Well, this came out way, way later then I planned. Sorry sorry sorry. Hope you at least enjoy it. There's lots of snow here and there was a snow day. We get tomorrow off and all so I had a bit of time, finally. (yay to using all our snow days! Spring break is now officially screwed over.) I also know it's shorter then the last update but I'm sorta tired and it seemed like a nice place to leave off. But anyway, hope I'll get to update soon, if not, you guys are welcome to kill me. I deserve it for being a lazy ass.
"..."
The two sat across from each other. The air is stilled, even the autumn birds learned to keep their silence. Yellow eyes met blue as they glared at one another. The wind stopped. It was so quiet that one can hear the crunch of a shed leaf as it swayed in the air and fell onto the ground. The two people in the room paid no heed to nature. They stood still as statues. Time seem to stop in suspense. The blue-haired man opens and closes his fist. Nervous sweat ran down his back. The sun's light is fading as a cloud covered the glowing inferno. The girl's yellow eyes seem to glow like embers of a dying fire in the dark. Neither uttered a single syllable. There was a kind of tension in the air, slowly straining. They both squinted.
"..."
On some kind of unspoken signal. Both of them moved. With lightning fast precision, the two rivals lunged forward, hands stretched and homed in. With a split second, both of the contestants are tense, each hoping for victory. Their hands meet, gripping each other in an attempt to delay the inevitable. His body crashed into hers, relying on weight he wrestled her down and restrained her with his body. In a final attempt the woman reached out with her injured hand, desperately trying to reach for the object… Almost! Her fingers stretched out to the limit as she strained. Grimmjow desperately trying the same thing without lifting his weight off her weaker arm. They struggled on, grunting as they fought each other.
"YES!" The silver haired woman laughed, closing her hands around the sake bottle.
"Oh no you don't!" He breathed down her neck and fumbled for the bottle in Kei's hand. Nimbly she slipped out from underneath him and ran for the door. He lunged after her, catching her by the leg.
Smash! Bang! Hit!
The chaos sounded through the quiet house. Many words that cannot be repeated left both of their lips. The door opened with a thud. A soft cat paw landed in front of the two, tangled and twisted upon the floor. The fighting halted. Kei's hand is stretched out into the air, bottle sloshing. Grimmjow, on the other hand, strained to reach the bottle. The man's hand is clawed into her ksode. Kei's other arm elbowed at his chest, trying to keep him away. Her left knee tucked in, other aimed in a kick frozen in midair. Two pairs of equally colorful eyes stared at the intruding cat as it put its paw on the man's face and nudged, claws out.
"Ow!"
"The couple is playing twisters, I see." The rather airy voice said, "Hey Kisuke, I think your expert gone to the enemy."
With the sound, the shop owner himself appeared at the door. "My my, what have we here..." His voice dropped as he surveyed the two.
"I prefer to say that the enemy has gone to our expert, ho ho ho." He waved his fan with a jolly air.
The woman with yellow eyes mumbled as she untangled herself, sloshing sake as she went.
"Damn it!" Grimmjow reached out to grab her foot again. The nimble woman danced out of the way, holding the ceramic bottle to her lips.
"Too bad Grim, you lost." Her voice song as she swallowed the drink with a content sigh, "To a injured woman. This must be evidence that you are 100% cat." The comment earned a dark scrawl from the black cat. The silvery haired woman plopped down with a sigh and petted the sleek creature.
"How's your arm?" The cat stopped purring long enough to ask.
"Almost healed." Kei blinked one eye. "I'm more concerned that I let that woman get away."
"Lupi is a man."
"Didn't look like one." Kei made a sound in her throat, "Do arrancars even have genders? I'm curious now that I think about it..."
"Of course we do."
"Really? What are you suppose to be then?"
"..."
"Well? Should I have been calling you -chan this whole time?"
"I am a man. Ok? A man."
"Sometimes I doubt that."
