Hello again. I know, I know, I was supposed to post by the end of the year, but I was busy. Sorry. Anyway, I'm really happy, because I just got my braces off. My retainer is annoying, but I should get used to it soon enough.
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When all the world sees
A monster
Then truly
You are
Human
-Four years earlier
Kuro Osore.
Kuro Osore.
Kuro Osore.
Kuro Osore.
Why was that her name? That was a name destined for misery. Giving a child that name was practically begging for them to have an unhappy life.
And now here she was, living in this place, barely even human anymore, but just a body, an experiment.
"Osore." A voice came from beside her, and she looked up. It was Isami. Of course. Who else would it be?
God, she was tired. She hadn't slept in nearly three days. That wasn't good for her, he told her, and he didn't listen when she told him she couldn't sleep.
"You're being let out again," Isami told her, and she looked at him, her eyes half-closed and dull. Kuro nodded, barely able to keep her head from drooping down.
Propping herself against the wall, Kuro stood up and rubbed her eyes, stifling a yawn as she walked towards the door of their cell. To her surprise, it was Rukia who met her there, along with two guards.
Swiftly, one guard unlocked the cell, and Kuro stumbled out, cringing when her bad arm—or, rather, her worse arm, as they were both in bad shape—collided with the cement wall.
"Are you alright?" Rukia asked, and Kuro looked at her, rubbing her bad arm with her other hand.
Wearily, Kuro nodded. "I'm fine. Why are you here, Kuchiki-sama?"
Rukia smiled and, motioning for Kuro to follow her, began walking towards the exit of the prison. "We're going to the Kuchiki manor. I want to talk to you." Kuro shot a sardonic look at Rukia's back before following after her. The guards followed silently behind, just ghosts.
As Rukia led Kuro through the crowded streets—that was the only way to get to the Kuchiki manor—all eyes were on them. Kuro wasn't very inconspicuous, with her tattered clothing and wraith-like complexion, and the wordless, stony-faced guards only served to draw the remaining stares.
The people stared at Rukia, or the guards, or Kuro, but none would meet Kuro's eyes, not for very long. It was fear, Kuro determined, that made them do that. They were afraid of her, when in truth, she had essentially been enslaved by them.
"Don't mind them," Rukia muttered to the pale girl walking beside her, and Kuro felt a surge of belonging—one that quickly vanished the second they reached the Kuchiki manor.
The cherry blossoms all around the entrance were in bloom, their petals, all of the finest pink, falling across the walkway and drifting into their hair as they walked into the wrought-iron gate. The house itself didn't look all that impressive from the front, but as the four of them passed into the courtyard, they could see a huge expanse of land—and house.
Rukia led Kuro into the house, where the two of them sat down at a short, simple wooden table. The guards stood just outside the doorway, waiting for any sign that Kuro may lose control.
"Would you like anything to drink?" Rukia asked after a moment. "Or anything to eat? You look like you aren't fed enough."
Kuro shook her head rubbing her eyes with her good hand. "No. Why do you want to talk to me?"
Rukia's smile dropped a little, but she forced it to stay in place, until it almost looked like a grimace plastered on her face. "I looked you up—tried to get as much information about you as I could. You're on one unclassified record—and it's just about them…acquiring you. Everything else is classified. I want to know who you are."
"Kuro Osore."
Rukia's smile grew sarcastic now, but Kuro only rubbed her eyes again in response. "You and I both know that that wasn't the answer I was looking for."
"Well, forgive me"—Kuro's eyes were almost amused, but they were tired too. Tired, but not just exhausted—"Kuchiki-sama."
"Lets start with you age," Rukia began again. "How old are you? 110? 120? 130, maybe?"
There was a pause, as Kuro leaned an elbow against the table and clenched the fingers on the bridge of her nose. "Eleven."
"111?" Rukia's voice was softer now, a little gentler, as though she had some understanding with Kuro.
There was a small, mirthless smile on Kuro's lips now. "No. Eleven. I've been keeping track of days since I was—acquired. There've been 764." Her eyes closed, and it took her almost thirty seconds to reopen them.
Rukia's next words choked in her throat. "You're—I mean, you—you—eleven?" she finally sputtered out. Kuro nodded, and this time when she closed her eyes, they didn't reopen.
"As of fifteen days ago," Kuro answered, "yes."
"Rukia," a voice called from outside the room, and Kuro stiffened, opening her eyes and slowly, painfully climbing to her feet. Rukia frowned and stood as well. "Have you seen Kuchiki-taichou?"
The door slid open before Rukia could answer, and an annoyed-looking Renji stood in the doorway, his zanpakuto strapped to his side. Kuro grabbed a sword from the wall—a decorative wall hanging, but still relatively sharp—and moved in front of Rukia, made faster by shunpo.
"What're you doing?" Rukia demanded, at the same that that Renji ordered, "Get away from her, Rukia," and shunpo-ed closer to Kuro, his sword out.
Kuro raised the sword, and Renji smirked at her. "You'll never be able to hurt me with a dull sword that isn't even your zanpakuto."
"What are you talking about?"
"She's the one that beat Hitsugaya-taichou."
Kuro's eyes went dark, then completely white. When she spoke again, her voice was calm, and quiet. "You attacked my mother."
Her reiatsu skyrocketed. Rukia fell back against the wall, panting heavily, sweat beading at her throat; Renji's sword lowered half an inch, then an inch, and his breathing was shallow.
Both guards burst into the room, their zanpakutos raised, and immediately fell to their knees. "You are not going to hurt anybody else," Kuro gritted out, then swore under her breath and closed her eyes. The reiatsu level lessened a little, then cut off completely, until it they couldn't even feel Kuro in the room.
"I'm not going to kill you," Kuro said softly. "But you are not going to hurt anyone else around me, ever."
Renji smirked at her, regaining his composure. "You won't be able to stop me."
Kuro raised one eyebrow. "You have no idea what you're doing."
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Thanks for reading. Please review. I dunno when I'll post next. This story will be over soon—only two or three more chapters left—and then I'll write a sequel, sometime after that.