X
My sword sailed down, striking Aizen in the back of the neck. A small barrier made my long blade bounce off, but I fired a rudimentary cero from my hand.
He held his hand up, skin smoking as it faded away. "You learned that technique fairly quickly. I'm impressed." His deep eyes appreciated my form noticeably.
I felt like slinking back into the portal I had come out of. Taking a second to myself, I let my eyes swish side to side as I took in the situation. I smelled the air, breathing in the fresh scent.
Not as much blood. That was a good sign.
The town had been absolutely wrecked. Buildings lay in shambles on top of each other, on top of roads, on top of cars. Masses of concrete decorated the battlefield, scattered about like cookie pieces on a table.
Throwing my net of power about, I reached out to see who was still fighting. I felt three individuals: Kisuke Urahara, Yoruichi Shihoin, and Isshin Kurosaki. Focusing, I searched out for Shinji's energy.
He's hurt. Hiyori, who he's right by, is hurt bad too. Staring my enemy down, I felt resolved to not go and assist. I tried to protect those teenagers, and I only messed up. I can't make things worse for them.
Knowing that anyone who was hurt would have the common sense to stay out of the fight, I focused my powers onto Aizen. I watched as his hair shifted, fluttering as the gravity of my powers pressed him closer to the earth. Not giving in, he raised his own equally to mine. "You don't mean to actually fight me, do you?" He looked amused at the thought. "If you do intend to fight me…there is something you should know."
This is similar to last time.
Feeling comfortable as my bloodlust paced inside me tightly, I decided to bait him. "Let me guess." I smirked. "My dad is a Soul Reaper." His face remained placid, but because we had gotten so close, I could sense a surprised tint and raise to his powers before they smoothed out.
"I didn't realize that you knew," he admitted, surprising me.
"Yeah, she's pretty smart," Isshin's voice echoed behind me. Probably trying to be impressive again.
"This is no time to be distracted!" a familiar voice sang as red electric fireworks flew into Aizen's face. Feeling a hand on my back, I allowed Isshin to drag me behind one of the few standing buildings with a flash step.
"Where's Ichigo?" Isshin questioned, peeking around the building as Kisuke engaged Aizen.
I looked down and away.
He took my silence in. "That bad, huh? Well, we can hold him until he gets here," he spoke confidently, scratching at his chest as if this was a game.
"He's dead," I corrected.
Isshin's reiatsu strung up, a high note, as he stared at me. "Are you…serious?" he asked, voice having gone quiet.
I was silent, keeping my gaze steadfast away.
Pain blossomed on my cheek. My hand came up and cradled where he had struck me. I could only stare at him. "You were supposed to protect him and the others!" he yelled at me, fist raised like he was going to hit me again.
"Family argument?" Aizen laughed behind me, making me jump forward and past Isshin before he could even react. I turned back to see Aizen's pleased gaze at my quick reactions.
Suspiciously silent despite the taunt, the older Kurosaki began to summon a unique spell in his hands as he jumped away.
"Out of the way, Koi!" Yoruichi surprised me, appearing behind the enemy as she swung at him with a closed fist.
I jerked back in the nick of time to avoid the blast radius. As the dust cleared, I frowned when I saw he hadn't raised a hand or even taken a step to defend himself. Just like last time…
"Hey, hey, here, over here." I heard a vaguely familiar voice wave at me from afar.
Looking over my shoulder, I spotted the silver-haired Gin Ichimaru waving at me from where he was perched on a nearby chunk of asphalt.
I stared at him, tense, as Aizen easily fended off the three Soul Reapers behind me.
"Come sit with me." He waved again, trying to get me closer.
I looked at the open space next to him before begrudgingly coming closer and sitting. I want to kill Aizen, but my powers are so dangerous to use when others are around…Kisuke's hand on my chest, pushing me back once more into my bankai, echoed in my mind.
