Part XXVIII: Cycle
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. A burn for a burn. A life for a life. That's how all this got started. And that's how it's going to end."
Jenny Han, Fire with Fire
"She likes him." Byakuya whispered, nodding toward Orihime. Orihime chased after Kira, who purposefully walked several paces ahead. Every so often, he would look back to make sure she was keeping up and then return his gaze to the unending fields of wheat.
"She has weird tastes." Renji replied.
"Ukitake, Jushiro, whatever I'm supposed to call him," Byakuya muttered impatiently. "He said that she had a special gift of reading people…"
"Yeah." Renji nodded. "I believe it. She's got something."
"She doesn't like me." Byakuya said pointedly, scowling at Renji.
"What? I don't know, I mean, I don't think she dislikes you…" Renji explained. "There's also a language barrier…"
"I don't care." Byakuya insisted dryly. "I was simply making an observation."
"We're almost there," Kira called out, pointing up the hill. "The town's just over his ridge."
"Looks like a nice enough place to live." Ichigo said, rummaging through his pack.
"Don't become attached to my dinner, Ichigo." Byakuya warned.
"If you don't mind," Kira drawled. "I'd like to go first. I really need to consume dark matter soon. I'll take this town and you take the next, okay?"
Byakuya stopped walking. He stared at the back of Kira's head until the petite blonde turned around. Kira remained silent, the two creatures engaged in a fierce albeit motionless battle of wills.
"Kira is useful." Shunsui interrupted the silence. "We need him in top form."
"And I am not useful?" Byakuya growled.
"That's not what I meant…" Shunsui backpedaled. "I simply meant that you are more effective when hungry than he is…"
"That's an interesting assessment." Kira breathed. "It amazes me that you've analyzed my power so thoroughly when you have no basis of judgment."
"Guys." Ichigo barked, shaking his head in irritation. "Ignore Shunsui. He's clearly a dumbass." Ichigo walked into the field, pulling two stalks of wheat. He pulled the stalks apart, dropping all but two strands. He shortened one, holding them evenly in his hand. "Long stalk gets the first town, short stalk takes the second. We'll keep going in order until we reach our destination or one of the two of you opts out…"
"As expected of a Council Elder…" Kira hummed merrily. "So diplomatic. So Greek…"
"Just draw your lot." Ichigo muttered, lifting his hand.
"Who draws first?" Kira teased. "I mean, should we draw lots on who first to draw lots?"
"You may take the first town and I will take the second…" Byakuya snapped, his fangs protruding from his mouth. "This is not a concession but rather an indulgence to a child-minded man…"
"Thank you, darling…" Kira drawled.
Ichigo tossed the wheat into the air. It fluttered in the wind, dancing whimsically before abruptly falling to the earth. "I'm minding my own business from this point forward."
"Good luck with that." Renji mumbled.
"What?" Ichigo arched a brow in challenge.
"You heard me…" Renji teased. "You're so nosey. You can't leave anything alone…"
"Really?"
"You try to 'fix' everything…" Renji barked. "Which is usually just your controlling way of making everyone do as you want them to!"
"Oh, please!" Ichigo growled. "You are the most lukewarm person I've ever met! You have no real convictions and you bend any way the wind blows you!"
"Alright, that's enough…" Shunsui clapped his hands, frowning. "Stop it."
"And you," Ichigo whirled on Shunsui, pointing an accusatory finger. "You stay away from me. I still don't know what I think about you… You are not one of us…"
"Do not speak to Shunsui like that…" Jushiro became angry, his pale cheeks flushing with color.
"He doesn't need you to stand up for him!" Ichigo said, meeting Jushiro's sharp, green eyes.
"Don't yell at my parents!" Orihime shouted, balling her fists at her side.
"Yeah, well, Renji started it!" Ichigo shot back.
"So should I finish it?" Renji snarled, his eyes narrowing into yellow slits.
"You've never finished anything in your life!" Ichigo growled.
"And this, gentlemen," Kira interrupted, speaking quietly but in a demanding way. "Is why I must get dark matter as soon as possible. Discord."
