Chapter Thirty Four,"D-11"
Kurosaki Ichigo resumed school on the third day, learning that his father excused his absence on the pretense of an unfortunate accident that left him temporarily bedridden. He was spared the lectures, but had received a heap of workload he had to complete throughout the remainder of the school year to be brought up to speed before the next break. He couldn't afford wasting another school year after the drop his grades had taken when he first came to his powers, but at the same time, Nagata had waged war on Soul Society and Yuzu was still at home fighting an unrelenting fever. Though Karin remained healthy, his worries grew by day with Touma dropping in his house to fight a losing battle. There was no way in hell, Ichigo would allow his sister to turn into Arcana, but if that was the only way Haruka could live…he hesitated.
His mind wandered endlessly between Touma's mysterious training regime, Haruka's unresponsiveness, Yuzu's incurable fever, his father's absence and Karin standing at the helm, trying hard to keep it together as everything around her threatened to spiral out of control. Ichigo's focus suffered as lectures and lessons buzzed in his ears incoherently and the letters in his textbooks shifted into different shapes. He pretended nothing was wrong, struggled to complete worksheets and surmise texts and try not to sound lost when he was asked to read passages.
He approached Tatsuki during the lunch break, surprised to see her in attendance after learning she awakened as the Chariot. "You okay?"
Tatsuki turned to him with a sour look on her face. "I should be asking you that."
They exchanged pleasantries and worries and she expressed her anger as well as assured him that nothing had changed.
"Have you talked to Enishi?" Tatsuki asked after they stepped out into the semi-crowded hallway.
She was meeting with Orihime to eat on the rooftop and had invited him, but he refused opting to spend time by himself to think things through.
"Enishi?"
Tatsuki's expression darkened when Orihime called out to them from the opposite end of the building. They stalled by the middle staircase giving the auburn-haired girl enough time to reach them as they finished their conversation. Ichigo rescinded his shock. There were multiple reasons why he wanted to know why Tatsuki was on a first-name basis with Nagata, but judging by the grim look in her eyes, it was a subject that might surely lead to murder. And between the two of them, Tatsuki was now stronger than he had ever been, as per Touma's explanation.
"No, I haven't seen him," Ichigo answered, glimpsing down the flight of stairs to a number of uniformed classmates descending onto the second floor. "He's been missing since Haruka went into the hospital."
"Coward," Tatsuki grumbled.
About to turn away, Ichigo caught sight of Wakatsuki Arashi trotting up the staircase with a jet-haired teacher at his heels promising to fail him. Seeing the first of the Housen was a definite warning sign, but as to what Ichigo couldn't tell. The anger bubbled into a storm inside him at the sight of the Judgment. He caused the unfortunate events that put Haruka in the hospital.
"Yamato," Tatsuki acknowledged darkly.
Orihime appeared beside her, gauging their sinister expression with concern. "Did something happen?" Her eyes followed the crowds below to spot Haruka's twin. "Oh, it's Arashi-san."
Arashi paused on the first step of the last flight of stairs and whipped around to face his teacher. "Ooh," he mocked, shuddering. Never had they ever heard him speak that way to any authority figure. "I'm so scared of your big red pen."
Tatsuki bristled, the air growing crisp and electrifying all around her. She had recognized him first, despite that neatly combed black hair and dressed-up garb. "Enishi."
Ichigo heard a constant popping sound before realizing that it, indeed, was Nagata Taishi standing in front of Arashi with a clipboard and a red pen he used to draw the biggest '0' in the history of failures. "There go your scholastic opportunities, you twat!"
"I can have you fired." Arashi continued up the flight of stairs, sparing Ichigo and Tatsuki a scoff before proceeding down the hall.
"Do it!" shouted Nagata, taking three steps at a time to reach the third floor, completely oblivious to them. "I'd like to see you try it asshole!"
The corridor had emptied out sufficiently enough to prevent his instant dismissal, but the few that heard earned their fair share of insults for eavesdropping on a teacher's private conversations with his student. They were included in that group. He whipped around, sensing the presence of three students behind them with excuses only the most gullible man in the world would believe.
