached to her, she stabbed through his hand, pinning it and kicked his face.
"Bitch!" he cried harshly.
She pulled the rusted blade free and jabbed into the fresh wound. He cried out in pain. She twisted the blade, purposely missing any vitals.
"Akiye."
He repeated her name.
"Watch what I do to yer friends. It's better with an audience."
She chuckled darkly as she uncorked the piece of glass from his body. She stepped toward the nearest body, kicked it over and tugged it free of any clothing.
The man had no choice but to watch her actions, feel his blood run cold and eyes widen horrified.
It was dawn when she finished eviscerating his companions. One was torn limb from limb, another had his insides scraped out, and one had all his bones pushed forward. He was left alive after witnessing her sick gratification. It stunk of blood and burnt flesh.
"If you get to yer feet, ya live. If not, I can kill ya too. I'm disappointed though, everyone looks the same on the inside."
He huffed, grunted, and struggled. He rolled over blood and remains and cried so loud as he succeeded to getting to his feet. She smiled impishly, dropping the blade and whirling around. She kicked a severed hand over and skipped away.
"You're fucking dead, you hear, dead!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, voice echoing in the hollow, empty streets.
She didn't turn back.
Akiye returned home after cleaning up in a nearby river, tainting filthy water a different shade—a nicer color. She left a change of clothes and tugged on the yukata, dumping her bloodied one into a pit of fire set to warm the winters.
She heard sniveling upon entering her home and spotted Naoto at the end of the hall, crouched down, digging his nails into his skin. Suffering.
Images of that horrid morning still plagued him.
She stepped toward him and watched him from a short distance. He caught her immediately, stumbling to his feet as tears dripped from his chin. He ran his sleeve over his face, dabbing his bloodshot eyes messily.
"I stubbed my toe on the way out," he lied, reaching out to touch his foot. He lifted it slightly, turning it. "You see."
She shook her head. "I killed them."
His eyes went wide. He had never heard her voice before. "What did you say?"
"The trash that disgraced you, I killed them."
It was as if he understood. As if images of her ripping those beasts apart flashed through his mind the second she spoke the words. He was emotional. His body shook as he sank to his knees, tears bubbling from his sockets like a stream. He reached out, grabbing her firmly to notice the dampness of her clothes and the specks of red tinting her pale skin.
"Why would you do that?" he croaked.
"I wanted to see them dead."
He wrapped his arms about her tiny frame, grip tightening with every passing second. He sobbed noisily, looked an unsightly mess, and held her until his warmth rubbed off on her. She draped her hands over his back, patting him.
"I'll protect you, Naoto-nii."
Naoto went through worse later. Akiye couldn't reach him.
He entered the Shinōreijutsuin on a whim, but she understood he wanted to be strong enough to defend himself. He wanted to stop falling prey. He didn't want a mere child to protect him. There was a student there, an older man, who recognized him from his time working at the brothel in the filthier districts. That same student spread rumors that Naoto performed sexual favors for a cheap price. And, one day…he was cornered.
He sank to his knees, stricken with panic, unable to lift a finger. He let it happen.
He kept silent for months until his wrath doubled over. He took the nearest weapon and killed them all. He brought four carcasses to their Rukongai home once.
"Do whatever the fuck you want with them; just make sure they're dead."
It was around that time Seireitei experienced their first slur of unaccounted murders—cases that eventually went cold to be reawakened years later, until when it wasn't Naoto alone killing, but Kaito too. Kaito warped the cases into grisly murders. His reason for killing: he had none.
If he hated you enough, if you pissed him off enough, if she ordered it once, if she or Naoto were in the crux, if he thought you were a waste of breath, if he liked you even a cinch—dead. He never had a proper reason. He simply enjoyed the thrill.
Killing was a game.
Akiye never got her hands dirty since she killed those five. She made herself useful. She picked up loose ends and tied them together. She cleaned messes and cultivated her relationship with her zanpakutō until it coughed up a remedy: Nazo no Meikyū. It helped get through troubles, helped slip past radars, it forced them out of trouble.
Because of her, they always had an alibi. But Nazo no Meikyū had its share of consequences.
Akiye fazed out of reality.
The last thing she remembered was stumbling forward on a road out of a vast forest and the crack of bones as she fell through thick, hollow brush. Branches lay scratches along her limbs and her sword flew out of her belt.
Suisen's voice disappeared.
Her vision went black.
In a dream, she was surrounded by ashes.
Tiny flecks filled her vision like a drizzle of confetti. Memories whizzed from her brain and created fireworks over a dark sky; visions reflected upon constellations until the stars dimmed and vanished.
A new hole was made.
Thirteen hours later, Akiye snapped out of a trance. She lifted her gaze; eyes traveled along the familiar walls and met the curious looks of many faces. She looked down to the futon and found a sleeping Naoto.
His face was pale and littered in scratches. He had bandages on his arms and around his neck.
Kaito sat across her with a sleek scratch over his face and a broken arm.
Shuuhei and Renji looked fine, scratches here and there.
"What happened?" she asked, staring at her brother.
His eyebrows rose. "Again?"
'I told you to stop using it.'
Akiye scrambled to her feet and rushed out the door. "I'm thirsty."
Kaito barreled after, asking the lieutenants to stay put, and caught her wrist as she entered the kitchen to sneak out the backdoor. His eyes were narrowed, brows knitted in frustration, voice hushed. "It's nearing midnight. What the fuck are we gonna do about Ichimaru?"
She slapped his hand away and stared at him, furious. "What happened?"
"I found Naoto screaming his head off and about to introduce his neck to a noose," he began snippily, "while you stupidly rushed into a Hollow-infested forest."