"..." Silence reigned as the arrancar fumed, then he seem to stop his internal struggle as he squinted at the silver haired lady and said, voice seductive, "Would you like to check, love?"
"I don't want to know how small it is."
"You..."
"Well Abe-san, what do you think of the man you fought?" Bluntly the shop owner cut short the argument. At once Kei became serious.
"He was manageble..." Toying with the bandage, she said thoughtfully, "I'm annoyed I had to use bankai two times, though. The poison was a nuisance."
"Not on the level of those you met before?"
She was back in the cursed sands, kneeling powerlessly. The man with emerald eyes turned to her, looking at her from down his nose. His aura was terrifying and she shook. The blood were soaking into the sand around her and being devoured by the ominous grounds. Kei flinched as his hand raised. She didn't want to die yet, there are things she had to do...
Then he opened the portal, and stared at her with his strangely bright eyes.
A life ravaged by her allies and saved by her enemies.
Hatred flowed freely in her heart and Kei squeezes her eyes close for a second, almost dizzy.
"No." Her prisoner gave her an odd look. "The man I met was far stronger."
"He's fourth, according to over there. If I'm not mistaken, you guys met him before while fighting with that big hunk of meat." Kei said with a sigh. "I doubt they sat around for the past god knows how long playing cards either. "
"But you aren't worried about that, are you, Kei." Urahara is leaning on the door frame lazily.
"No, I'm more worried about Aizen." The silver haired woman sighed running a hand through her hair. "That man... Always scheming, always deceiving, heartlessly destroying everything for his own means... So dangerous."
"He knows you are here now." The black cat purred from her lap.
"Are you ready for this? After all those years of hiding..."
"Why wouldn't I be?" Her amber eyes were clouded for a second, yet it was gone as soon as she blinked. Grimmjow frowned. A bitter, false smile slid across her lips, "I swore to destroy him all those years ago. And I meant every word of that oath. I have became stronger, tossed away so many things. Those years I spent on that lovely little mountain is something I'll cherish. But the time has come. That man will make his move, and so will I." Her eyes set, looking far away and lonely. His jailer stood then, her tall figure determined. The black cat jumped from her lap and sat at Urahara's feet, "What he did to me, what he did to my subordinates, I'll never forgive it."
"What will you do about it, Kei?" The cat said with an eye closed. Her yellow eyes an echo of the woman's at the window.
"Whatever I can do." The wind threw the words back at them as she flashed out of their sight. The shop owner sighed grandly and stood.
"That woman is gonna destroy herself one of those days if someone doesn't put a leash on her." The cat licks its paw, eyes piercing as she first looked at Grimmjow, and then her long time friend. "What will you do, Kisuke?"
The man lowered the hat over his face and smiled sardonically. "I'm obligated to help such a dear friend as Kei." The fan opened in his hand with a swish and he waved it. The gentle motion reflects in the cat's eye. Grimmjow considered leaving, yet the conversation held his interest for the moment, so the ex-espada continued to sit with his legs crossed as he listened. The blond looks at the window Kei has disappeared through.
"It's no good, pushing her like that."
"She has to realize that she can't follow the wretched path she chose without destroying herself first."
"She does realize it." The words gave them all pause. The silence is thick like honey and choking.
"Then..."
"You remember that day when we left. How shaken you were."
"..."
"It's much worse for her. For her, the duties of a shinigami were everything, it was the only life she wanted to live. She believed in protecting others no matter the cause, be her subordinates or the innocents she protect. As for Aizen, she admired him, maybe even loved him once. She's an all or nothing sort of girl. For Kei, that day changed everything. She had her faith and pride crushed and destroyed in an instant. To be powerless to protect all those who trusted and became close to her from years of comradeship was the most devastating thing. So she became reckless. When she trained she strained the limits, so much that many times her inner hollow raged out of control. She has done unspeakable things both consciously and unconsciously. Things she's not proud of and can never take back." Absorbed in the conversation, the two shinigamis seem to forget Grimmjow's existence. The prisoner sat in the corner, trying to guess the gist of it all.