"I'm concerned for his educational needs, you lot can go fuck yourself if you can't understand what it means to be a teach—" The sight of Ichigo and Orihime didn't faze him, neither did his words sound like nonsense, but the minute his eyes met Tatsuki's vicious glower, everything right in the world unfurled into a beacon for the apocalypse.
Two Housen in one day read like a nightmare.
"Wanna repeat that?" she challenged, not a semblance of fury in her tone.
Nagata smirked at her. "What?" he started mockingly. "Go fuck yourself?"
"Say it again!" she demanded, louder this time.
"Tatsuki-chan, I think we should—"
Ichigo reached out to grab Nagata by the collar, pulling him away harshly. His square-rimmed glasses clattered to the ground. "Where the hell have you been?" he demanded. "Why the hell is Touma at my house?"
"He's been hiding behind his sister's skirts is what he's doing," Tatsuki stated. "It's what he's good at."
The grin on his face widened, pale eyes locked on Tatsuki's face. "Don't be jealous, Honoka, there's enough room in my schedule to fit you in for an hour or two."
"You son of a—"
Orihime grabbed a hold of Tatsuki's arm, only to jerk back with a yelp as soon as she made contact. A spark of electricity zipped across her fingertips, leaving small tendrils of smoke that snapped Tatsuki back into her five senses. "Shit, Orihime, I'm sorry," she said quickly. "It's just this—" she shot the vilest of looks at Nagata's smirking face, "—this scum, ugh, let's get out of here."
Nagata tugged free of Ichigo's hold, following every step Tatsuki took before reaching the staircase. "I think she likes me."
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "I should've let her punch you."
He dipped his head low, glancing up, as if to look up her skirt. Ichigo shoved him in response. "Stop that."
Death laughed ominously, and then finally awarded Ichigo with his full attention. "I've been making preparations, I mean, wars don't just throw themselves. And Touma's in charge of your training unless you want to switch him for me. I'd take you on, no problem, but I won't be as nice as Touma has been about your sisters. They're not dead and they're supposed to be."
"They're not joining."
"One of them is Nagisa's successor. She has to be ready for the worst. Nagisa has to pass on the knowledge before she croaks."
"They're not turning into Arcana," Ichigo swore. "I won't let them."
"Then stop being a bitch and do something about it. I'm not the only one that wants to turn them," stated Nagata. "Yamato does too and if he sends any one of his allies, those girls will be as good as dead. Especially, without you training and all."
Death moved away, heading back to the staircase.
Helpless. All he could feel was a helplessness that cut deep. Ichigo couldn't do anything.
Nagata paused after the first step. His eyebrows knitted and he looked conflicted. "This isn't being done to empower the Arcana," he admitted. "Nagisa is my sister, as stupid and annoying as she may be. It wouldn't be the first time I see her die and it isn't as violent as other deaths, but it is the first time I lose her permanently. Your sisters will come back, they won't even fight, but mine won't and that's the only one I've got."
"You can't make me choose between my sisters and Haruka—" Ichigo forced himself to stop, earning a quizzical look from Nagata.
"I was in that same situation before," Nagata said, ringing truth. "My sister and brothers or a girl. I picked me. Now they all secretly hate me."
He cracked a smile, obviously joking.
Ichigo grew furious. "Be serious!"
"All this sappy bullshit is making me hungry," Nagata announced, waving his off. "We can talk about this when we're trying to kill each other."
'I'm not fighting you!"
"Keep telling yourself that, sport."
.
.
Ichigo met with the third and final Housen brother after school, a sure-sign of catastrophe. He already felt an eerie shift in the air upon laying his eyes on Touma standing in front of the gate surrounded by a dozen girls chatting him up. He smiled at them, promising he would call and message each of them before the day was out and they swooned. He had never seen Touma near so many women before, but Keigo did say that Touma had hundreds of conquests. He never wanted to ask how that came up in conversation, so he ignored Keigo and opted for a change of subject, feeling Tatsuki's eyes on him as if daring him to look as excited as Keigo. It felt to have happened so long ago, but he was certain it was five days ago.