"There. That wasn't that hard, was it?" he asked me playfully, knees up to his chest as he cradled his chin on his hands. He smiled at me, the blue of his eyes showing.
"You're one creepy guy, Gin." I gave in, feeling my shoulders slump as I watched the exchanged blows before me. I sighed as I counted the minutes down.
"What? That's mean." He made no move for his zanpakutou as it rested next to me. He's left-handed, I noticed, the sword being on the opposite side than it usually is. "Why do you say that?" He pouted playfully.
"I could never follow a guy like him for 100 years, since I was a child, just to kill him," I said placidly.
He tensed. "What do you mean?" he asked, voice high-strung from shock.
"You want to protect a girl. I get it." My thoughts tipped toward Rukia, who had introduced me to this world, to this mess.
"I'm sorry, but"—he jumped away, sword out as his reiatsu drove invisible daggers into me—"I can't let you live." His blade shot out, and I easily sidestepped it. My eyes were heavy. I dodged a slash, the buildings behind me obliterated by the same extraordinary sword length as they had been in the Seireitei. My hands felt heavy. I jumped up, evading a well-placed capture kido he produced. My legs felt heavy.
"Koi!" I heard a desperate scream. Feeling something strange, I looked down. Something silver was protruding from my chest.
"Tired?" a deep, sultry voice teased me from behind. Him. Something stirred in me, deep underneath my bloodlust.
Another puncture, this time in the front from Gin. "Got 'er, Lord Aizen." He smiled deceptively, mask back on.
"So we did." I felt Aizen's strong, firm hand curl around my chin, forcing my head up.
"Get away from her!" Kisuke screamed, charging toward Aizen with all his might, blade high. I felt woozy as something dripped down my middle.
With a laugh, Aizen released a silent Kurotsugi. Yoruichi screamed, Kisuke's wide eyes disappearing into blackness.
Kisuke…!
Something pulsed within me, spurting blood.
"I am tired," I admitted quietly. Aizen's hand slipped lower on me despite Yoruichi's threats.
My hand delicately came up to press into his, gentle as a flower on a spring day. "Tired of you," I corrected myself.
"What?" Venom leaked from Aizen's words.
My shikai, not giving him time to react, raced from coating my long sword to my middle. Shadows touched the blades within me, it held them firmly inside before sprinting down Ichimaru's blade first, Aizen's a millisecond later.
I let my air whoosh out as I felt the shadows make contact with their bodies.
"What is this?" Aizen asked as Ichimaru yelled from the sudden pain on contact. My shadows gnawed at Aizen, melting through his midsection as they reached up into his heart. I felt his heart pulsate, just a single beat faster.
He's scared. Shiro tried to draw me out of my fog.
"Damn you…" he whispered in my ear before jumping away. Turning, my internal clock I had been counting on hit zero.
Brilliant purple light enveloped the madman, swamping him in such a way that we couldn't see. Yoruichi flash stepped around to where his back presumably was and held her ground.
Leaving Ichimaru's melted corpse to fall thoughtlessly, I stabbed my shadows into Aizen's Kurotsugi he had captured Kisuke with. The glass shattered, and Kisuke landed, panting, on his knees.
"He's transforming," I answered the wild look Kisuke gave me, my face showing my relief as I saw he was uninjured. My eyes slid to Isshin, who took up a position on Aizen's right, his kido looking complete. Stumbling up, Kisuke froze as he stared into the light. "Kisuke." I tried to bring him back.
The lights began to fade, trailing on smooth leathery skin. Glowing eyes illuminated the noseless, mouthless face of the enemy. His hands were now permanently closed into fists, the strange outer casing taking hold. Aizen will never put down his sword again, I thought sadly. His eyes, while lacking a pupil and iris, seemed focused on us.
"Whatever you're going to do, do it now," I warned the blond man. Kisuke frowned, the edges catching against the sun. His hat was long gone at this point.