She scoffed. "I blacked out."
"It took not only one, but two lieutenants to run after you at the first sign of trouble," he said condescendingly. He shot a skeptical glance off his shoulder, then back to her. "I get you like games, you fucking love them, but haven't you had enough fun. Shouldn't you tell them to go take a hike? Not like you'd ever like—"
"You don't know that," she interjected defensively. Her frustration had been directed at him from the start, wrongly, but turned aggressive as he decided to nitpick at her peculiar interests. "And they're not games."
An eyebrow arched, he looked baffled. "They?" he repeated incredulously. "They?" He took a firm step backward, raised his hands in exasperation as his face twisted with mixed emotions. He dropped his arms and shot her a disgusted glare, lips upturned into a deep frown. He pointed at her and shook his head. "I liked you better as a money-hungry whore. All you cared about was the money and the fucking murders. Even if you slept with half the world, you'd come back. And now, you quit…for one of them? You've got your fucking head in the clouds, daydreaming about which lieutenant you're going to fuck next."
She grabbed him by the collar, stretching out the fabric until it wound about his neck tightly. He stiffened, glowering. "I'm only saying this once, you fucking bitch," she started indignantly. "My life. My fucking decisions." She shoved him back, nearly knocking the giant off his feet. "Now, get the fuck out of my sight. I'll take care of shit tonight."
"What the fuck do you expect me to do with them?"
She pushed past him. "Deal with it." She snatched her zanpakutō from the entrance, bending over to pull on her waraji, but whirled about to catch him before he slid into the hallway. "You slip, I get yer fucking head."
"Whatever."
She kicked her feet and slinked out the front door.
Kaito sauntered toward Naoto's bedroom where he left the lieutenants stationed, both sitting awkwardly nearby with remnants of tension. One of the two had to be the guilty party. He didn't care. He halted, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed.
Both lieutenants turned, perhaps expecting his sister because they didn't look too pleased with his sudden appearance.
"Aki, rushed out, said she had somethin' pending," he said, gesturing over his shoulders. "I doubt she'll be back tonight."
"We should go," Renji commented, but they both rose to their feet.
"Yeah," murmured Shuuhei as he took a step forward.
The blond blocked the exit; a serious expression set his features. "I've been thinking lately," he said, "a lot. I never did warn either one of you about getting involved with Akiye. I aint saying it's a bad thing and whoever she chooses, well, whatever. But if you're both in love with her, that could be a problem." Faces flushed red, mouths dropped to protest, but he continued without letting either of them voice their opinions. "She's practically dying, but I bet she didn't bother telling either of you that. She blacks out a lot and that's a sure sign. It's been happening more consistently."
Shuuhei turned away. He remembered finding Akiye in a clearing one time, looking slightly disoriented and pained, and he remembered her that morning looking similarly distraught.
"Blacks out?" questioned Renji, turning to Shuuhei incredulously. "Did you know about this?"
"No," he dismissed, continuing forward. "Excuse me."
Kaito moved out of the way, letting him pass. A smirk appeared on his face as he watched Hisagi Shuuhei leave their home slightly perplexed. Renji merely stepped closer.
"Why didn't Tokiwa mention this?"
"Tokiwa doesn't know."
"What?"
"We may be living under the same roof, conflicted or peaceful, but that doesn't mean we know everything about each other. Tokiwa and Naoto don't know Akiye's dying, they only know she tends to space out and not remember certain things. I know about her dying, but that doesn't mean I know where she'll be heading tonight. For all I know she blacked out mid-sentence and rushed into more danger."
"You're not making me feel any better."
"So what?" he asked, eying the redhead. "You admit to loving her."
"I care about her," he openly stated. "Nobody said anything about love."
Kaito grinned from ear to ear, watching the slightest hint of a blush appear on his face and the roughness of denial in his tone. "I see."
"Why the hell are you lookin' at me like that?"
"Give it up," he snorted, shaking his head as he slipped into the hallway. "Hisagi's way ahead of you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He whirled around to face him before heading toward his bedroom with a straight face. "They're sleeping together."
"You're shitting me."
"Akiye tells me everything, trust me," he continued. "They've been fucking since the first night. Sure you remember that."
Anger flickered in his expression as he balled his hands into fists.
"I told him not to touch her!" he grumbled, leaving in a rush.
Akiye arrived to the scarce river with a second to spare, plumes of dust gathered at her feet and strong winds rustled neighboring trees. She spun around upon arriving, regarding her surroundings and confirmed she arrived to an empty plain. She kicked a stone into the rushing water, hearing it clunk as it sank into its shallow surface. The river stretched further upstream where a waterfall crashed over a shallow cavity, before her was a mere strip of water. She could jump over it without resorting to shunpo and make it across the other side, no problem.
She found Kaito upstream when they were younger, cleaning the blood from his broken nose and covering jagged wounds with another layer of clothes. He looked like a wounded animal, ferocious and miserable. He escaped from a crazed reality. It warped his mind. He never thought like everyone else. His mind wandered back and forth between ache and murder.
Maybe that's why she had taken a liking to him.
Steps approached.
She stood still with her arms folded over her chest.
"Kurogane-san."
She tilted her head backward, getting an upside down view of Captain Aizen. Ichimaru was only a few steps away as her glasses slid off her ears and clattered between them.
"Well…shit."
[1] Many thanks to the lovely LULuckyTiger for becoming my beta for this series, and doing a wonderful job knocking all my stupid mistakes into shape.
[2] I made a livejournal post about this story and its inception. It contains details relating to the plot and character profiles (main characters only). Check it out!