Seeing Touma preoccupied, Ichigo attempted to blend with the crowd to escape his line of sight when he saw Nagata stomping towards the gates. He swept past the remaining students carrying his case with all his school items. Nagata cast a glance in Touma's direction and shouted, "Get a job, you whore!"
Touma looked devastated, every girl in his presence watched Nagata head across the street to a motorcycle cackling like a lunatic. He swung one leg over his bike, propped it up and glanced once more at the entrance as Tatsuki and Orihime were leaving. "Hey Honny, want a ride?" The way he said it made it sound as if he had just called her 'honey' and everyone heard, despite the roar of his motorcycle. He shouted it in front of everyone without a care in the world, openly hitting on a student. "Don't worry, you can bring your friend! We all fit!"
Ichigo barely understood why, but what he did know was Tatsuki bristled in his presence like she had sucked in a breath and held it until her face bloated and blued. He might have done it to gauge at her reaction, challenging her. Tatsuki was an Arcana now and a long time ago, Ichigo heard Touma admit that the Chariot was one of the scariest cards in the deck, "Not for power," he had elaborated. "For skill."
Secretly, Ichigo wanted to see if she would attack him as whispers exploded all around him.
"Isn't that the new history teacher?"
"Oh my god, he just hit on that senior."
"Can't he be fired?"
"I'd let him hit on me."
Ichigo scowled. He's going to get fired for harassment.
Tatsuki's ears went a bright red. She halted in the middle of the sidewalk and faced him. "Go die!" she shouted, grabbing Orihime by the hand and tugging her along with her.
Nagata snickered, pulling on his helmet, and sped out of sight. By then, Touma had noticed him standing in the middle and called out to him, much to his newly-established fan base's chagrin.
Touma glowed with delight as he reached him. "I've got news."
"Have you found Keigo?" Ichigo asked dutifully.
"Not yet, but Haruka regained consciousness this morning."
Ichigo's heart plummeted into his stomach. Everything would be okay.
Arisawa Tatsuki stared at her reflection in Orihime's full-length mirror, observing the unnervingly similar characteristics she shared with her first incarnation save the cropped black hair and brown eyes. This was the first cycle that she—Honoka—had reawakened into, which meant Ageha's ancient prophesy was in the midst of fulfillment and for as long as her soul remained astray in a sea of white, she thought he had been full of shit. She never bothered giving him the benefit of the doubt, she had been too angry then. She was angry now, and restless. She had no proper grasp on her emotions or actions since the memories started pouring into her head. Acting normal was difficult, but she was trying her best. So she surrounded herself with people she liked and kept the worst of thoughts from her head to keep herself grounded and as far away from Housen Enishi possible. If she so much as sensed a sliver of his spiritual energy, she would snap his neck.
The fury was harder to tame than the rest of her emotions. Tatsuki was angry without proper reason. The memory had not yet reached her, so she hated Enishi blindly, but since the emotion was present, she assumed he did something shitty. If she gave into thought, vivid pictures flooded her head of the time she spent with the rest of the Arcana candidates in Soul Society's underground where many died and she recalled always being near the Housen family.
Orihime reentered her bedroom carrying a lacquered tray with a pair of steaming tea mugs and one of her special concoctions made of opposite ingredients. She smiled warily, having sensed the shift in her personality long before Tatsuki had time to confide in her. If anyone had a right to know about the changes she underwent, it was Orihime, her best friend. She never planned to keep the secret from her, but she wasn't sure how to get around to saying it. Someone might have already told her about the Arcana, so there might not be much left to say except that she was the Chariot.
Tatsuki sauntered to the round table where Orihime set the tray and seated herself.
Orihime quickly handed her a mug.
"Thanks," Tatsuki said, taking it. She inhaled the lemony scent dispelled from the red liquid, grateful that Orihime did tea correctly.
"I didn't think you'd come to school today," Orihime blurted nervously. "You or Kurosaki-kun."
The nervous twinge in her voice gave way to sheepishness—to her good-willed nature—full of worry.