"Right," he answered, stepping in front of me. "We'll handle this." His confidence sounded forced to my ears.
I can't protect anyone anymore. I flash stepped far away.
I felt broken. Watching Aizen continue to block their attacks, not breaking a sweat or even tense, fed into my darkness. It's going to happen again, I realized. I felt my shadows pressing against me as I tried to comfort myself.
"We can't use bankai. It's only going to keep repeating itself," I spoke out loud, knowing that no one could hear.
"I…have an idea." Shiro slipped her hand in mine, materializing next to me.
I could only stand there, cracking like a glass bridge, as I watched Yoruichi get sliced deeply through the gut. Her agonized scream speared through my heart as she fell.
"We should merge like Aizen did." She focused on his zanpakutou. "If we become one…I'm sure we can beat him." She tried to assure me instead of being her usual anxious self.
I stared at Aizen's sword as he ran it through Isshin.
"It's worth a try." I gave up on pushing her away as she prodded me mentally.
Isshin's body fell, blood spilling out. Where's Unohana? I wondered, not wanting to reach out mentally to see her and what other monstrosities lay around us. Shiro retreated into me.
I watched as Kisuke charged one last kido, a final standoff with Aizen. Hands raised, Kisuke focused his spiritual pressure into beams of light. He spoke the incantation as they charged. He used the wrong kido chant, I saw dully. Even pressure can break Kisuke Urahara, then. A quiet terror in my heart at the idea of my monument, my safety, failing.
The spell struck Aizen, pinging off uselessly despite its strength. With a shot to the chest, Kisuke's corpse fell just like the rest of them. First the slow fall, then the wind pulling at the clothes, then the fast fall, and finally the heavy landing.
I stared upward, shock rooting my eyes to the innocent clouds overhead.
"What will you do now, Koi?" Aizen addressed me with my real name as he flash stepped behind me. A shiver down my back at the way it rolled off his tongue, a round of ice frying in the heat. He leaned down to my hair, breathing deep once more. "How I've longed…for this," he admitted quietly.
Frozen, my body trembled as he stepped away. Kisuke is… Shinji is… Again…!
"I'm going to the real Karakura Town," he announced. He smirked at the void nested in my eyes. "Say your prayers," he warned me.
Stabbing into the air, I watched as a senkaimon obediently opened for him. He stepped through, white clothes billowing against the sickly purple backdrop.
The doors snapped shut behind him.
I looked down at my long sword as the shadows peeled off of it, dripping onto the ground.
Turning, I examined the battlefield. It was still, undoubtedly, desolated. But as I tentatively reached out, I found the streets bathed in hollow blood rather than Soul Reapers.
There's still hope, Shiro whispered to me. Now, go stop him.
Chest swelling as I finished healing myself, I thrusted my long blade into the air. "Unlock," I commanded, the doors opening upon the phrase.
The same ill backdrop stared me down.
One step, then two, then three.
With finality, the doors closed with an echo. The goo of the walls reached out as we walked, tracing our steps.
We'll have to do this on the run. Let me take over.
Handing the reins to Shiro, I closed my eyes.
And fell.
X
"Aizen…" His name fell from my lips like a single orchid petal alighting on a pillow. His lip curled at me in hatred. "I'm so tired of you," I confessed. I felt a foreign grief, his grief, press into me as we matched zanpakutou. A lonely man who had gotten too strong and too smart too fast and was too alone, I recalled bitterly. He's grieving his own strength.
Swinging at me again, his eyes narrowed as I spoke. "We've been together…for so long…" He smirked as I finally admitted to my past. "I'm just so tired of chasing after you." Holding my hand up, I felt my insurmountable reiatsu focus into a pinpoint. A cero blasted from my hand, a beam of light that annihilated forests, trees, and Aizen's face alike.
He screamed as the burns stole his eyes. I watched in horror as they grew back a pale white color. "You dirty…woman!" he cursed me, spreading his smooth wings as he charged a power beam between them.