"I already said you could go first." Byakuya said, shrugging. He flicked his long, black hair from his face and continued walking. "No need to show off…"
"I'm not impressed at all." Shunsui muttered. "We can fight well enough on our own…"
"Yes, yes," Kira said dryly. "I'm just positive you have no problems making everyone hate you everywhere you go."
"Ukitake-san and Orihime like me." Shunsui said, flashing a charming smile.
"Coyote too!" Orihime chimed in.
"Ah, well, most of time, I think…" Shunsui laughed. "Hopefully he likes me a little bit…"
"We've arrived." Byakuya announced as soon as he passed the first lamppost.
"Best behavior everyone." Kira insisted. "To be honest, we look damn suspicious."
"We are suspicious." Ichigo mumbled, looking around the empty shops.
"Where is everybody?" Renji asked, peering through a soapy window. He looked around the dark store, his face pressed to the glass.
"Is it Sunday?" Orihime asked. "Everyone must be at church!"
"That's possible." Shunsui agreed, nodding his head. "I have no idea what day it is. It hardly seems to matter anymore."
Kira sat down on a narrow, wooden stoop. He summoned his hookah pipe and began to smoke. He puffed shallowly, his eyes closed. He sat in silence, motionless except for his smoking. His eyes remained closed and he could have passed for sleeping sitting up.
"I smell no blood." Byakuya said. "There was no death here."
"I checked the church, no one's there." Ichigo called out, walking back down the road toward them. "This place is empty…"
"The food's fresh." Renji said, tossing a pear into the air and catching it. He bit into the fruit, chewing thoughtfully. "And all the animals are fat."
"It's like they've been spirited away." Jushiro breathed out, his hand held tightly over the guard of his sword.
"Seems we argued for nothing," Kira said suddenly. He opened his eyes, the sclera completely black. He frowned, his features shifting. Steam issued from his eyes and nose, the hookah falling abandoned on the dusty ground. He staggered to his feet, a large crack of bone breaking the silence.
Kira's legs snapped, elongating and reversing underneath his skin. It was sickening, a truly terrible sight. He held onto the fence beside him, but his fingers began to crumble and he sank to the ground where he laid face down in the dirt.
"What is happening to him?" Byakuya asked, his eyes wide with panic.
"He's transforming…" Shunsui said, knowing the agony all too well himself. "It'll only last a minute longer."
"Why?" Byakuya exhaled, watching Kira with morbid curiosity.
"From experience," Renji explained. "He's either in pain, scared, or extremely pissed off…"
A scream tore from Kira's throat. It changed, growing shriller and with much more vibrato, until nothing human remained. Kira's body shifted and groaned, expanding rapidly. Sulphur burned their nostrils, filling the air.
"It's a horse…" Byakuya said, taking a cautious step forward. He raised his hand and reached out, nearly touching the horse's glossy mane. Without warning, Renji snatched his wrist, pulling him away.
"What are you doing? That's a Master!" Renji growled, his hand still wrapped tightly around Byakuya's wrist.
"Is he more dangerous in this form?" Byakuya asked, wrenching his arm free.
But, of course, Kira had not transformed into a beautiful horse. He had transformed into a skeletal creature, exceeding the size of a draft in height. The horse was skin and bones, the bones so defined it appeared as if they had been painted into the fur. The mane and tail alone were beautiful, pale golden hair that was thick in the mane and dragged along the ground in the tail.
"It's huge…" Orihime breathed. And it was. The horse was massive, seriously dwarfing Shunsui's wolf transformation.
"He's amazing," Byakuya breathed reaching out once more. He placed his hand against the horse's side, rubbing toward his haunches. The horse's fur was burning hot and Byakuya struggled to maintain contact.
The horse whinnied, pounding the earth beneath its hooves. "Back up, Byakuya…"
Byakuya hissed, glaring at Renji. "Do you think he won't let me know himself if I'm too close?"
"We need to collect dark matter for him." Shunsui realized. "So he can maintain his human form."
"But there's no one here…" Ichigo murmured.