"Yeah," Tatsuki answered crisply. "I imagined he'd be fraternizing with the Red Devil." Orihime looked thoroughly confused, so she elaborated. "Housen Touma, the drunkard that met him after school."
Recognition dawned on the auburn-haired girl and she nodded slowly in confirmation. "Wakatsuki-san warned us about him."
"I bet he did," she remarked frostily.
Orihime sat in discomfort for as long as it took for her to gather the courage to question her about everything. "Uhm, Tatsuki-chan, are you really okay?" she asked, full of concern. "Arashi-san told us about your situation—about the Arcana—and you were—"
Tatsuki wore the best smile she could muster to ease her worries. "Nothing is different," she answered calmly. "Everything is the same except I have new memories about a different past." She shook her head. "It's hard to explain, but nothing about my personally is different except—"
"You have powers now, too," Orihime finished.
Tatsuki nodded. "I have powers now."
Orihime fiddled with the cuffs of her sweater. "A dangerous war is about to happen," she said fearfully. "Everyone is talking about it and what it could provoke and I don't understand it."
"Some things are better left without understanding," Tatsuki replied. "This is a war between Soul Society and the Arcana; it has nothing to do with you. Nothing will happen."
"But you and Kurosaki-kun—"
"I'm not involved," Tatsuki clarified. "I don't know what Ichigo's doing, but I'm not taking any part in this."
"He doesn't have any power," Orihime continued, unable to contain the emotion. "He could get hurt."
Tatsuki felt strange about watching her fall apart for Kurosaki Ichigo. She wanted to say something, but swallowed it down. There was no need to blurt unnecessary things. "No, he doesn't, but he found in Wakatsuki Haruka what he was searching for his entire existence," she elaborated, observing the change in her friend's expression. "The martyr—the girl scapegoat, The End. He's found a difficult person to save and won't stop until he has all the power in the world to accomplish it. Truth be told, Ichigo is as big a part of this cycle as the rest of us, without him, we probably would have never awakened."
"Do you think he can save her?" Orihime asked quietly.
Tatsuki thought long and hard about her answer. "No," she said briefly, taking a gulp of tea. "Not a chance in hell."
Orihime was a cross between defeated and devastated.
"You don't have to give up on your feelings for what you saw," Tatsuki added. "People like Wakatsuki Haruka aren't deserving of happiness."
"Why would you say that?" Orihime asked, stricken.
"Why?" Tatsuki repeated. "Wakatsuki Haruka is Housen Nagisa, that's why, and Housen Nagisa helped turn us into monsters. Even I think Ichigo deserves better than that scheming, manipulative Queen."
It wasn't until after she had finished her tea that Tatsuki realized she had said terrible things. She let her anger take control. It twisted and churned inside her making her feel hideous and she didn't want to give into the resentment because it meant this was not a nightmare but reality.
She lived in peace, a wandering soul with her heart at ease carried by shallow milky white waves that traveled as far as her memory did. She resigned to stay Oblivion's permanent resident because for the first time in centuries, she had not felt neither physical nor emotional pain and now she couldn't escape it.
The pain was tangible and the memories fresh.
"I'm sorry," Tatsuki said finally, standing up. "I need to go."
Orihime tried getting to her feet, but Tatsuki lifted a hand to stop her. She settled back into her cushion. "Where are you going?"
"I need to talk to the Red Devil about Keigo," she confessed. "He's not going to find himself."
Ichigo reconsidered the sighting of three Housen in one day given Haruka's unexpected awakening. He joined Touma for his visit and entered a nervous wreck. Since she had been in the hospital, he hadn't tried visiting her because of his home situation. He couldn't leave his sister's alone while his father remained out of sight, especially with every Arcana threatening to kill them in order to complete the cycle.
The trip to her ward didn't help. His heart was lodged in his throat and his mind bringing back memories he thought he had suppressed, like the kiss and confession she gave him. He didn't have an answer.
Touma paused in front of the door, looking from one end to the next. Ichigo noticed the gold flecks in his eyes, a sign of the Arcana. He didn't know what it meant. He didn't ask.