His powers toyed with my senses as he lost himself. I could feel his confusion toward me as he recalled the Keisei of the past and the Koi of now. He had seen Keisei as a goal, an idol.
I could only stare, my white feathers fluttering in the wind, my snowy lizard tail poised behind me, my bone mask shielding my yellow eyes. Readying for the strike, the darkness of the world swam over the earth, flew through the trees, and descended from the heavens to shield me.
Releasing the attack, Aizen watched as it was swallowed up by my powers. "Impossible!" he screamed, composure shattering as he grabbed his face in anger.
Teleporting in front of me, I easily blocked his blade as I began to charge my final attack. I'm done, I thought hopelessly. I've lost every meaningful connection I had.
Rukia. Renji. Byakuya. JuushiroJushiro. Shunsui. Kisuke. Shinji.
Ichigo.
I redirected Aizen's feverish hacking, my eyes glazing over from my sadness. I threw him back, not reacting when eyes began to sprout on his wings, wiggling wildly from perceived pain. "No! No! YOU…HUMAN!" His inhuman roar whipped the wind into a frenzy, tearing up trees in the nearby forest and sending them sailing over the mountains I had destroyed.
"Goodbye, Sosuke Aizen." I raised my blade.
"You can't kill me!" he shrieked as the shadows rained on him from the sky, the earth, and the wind. My reiatsu was at its greatest, blanketing everything in noir as it peaked.
Shiro, my zanpakutous, reached out for me desperately.
I wish…Aizen would just disappear. I stared him down. "Tokui-ten."
His screams built on each other as he was pierced over and over.
Please…disappear…I begged him mentally. After all this hurt…disappear.
The man clutched his chest suddenly as he screamed. "No…no! I'm not done yet!" He spoke to the Hogyoku within him. My eyes narrowed.
What's happening?
Something new, something godly, touched my senses. "The Hogyoku?" I questioned aloud, eyes widening.
A small acknowledgement from the entity. I felt its powers wrap around me, a crystalline white, searing me as it held too tight. "Stop…stop!" I begged it, thrashing about. The burn was too much.
Shiro screamed within me, the new power circling us too much for her to fend off. Goodbye…my love! she wailed one last time.
I choked, wailing in tandem back as she disappeared from within me. "Shiro!"
I felt the shadows leave me. My wings, reduced to feathery ash. My tail, crumbling away. My mask, melting off. The shadows crawled out of my mind, my heart, to spill upon the earth and sink through the dirt. "NO!" My zanpakutou crumbled in my hands like spent chalk.
My zanpakutous were gone. My hollow was gone.
Aizen matched my screams as it tortured him. "Not yet!" he continued to plead, writhing midair.
The Hogyoku released me, powers fading away as they circled my head and hair stick. Something deep, blue, Quincy, pulsated inside me, circling the new foreign powers before dragging them deeper until the two disappeared. I screeched, the sensations too much to handle and understand as my mind was overloaded.
A strange howling noise above me as I sank to the scarred earth. I looked up and gasped. Behind Aizen sat my black hole. I felt the small amount of Hogyoku reiatsu in the air around me synchronize with the rest as it spooled around him.
"NOOO!" the man screamed as he was slowly pulled in by gravity. He panted, sweating, and I covered my mouth as his body started to break apart, crumbling.
He's going to disappear! I saw with a shock.
"YOU…WILL…NOT…KILL…ME!"
The black hole slammed shut on him. My mouth had fallen open at some point. I stared into the sky, questioning if I was seeing reality.
"He's gone…" I talked quietly to myself, too weak to feel the red reiatsu appear behind me.
"Koi." I jumped slightly at the unexpected calling of my name. I looked back.
"Kisuke?! You're okay!" I gasped, trying to turn around as I reached out for him.