"Then we move on…" Shunsui pressed. "He mentioned this, didn't he? He said something about the weaker ones not being able to look human… or something like that…"
"I imagined a man with fluffy, bunny ears to be honest…" Byakuya murmured. "Nothing like this."
"Can you talk?" Jushiro asked, standing in front of the horse.
"I… can…" the voice felt to be more inside of their heads than from the horse. "For… now…"
"What do you want us to do?" Jushiro asked. "Do you need us to collect dark matter?"
"Yes…" it felt as if they were thinking the voice, rather than hearing it.
"Let's move…" Shunsui directed, lifting Orihime into his arms.
"But what about these people?" Ichigo asked, looking around the abandoned town.
"He… al-read-y… has… them…" the voice answered.
"Who? Who has them?" Jushiro demanded.
"Cero."
"We have to leave this road." Byakuya insisted, looking around the abandoned post.
"How far is the next main road?" Ichigo asked, pulling out one of the many maps he carried.
"Forget main roads…" Byakuya decided. "We will take what we can get."
"Everyone's gone…" Orihime said, oblivious to the conversation taking place. "It's kinda spooky and sad…"
"This Master is starving us out…" Byakuya continued. "I will not continue to be affronted by such a basic tactic."
"Agreed." Shunsui nodded. "I'm getting pissed off."
"More importantly," Renji interjected. "Is that not only is Kira not getting dark matter and Byakuya's not getting blood, but this Cero is getting everything to himself. How many towns has it been now? Four-five? He's stocking up…"
"But how is he collecting it?" Ichigo asked, his brown eyes scanning the empty post. "I haven't seen any shifters or any Master…"
"We haven't seen any humans either…" Shunsui added.
"He's a thorough guy…" Renji muttered.
"You tell us…" Byakuya insisted, turning to the skeletal horse creature. "How is this Master collecting the dark matter? Why is he taking entire towns of people?"
"Must… eat…" the voice pleaded. "Must… eat… now…"
Kira sat alone, his back to the others, his fingers combing through his pale, blonde hair. He had been quiet and pensive for days, speaking only to the villagers. Kira transformed back into his human form shortly after their arrival and it seemed that he avoided the others in shame.
"Kira!" Orihime cried out, never one to read a mood. "Look, look! This frog has three legs!"
She ran over to the Master, showing him her rare find. He looked down at the frog and smiled, his blue eyes settling on the child softly. He took the frog into his hands and squeezed it between his fingers. He stared into its eyes and then released it. It hopped off and into the grass to hide.
"You let it go…" Orihime groaned in disappointment.
"Of course," Kira said, wiping his hands on his clothes. "It didn't belong to us."
"I was going to show Ichigo." Orihime explained it. "I bet he loves to eat frogs." Ichigo shook his head and sighed before returning his attention back to the map in front of him. Shunsui pointed at something and Ichigo nodded, murmuring in response.
Kira smiled indulgently, lifting his hand as if he wanted to stroke her hair. But instead he returned his hand to his lap. "Not everyone appreciates time." Kira said. "Time is a purely human torture."
"I don't understand…" Orihime confessed.
"What I mean is this," Kira drawled. "Here you are, sweet and innocent and enjoying every single little thing. And there they are, wasting every limited second they have with you…" Kira frowned. "It doesn't make sense to me. If I had something important, I would cherish it."
"They're fighting a war." Orihime explained, excusing their behavior. "I joined them knowing this…"
"You tell me, Orihime," Kira pressed. "Do you think the shifters should take revenge on the Masters? Do you think they deserve to be punished?"
"They're bad. They do bad things…" Orihime answered, suddenly conscious to the others listening in on their conversation.
"Yes. The Masters have done many bad things to shifters. But did you know that the Masters spent millennia being tortured and hunted by humans? Did you know that Masters like Aizen think it's fair revenge to turn humans into shifters?"
"No… I didn't…" Orihime whispered.
"When does it stop?" Kira asked. "When does everything suddenly become fair and wonderful?"
"So you think we should just lie down and take it?" Shunsui asked, his grey eyes narrowed.