Touma pushed open the door without knocking to a white room tacked in charcoal drawings. Haruka sat in the middle of the bed, hunched over a sketchbook lying flat on the table, her fingers soot-black from the excess charcoal usage. The drawing reminded him a lot of the painting she did about Death long ago, but he could see shapes. He turned away from the pictures and noticed her hair sat colorless all around her face, bone-white.
Haruka glimpsed up at him, then Touma. "Mark."
"What?"
"Show me your symbol."
"Oh, right." Touma unbuckled his belt and dropped his zipper. He inched the fabric of his drawers down a few notches for Haruka to see his numerical number fading away into the shape of an inverted pentangle. "It's almost done."
Ichigo might have freaked out had he not seen the mark before. In fact, when Touma squealed in the bathroom and ran to tell him, he punched him for dropping his pants in front of his sisters.
"What are the symbols for?" Ichigo asked, plopping down at the foot of her bed.
"They are a brand. The Originals have it," she answered. "The Lovers can use magic that transforms them, as well as others, learned from the Magician's tomes, but they cannot adopt the mark."
"Do you have one?"
"Yes, it's on my ass."
She was sounding a lot like Nagata. The sarcastic look she shot him was the spitting image of the Death Arcana and he found himself irritated—a deep anger.
"What's your problem?" he demanded.
Haruka rolled her eyes and continued crushing the charcoal over the paper.
"Don't worry about her," Touma cut in, belting his pants. "Faye tried to kill her early this morning and you never came to visit her."
"How would you know that?" he asked, looking straight at her.
"I know everything," she answered without acknowledging him. "I'm not stupid."
"Nobody said you were stupid," he argued.
She frowned. "You were thinking it."
"No, I wasn't!"
Her eyes met his, liquid gold and shining under the dye of sunset flooding her room. He felt that look throb in his chest and her words stab through it. "Why didn't you visit me? I said I loved you."
"Lo-loved me?" he stammered, face heated. "No you didn't! You said like!"
His correction flew over her head. "I even kissed you!"
Touma raised his hands as if in surrender. "I shouldn't be in here."
"You sent your brothers to kill my sisters!" Ichigo snapped, his voice stopped Touma dead in his tracks. "Touma hasn't stopped following me around in three days!"
"Hey, I do you the favor of dropping you off at school," Touma said, offended. "I even take your sisters to school."
"Do you hear him?"
"I didn't send them!" she retorted. "They're being assholes and stamping my name on everything to legitimize it. I bet he told you I was dying!"
Ichigo snapped toward Touma. "So she wasn't dying?"
"To her credit, not even death wants her," Touma replied shamelessly.
Haruka grumbled beneath her breath, something that sounded a lot like, "They're always ruining everything."
"Just get out!" he ordered.
"I'll be getting lunch," Touma announced, leaving the room.
There was a vase of red peonies on the other side of the room, clashing violently against the stark white wall and blackened drawings she tacked to the wall. He looked back at her, sallow skinned with bone-white hair and golden eyes.
"I'm sorry," he said, breaking the silence.
"You don't have to be, I should have assumed En and Touma were doing something stupid." Haruka ran the back of her head across her cheek, smudging her cheek with charcoal. "En wants to complete the cycle."
Ichigo leaned forward, brushing his finger across the smear, but it didn't fade. "But you already knew it was Yuzu and Karin."
"I always knew," she said honestly.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I hoped things would be different."
"How?"
"That everything would be okay," she replied, averting her eyes to the window. "But at this time, I can only wait for the end."
He couldn't bring himself to ask what that meant, the answer clear in her eyes. She might not have been dying now, but she in the end she would and his stomach lurched. He wished his words could inspire hope in her, even a flicker would be fine so long as she looked upon the world knowing that terrible things would happen knowing they would get better without sacrifice.
"How much longer?" he asked suddenly.
Haruka faced him, eyes losing their golden flecks and returning to the pale blue he knew. "Days."
She pushed her body from the bed, taking the sheet of paper from the desk giving him enough of a window to glimpse at the faded numeral on her wrist he had never seen before. He followed her about the room with a steady gaze, watching as she tacked the new drawing in the empty space near the bottom. The entire wall was covered by its darkness, the strange shapes coming alive like serpents in grass, pulsing against the bits of white surface.