I was suddenly embraced by him, warm arms circling around me, hiding me from the world. I felt myself relax at the familiar, if not strong, scent of gunpowder. "Kisuke…!" I sniffled, trying to keep it in. My fingers clung to him tightly.
"It's going to be okay." He put a hand on my head, rubbing. "It's going to be okay."
"I—" They're all gone.
"I know. I know. It's going to be okay." He rubbed my head.
"My powers are—" I tried to explain, to shove the words out.
He squeezed me tighter. "Koi…!" My name echoed his pain. "I'm so sorry…!" he stressed into my shoulder, making me freeze. Sorry? Kisuke Urahara apologizing?
I sobbed. I sobbed for the lost memories, the lost bonds, the lost people. I sobbed for the days that would never come back, for my powers which I knew would never return. I sobbed for myself, the poor girl thrown through the labyrinth of time, destined to fail.
Kisuke pressed us tighter together as I slowly faded, losing consciousness.
X
The bed was warm. A gentle breeze tickled my eyelashes. My head felt heavy. Turning my head slightly, I watched large elegant clouds drift by on the melancholic background.
The world around me seemed faded. The sky was no longer striking. The air held no particular scent. I was barely aware of the bed I lay on.
"You're awake!"
I looked over, squinting at where Orihime had started. She sat next to me, Chad next to her, Uryu hovering close by.
I gave her a weak smile. "What happened?"
Her eyes fell at this, and the men shifted uncomfortably. "What do you remember?" Orihime asked quietly, unlike herself.
"I won. Then Kisuke…" I trailed off, thinking about how I had despairingly held him, been held by him.
"Your powers…are gone." Uryu took up the mantel as he spoke slowly, carefully. "The Soul Reapers left you." His bitterness at their race overflowed.
"Ishida!" Orihime rounded on him before turning back to me. "They'll be back," she promised me. "They'll be back."
I looked out the window. I finally…won.
The victory felt despondent. A cool emptiness settled in my chest at the idea.
"Rukia, she's…outside, if you would like to speak with her," Uryu gently suggested. "It might…help." He tiptoed around the word.
"Right…" I was able to force myself up, thankful for the assistance of the kids as I slowly walked out of the Kurosaki house. Each step felt like wading through concrete mix.
"Rukia," I greeted her. She stood before me, alone, on the street. The sky hung overhead, a grand drape as I entered the final act.
She turned, her black hair stirring at the motion. Her lovely, lovely wide purple eyes watched me. I let out a quiet sigh. She's okay, I saw. She's fine.
She doesn't need me to protect her anymore. The pang of hurt made me miss the days long past where she had been able to rely on me, when I had been able to rely on her. When we were inseparable.
Those long-lost simple days had felt like such a dramatic arc at the time.
"Koi, I…" she started, hesitant. She looked down, gathering her words.
A droplet spilled when her form started to disappear before my very eyes, dust in the wind as the dredges of my powers left me.
"I'm sorry about Ichigo." She looked up at me, eyes watering as her lip wavered.
I gave her a warm smile. "It's okay," I told her. "It's going to be okay." I held her shoulders, squeezing as I watched her form fade further into obscurity, gunpowder taste deep on my tongue. Let me reassure you, I begged her silently. Rely on me one last time, my friend.
As the corners of her eyes disappeared, I saw them crinkle as rivulets fell.
I dropped my hands. The sun beat down on me.
I had only the desert of a life in the World of the Living to look forward to now.
X
The kids had left the briefcase on my bedside table. I fiddled with it, stabbing at the combination dials with a kitchen knife, before giving it a break for the time being.
I toweled off my hair as I came into my room, my bath having gone longer than anticipated.
M y feet slowed to a stop as I saw the window had been opened, letting in the hot night air. A brown wrapped package rested on my bed.
Wrapping the towel tighter around myself, I closed the curtains before picking out a written note from the wrappings.
Got this from Uryu. Think it might be yours. K.
