Free Me
"When a wild bird is caged, only death awaits it."
--random quote I made
Sunny and bright, the yellow and red sky filled with a stream of clouds was the first sign of dusk. It was just another morning, just another day. That's what I thought as my white wings spread out as I landed on the edge of the window on a high ivory tower.
Rukia's eyes, dark and gloomy, mirrored the sadness sealed within. Like a walking zombie, she was always looking out of the window, as if she were looking for something. But what could she possibly be looking for? What could a death row prisoner possibly be looking for? No matter what happens, no matter what she saw, she's still going to be executed.
Nothing will change that.
She was just like all the other death row prisoners—dim-eyed, a perpetual bleak look on her face, growing skinner with each passing day.
But she was different.
She was the one who freed me, a captured dove whose purpose was to attract women so the owner would have some business in Rukongai. Despite that day nearly fifty years ago, I can still remember it as if it was yesterday. When Rukia came to the food stand with a redhead boy, it seemed like my owner would do the usual—shoo them away since they were mere pests attempting to steal. It all happened so fast. One minute I was perched on the stick in the cage, the next minute, a small raven-colored girl carefully opened my cage door, opening the path to freedom for me. I looked at the open door, frozen in shock, then darted out, spreading my wings widely for the first time in months.
Even though stealing was wrong, it was the only way to survive in that miserable excuse of a village. Animals always try to survive, no matter the cost, whether it ends or harms another's life or not. It's pure instinct. Just like how the mosquito sucks blood from animals in order to lay her eggs, and the wolves that kill animals in order to eat, Rukia transferred her powers to a kid, not only to save herself, but also the kid, who was the hollow's target.
If she did not break the law in order to survive, then two lives would be gone. Why should she die because she did whatever she could do to survive? What she did was no different than a fox killing a hare to eat, to survive. Why should she die because she saved a human's life? Why must she die?
Although I want to free her just like how she freed me, I can't. I want to repay her but with this body, I cannot. I would've died if she didn't release me, and the same thing will happen to her. For now, all I can do is give her hope. Taking small hops towards the girl, I start singing.
But there is someone who can help her escape, someone who's heading towards this tower at this moment.
Please Ichigo, please free the bird.
Get here before death does.
Author's notes: After seeing Rukia look at a bird in the second opening and on the cover page of a chapter, I had to write this. Hope it's not awkward that the story is being told in a bird's point of view. I hope this one made sense.