Haruka stalled at his side, taking in the sight of her work. She had many more stacks of paper to continue, but her wrist had started cramping and her desire to continue had dwindled the instant Ichigo entered the room.
Ichigo reached for her wrist, plucking it off the bed and turning it face up. The mark was present, an imprint on her skin. He ran his finger over it, feeling the bone underneath and the soft stretch of skin covering it.
"It's a lemniscate," she said, looking up, "an infinity symbol because the Cycle is endless. We are forever immortal. We can die tomorrow and be reborn in a year or ten."
"If you died today…"
He couldn't bring himself up to say it.
"…I wouldn't come back," she answered. "The Cycle ends with me."
"Is that why you said those things?"
His cheeks were red, but his tone inscrutable.
"I don't want to pull a Romeo and Juliet, so let's pretend it didn't happen," she said immediately, pulling her wrist free of his grasp.
He sat dumbfounded. "What?"
Haruka waved her hand in dismissal as she clambered back on her bed. "It's completely fine, I won't put a dent in your life. You'll live a fulfilled life."
"You don't know that," he retorted, again feeling annoyed.
"The Hermit's Eye never lies," she said. "I've seen the future and it is good. You will live through this. None of your friends will die and your sisters will be unhurt."
"But you will," he said, furious.
"Yeah. The Cycle ends with me."
Something needed to be done. He needed something to happen to ease his turmoil. He had no words.
"You know Romeo and Juliet both die at the end," he said suddenly.
"Oh really?" She looked impressed. "Well, I don't read."
"Then why would you compare it to that?" he asked.
Without batting an eyelash, she answered, "Oh, I heard it in a movie." She shrugged. "I mean it, despite the horrible reference. We should pretend none of this happened and be on with our lives."
"You can't decide that on your own," he blurted, face as red as a tomato. He covered his mouth with his hands, trying to stop the word vomit. "I can't stop thinking about it, you idiot."
And though he couldn't stare her in the eyes, he noticed her cheeks burn a deep pink.
He practically admitted to what he perceived as his feelings for Haruka, blurted them out thoughtlessly. Nagata and Touma had been forcing feelings on him before she awakened as Nagisa that he never imagined anything would happen until she kissed him and said she liked him. In that instant, despite the initial shock of having experienced it all in front of an audience, he felt relieved, like something heavy had been lifted off his chest. He couldn't stop thinking about it since. He couldn't remember what her lips felt on his anymore and that irritated him.
Had it all been a sign? Did he have an ulterior motive to protecting her? Was that it?
The sudden awkward bubble that formed from his admittance made it hard to concentrate on the silence and she seemed restless, as if nobody had ever said they liked her before. She just sat there, trying to sketch but failing to focus when she stole unconscious glances of him. He felt her eyes burning into the side of his face and turned to her many times when he was certain she was staring at her drawing.
Ichigo glanced at her casually. "What do we do now?"
Haruka fussed, drawing her blankets over her legs. "I don't think any option is appropriate."
"Not if you're always this morbid," he complained, pointing out her work.
She smiled passively. "I'll never stop being so morbid."
"Good, but you haven't answered my question yet."
Haruka pushed aside the table sitting between them and moved to sit beside him. She rested her head on his shoulder and took his hand, surprising him. "Just today is fine, but tomorrow might not be."
"Today is fine."
Ichigo wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her small frame closer to his and rested his cheek on the top of her head, able to smell the flowery soap in her hair.
The next time Haruka lifted her head up to him, he kissed her.
Today was all he needed.
Beta'd: LULuckyTiger
xl: Happy New Years everyone! I'm late for very hilarious reasons, but let's skim over that. Awwws, what a way to end the year, huh? Where's the romance at? There it is! I'm going to regret writing this later, but the hell with it.
Many thanks to: reality deviant, ruler of dragons (hey, girl, hey), and Aries01xD (No problemo! Oh god, that was my favorite too. I have been dying to write it for like...several months.)
Thank you for reading!