"Uryu, huh…" I flipped the card over. Seeing nothing, I gently put it on the bed. Pulling at the wrappings, I teased them off before unfolding the brown paper.
A simple black box sat before me. A shoe box…?
My thoughts hung empty, waiting for a response, before grief nailed my heart.
Trying to distract myself, I pulled the lid of the box up and off. My eyes widened.
Frigid, wintry steel rested in the packing fluff. A small inscription on the side.
'Am I…you?'
X
The box was hidden away deep in my closet, untouched save for my lingering thoughts. Occasionally, my fingers itched for it. For an escape.
X
My days began to run together as I realized that the people I had spent so many years protecting had left me behind. Monday to Friday, Thursday to Wednesday. It didn't matter to me anymore, especially given I had spent a century in a feudal society where things like that didn't matter.
My body grew smaller, gaunt even, as food started to run low in the house. More and more, Isshin spent days with the clinic closed while he, I imagined, was out enjoying his powers and slaying hollows.
I couldn't work. My paperwork had been destroyed in the plane crash, and there was no way to get duplicates without at least having something.
The thought of him out there, running through the sky and slashing and hacking at unimaginable monsters, made my heart sour with jealousy.
I held up my sleeping shirt in the mirror, admiring my ribs. Maybe I really am…hollow… Tired deep-set eyes stared back at me.
X
I stared at the calendar in the kitchen that Yuzu attended. Some dates were circled, others crossed off. It's been this long already? My arm creaked as I touched today. The twins moved around me quietly. They were still grieving, and I suspected that they blamed me.
Why wouldn't they? Isshin still did.
H is angry glances and sneers reminded me of my childhood. How he had always pulled too hard on my arm, been too sharp with his words.
No. Not my childhood. I shook my head, only dizzying myself as the not-memories resurfaced yet again. I sat down at the table just to go through the motions. I knew I wouldn't be able to stomach much.
I whispered to myself at night, throwing my voice. Shiro was a lasting emptiness in my heart, a dark hearth in a dying home. "I'm Keisei. Those memories aren't mine." And yet they swarmed my head, moths to a lamp, dancing.
X
The glacial steel in my closet looked more enticing as the days stretched on.
"I don't think they're coming back." I held my face close to my chest, hiding. "They-They gave up on me." The frosty words chilled my faded spirit.
I had loved them all so much. JuushiroJushiro, Shunsui, Shinji, Kisuke, Unohana…
Our bonds had long since splintered, ignored by me as I pressed into the madness of defeating the enemy.
Him.
I turned to look at the briefcase. Score marks now decorated it from my various attempts to get inside.
X
T he briefcase had become something of a lifeline as I struggled with the absence of the others. With a knife long stolen from the kitchen, I picked at the dials once more. Six letters or numbers…
I spun them absently as I thought. Shinji? No. Shunsui? Too long. Sosuke? No. A good try, though.
X
Several weeks later, my thin fingers hesitated as I pressed and pulled the dial.
K…
E…
I…
S…
E…
I…
Pop!
The lid popped open, and I immediately shivered. What does this mean?
I looked behind myself furtively. My room remained empty as always. Not that people that had abandoned me would show themselves again, though.
A small bitter seed had been planted inside me, belladonna buds twisting around my heart as they grew.
Gently lifting the lid up, fearing for a trap and knowing there was no way to avoid it, given my weakened state, I let out a breath as it easily followed my guiding hand.
The inside was a deep black velvet, grooved in the corners as to protect its precious occupants.
I stared down at the blank pieces of paper, some larger, some smaller, that rested in a thick pile. Reverently, my nails hooked on the edge of the topmost paper.
Gently, as if the paper was liable to explode at the slightest budge, I turned it over. My eyes widened and I gasped.
X
I cradled myself, rocking back and forth. The top of my head brushed the underside of Ichigo's desk. My eyes slid from side to side as I rocked, looking for danger. I had been able to find some protection. By using my hair stick to pry up the nearby floorboards, I had been able to stack them in the opening of the desk so that no one could see me.