"No," Kira shook his head. "I mean it like this- This war will continue for eons. Can't you wait until your human friend is gone? I promise, there will still be fighting left to do when she dies…" Kira shrugged, his hands twitching. "I think you're wasting her time. And most definitely your own…"
"I don't know." Shunsui admitted. "I can only do what I think is right."
"I understand." Kira nodded curtly. "Remember, I speak from experience…"
"I appreciate the warning," Shunsui sighed, trying to soften the edge of his voice. "And I mean that. But I don't know how long I have. I don't believe that shifters are immortal. I know we're just really hard to kill. I want to end Aizen. I want to protect others from him… And I have to do that now. When I have the chance…"
"If only you were always so determined…" Kira drawled, summoning his pipe. "Things would be a lot different…"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, I don't know…" Kira smiled dryly. "But I believe that you're much more emotionally driven than you think. And that will hurt you in the end."
"Maybe."
"Life is just a cycle. Everything's the same in the end." Kira murmured around his pipe. "Life holds no surprises anymore. I'm afraid I'm rather burnt out."
"They won't understand that concept," Byakuya interjected. "I've tried."
Kira smiled, exhaling a large cloud of scented smoke. "They don't realize yet all the good things they have… They will. They will know when it's all gone…"
"I'm grateful for everything I have." Shunsui said flatly.
"You have no idea what you have." Kira snarled, his face twisting in anger. "If you did you'd take better care of it!"
"Have you collected enough dark matter?" Byakuya asked, changing the subject.
Kira nodded slowly. "As much as I can safely take from these people."
"I don't know when I'll get another opportunity…" Byakuya began. "I'm going to feed."
"Here?" Renji asked, looking around the quiet town worriedly.
"Yes. Here." Byakuya replied. "They'll do just fine."
"When are you going to…?" Shunsui asked, looking up from Ichigo's map.
"Tonight." Byakuya answered. "It's easier when they're asleep."
"What if someone wakes?" Ichigo murmured.
"My food supply has greatly diminished on this journey. Surely you won't hold it against me if I get it all at once?" Byakuya reasoned, growing irritated. "I've been drinking more regularly since we met. It's painful to abstain for such a long time. Let me remind you… I'm going hungry while my meal walks beside me, twirling and dancing and singing the whole way…"
"Do what you need to do." Shunsui said with a nod. "We need you at full strength."
"We found another route." Ichigo said, raising the map. "There aren't any towns, but we figure that's okay. There's a smaller chance of staying undetected that way…"
"I agree, we should take the alternate route, but not so we can sneak in…" Kira began. "He knows we're coming. Don't fool yourselves. He can feel us. Look around. This much power in one place… he knows." Kira cleared his throat. "But we do need to stay away from the towns. He's taking our food source for himself. He's more prepared in every way…"
"What can we do?" Byakuya questioned.
"We can hurry…" Kira answered. "He gets stronger every day."
"But what about the two of you?" Ichigo pressed. "How will you get enough dark matter and blood? We can't fight without the two of you."
"I have a way…" Kira said after a long silence. "But it's not good… If I did it…" Kira trailed off, inhaling from his pipe.
"What can you do?" Ichigo urged.
"Forget I said anything." Kira shook his head. "I gave up that part of me a long time ago. And if I die, I die. I still won't use that sort of power…"
"I respect that." Shunsui agreed. "Stick with your convictions."
"I will drink tonight." Byakuya said quietly. "I should be able to maintain my strength through rodents and small mammals until we reach our destination. I'll have to reserve my power until then…" Byakuya looked from Renji to Shunsui pointedly. "You'll have to assist me if there's a fight."
"Of course," Renji promised, nodding emphatically. "I've got it under control. Us shifters don't have to worry about that sort of thing… We've got this."
"Good." Byakuya nodded. "Thank you."
"No problem." Renji said, a smile twisting up the corners of his lips.
"You can start now." Byakuya ordered, a steely-grey eye meeting his. Byakuya's lips twitched and he nearly smiled. "I'll be needing your assistance tonight."
"Ah…" Renji breathed, his cheeks warming. "My pleasure…"