"Kei isn't stupid, she fully realizes that she's destroying herself, yet she doesn't care at this point."
"You want to save her." The cat stopped moving and sat, tail swishing in an agitated manner.
"So do you." Blue eyes watched the two people speak, half out loud and half in their heads.
The blond adjusted his hat with a sigh, "I do not know how."
"Loose cannon." The cat muttered, its gaze flickers towards the panther before moving towards the door. Urahara gets up, opening the door for the black cat.
"She's like a fire, consuming herself to burn and burn until there's nothing left." The ex-captain said with his back turned towards Grimmjow. The espada found it vaguely insulting that his jailer found no need to guard himself in his presence, but then again, there wasn't much he could do. The tail of the irritating cat disappeared down the hall. The man, however, made no move to follow. The shinigami's voice carried back towards him.
"I wonder what you will be, Mr. Arrancar." The casual, jaunty tone is back and his voice rumbled. "Will you be the gasoline that fuels the fire, or the water that puts it out?"
"Neither." Grimmjow suppress his surprise at the question and growl at the man. Yet Urahara Kisuke cannot be fazed, he shrugs and slams the door on his way out. The screen muffles his last words.
"Think carefully, panther. Your life might just depend on it too."
She pounced across town invisibly, jumping from roof to roof. The wind clears Kei's head as it nestles in her hair and plays with her cloth. The sour taste in the woman's mouth won't go away, so she jumps harder. Overshooting one roof, the visored rolls across the next, nearly falling from the five story building. Soon she can see the green of woods. Kei accelerates hard and jumps across a ten meter chasm from one building to the next. Of course, she probably could have flew across it, but that didn't feel right at this moment. Right now, all the running and jumping made her feel a little better. Kei jumped again, sending herself crashing through a tree, branches scratching and smarting her face. A single scratch announced itself and she found herself standing by an artificial lake. Her feet carried her to it and soon she found herself wading deeper and deeper. The water went over her head and all the noise of bird song and city noises drowned. The water was cool and peaceful, Kei found herself closing her eyes.
"What will you do about it?" Yoruichi's voice echoed in Kei's ear like a mermaid song. The girl sighed and watch rays of sunlight as they twist and warp in the water. She chase the thoughts away. The water is pleasantly cool. It felt soothing enough that she didn't feel the need to scream anymore.
I wish...
Yet what can she wish for? Images of another life pops up behind her eyelids, a pure smile, the gentle motion of someone's hand. Peace? Revenge? Redemption? Direction? She doesn't deserve those things. Not after all the mistakes she made, not after all the things she has done wrong. None of it mattered at this point. The bomb was set the day that cursed man came up to her in the endless night and smiled. He smiled and the time bomb started ticking in her heart. And for all this time it was counted down, waiting to explode.
If only she could simply stay like this, let the water nullify the bloody turmoil and voice inside her head. If only she could. But if she did, she won't be able to live with herself. The voices of her subordinates clamor, dampened by the water yet not silenced. They scream at her, for her, with her, deep inside her head it's a mess. Kei wouldn't admit that to anyone. But it is. The weigh of their vengeance hangs around her head like a noose.
One she doesn't even want to get out of. There was something about revenge, it makes sure you will never, ever let go of it.
Peace, peace, the little man inside her head whispered, you'll have your peace when you see his empty eyes staring back at you. The blood can wash away your sins, his death can set you free. It will set you free from those shackles you call oath. Cut yourself loose Kei, do it do it do it do it do it.
She stared at the distorted sunlight, willing it to go away. It hurt her eyes to stare at something so bright but she did so anyway. Her feet kicked once and she reached the surface. Water stuck to her lashes and her hair as if to keep her from leaving. She wiped her eyes, the rivulets of water ran down and she blinked. If there were tears mixed in, Kei wouldn't admit it anyway.
The birds weren't singing anymore.
Kei felt herself go rigid as the water exploded around her.