I gasped, holding my head as I heard the wisps of voices.
"I missed you…like this." Aizen's warm voice melted down around my ears. "Keisei…" His firm hand wrapping around my neck not to choke or kill or maim, but to cut off the airflow just like I had begged for with so many others.
My hands shot out, physically shoving the idea away.
I feared for my life. My powerlessness…
My strength had always protected me from them. Clients would come in the black of night, seeking release. And I, always the stronger, could turn them away.
But now, with this lack of power, I could only shake at the thought of being pressed down, held down against my will, of being hurt.
Aizen's form, hovering above my back as his hand squeezed my throat, haunted my nightmares.
I saw him nightly as clockwork.
X
The others had given up on me. At this point I was sure of it. When was the last time I saw Kisuke? Shinji? I couldn't say how long it had been.
"What did I do wrong…?"
My stomach pains increased.
X
A tight hand wrapped around my throat. I coughed and spluttered, drooling as I fought for air. The burgeoning pain in my eyes convoluted my sense of direction.
"Get over yourself!" Isshin was yelling. "He's gone! Your sisters…need you!" he screamed, and I felt my body fall. My head impacted something with a dull thud. Ah, the floorboards…I saw what had apparently roused his anger scattered across the room.
A sharp pain in my ankle as it was stomped on. "Take Karin to the doctor later. A different one than the guy out in Aomori. That guy called me and had the nerve to…" I closed off, focusing on the pain as he talked.
This is what I remember. I recalled my fierce trainings in my timeline. This is familiar.
"And get a job," he ordered me, stepping over me and catching the tips of my fingers before slamming the door.
I pushed my face flat on the ground, trying to hold back a wail. He's going to kill me. I felt delayed pain start to blossom in my ribs. He's actually going to kill me next time.
Shakily pushing myself up, I looked toward my only hope.
The window.
Slowly, I pulled myself up using Ichigo's bed. It doesn't smell like him anymore, I realized sadly. Heaving, I sucked in a breath as I jolted my injuries.
H olding my mouth tight as I involuntarily sobbed, I gripped the window and painfully, silently, pulled it open. It was unlocked, likely left that way by Ichigo himself.
I leaned over the edge of the window, looking down. This window opened up into the side yard, but it was the only window on this side of the house. They won't see me. I frowned.
Gripping my bad leg, I lifted it over the sill as tears rolled down my cheeks. I shifted my other leg over the sill. Awkwardly pushing myself up with my hands, the sill dug into me painfully as I sat on it.
I bit my lip at the long way down. I used to jump down buildings much higher than this, I thought, angry.
I pushed off.
Slowly coming to, I blinked up at the open window. Oh…I made it…I realized dully. I forced myself up, limping away as quick as I could manage before my injuries caught up with me.
X
"Hey, Miss, are you all right?"
I squeezed into the wall as I passed, freezing, when the dark-haired man asked after me suddenly.
"Y-Yeah," I lied, eyes shuffling as I tried to get away faster.
"Wait! You're hurt." He raised a hand to me.
Gasping, I fled. I'll never let another man touch me!
X
Rain softly pattered outside. I shivered from the damp, my weak clothes not holding up.
"Lie still," a deep voice told me. I jerked awake.
"You!" I accused the black-haired man as I practically frothed at the mouth. My ankle stung where he had wrapped it.
"You're hurt. You need medical care," he told me firmly. Gripping my hair stick, I ripped it out and made a lunge at his face with it.
"Whoa!" He made a show of dodging and held his hands out. "Okay. I'll back off." An American accent deepened his voice further the more he spoke. "But you need a doctor." He leaned back against the curved concrete.
I looked around, scanning for anyone else in the massive drainage pipe that I had sheltered in.
"It's just me." He waved as my eyes settled on him. I awkwardly pressed myself farther into the wall and stared at him. I hurt much worse now than earlier. I knew I couldn't run.
" What happened to you?" He tried to make conversation casually as we were both chilled by a gust of wind.
I didn't respond.
"Not talking, huh…" he grumbled. I watched as he fished around in his pocket. "Take this." He produced a business card. I leaned back as he tried to hand it to me.
"Right..." He put it on the ground next to himself. "Well, you look like you need help. If you want real power"—he paused for dramatic effect as I frowned—"call me. Name's Ginjo." Half standing up, he walked the few paces to exit the pipe before stretching. "See ya," he decided, looking back at me before disappearing from view.
Normally, I would have tracked his reiatsu until he was far, far away. Now, I could only strain my ears and my eyes, anxiously waiting.
I picked the card up, hissing as I shifted my bad side.
"Xcution…?" I read the janky name. It was laminated, oddly enough. Must reuse them. Cheapskate.
Silence hung like an overweight coat in my mind as I waited for Shiro's quip.
I hung my head, sniffling.
X
Something warm was laid over my shoulders and pulled up closer to my head. Sniffing loudly, I blearily looked up. Gold, dulled by the rain, wavered before me.
"Shinji…?" I rubbed at my eyes in disbelief.
He sat in front of me, dirtying his nice jeans, and frowned down at me. "Were ya expecting someone else?" He phrased it as a joke despite his flat face.
My face crumpled as I couldn't hold it in anymore. I tried to hide behind my arms. "I-I wasn't expecting anyone." My voice broke as I tried to hold the pain in.
A gentle hand on my head had me flinching back.
"I'm sorry." I immediately apologized, looking at him. "I'm sorry!" I started to lose control of the rain, wet torrents on my cheeks as the dam broke.
"For what?" he asked, eyes wide from genuine confusion at my words and reaction.
"For-For whatever I-I did to make you go-go away," I stuttered out, almost dry-heaving from the stress.
"What?" he asked, disbelief cracking his voice. "Who told you that you did something?" he instantly pressed.
"W-What?" I batted at my leaking nose.
"Who told you that you did something?" he repeated himself firmly.
"N-No one," I admitted, skewing my eyes shut. "B-But everyone left!" I lost air at this, shaking badly.
He reached out before stopping himself. He dropped his hand. "We…Isshin told us that you wanted to live a normal life." It sounded prerecorded, like he had repeated that phrase to himself over and over again as if to convince himself.
I shook my head at the idea. "No. No! I would never—Shinji, I—you're all my—" I broke apart at the very idea that they had been chased away by Isshin.
He reached out again. I flinched as his hands got closer. He dropped them again, a sad look weighing down his face. "I should have known." Regret cracked like a whip to his own back as he spoke. "That bastard…!" he growled.
"Shinji?" I begged, desperately clearing my throat as mucus slipped in. "Please-Please don't make me-me go back!" I begged, control lost as I let out a widemouthed sob.
"I'm never letting you go again," he told me firmly, making me look up. He looked resolute in his conviction, hands fisted tightly at his sides, shoulders tense. "You're never going to be hurt by him again," he promised me.
Feeling like shattered glass, I was slowly coaxed out of the pipe by Shinji's verbal prodding. Carefully avoiding touching me, he instead made my path as easy as possible. He winced with me every time I bumped or shifted my injuries.
"I can heal those," he proposed. "I might not be the best healer, but…" He trailed off, checking to make sure the umbrella he had brought was centered around me instead of us both.
"I'm fine." I walked on my own, albeit slowly, as we made the journey to the edge of town. To the warehouse. To home.
hello everyone! merry tidings. i was wondering if anyone else has experienced this before - sometimes when i upload a chapter, it'll be the old 10k word version instead of the 5-6k word version! the word document itself is 5-6k words, but somehow this site resurrects the older version. its ghostly!