Mana's POV-
Needless to say I don't find Nemu. No….That would be too easy for me. As I walk out of the place that I left the small girl I let out a slow breath. I raise a hand to my head and push my hair out of my face again. It still feels like the web of a spider, smooth and thin, always moving everywhere I don't want it to go. I merge into the crowd, quickly disappearing. My small feet moved quickly, trying to get back to the ninth headquarters before-
The heavy hand on my shoulder stopped me. It wasn't a usual human hand though. I was coming to know this hand. "Where did you think you were going? Did I tell you to go with them? Who was that?" the captain said turning me around. My eyes flashed up to the man who was hunched over to stare into my eyes with his own always wild ones. They shifted over to Nemu who was standing behind him.
"What makes you think I should tell you, Mayuri?" I ask him, crossing my arms. His arm places itself on my left shoulder, his fingers digging into the filled in hole. I feel my knees shake slightly, biting my lip to keep from doing something that wouldn't be good in public. It would probably sound like an explicit rap song.
"You're mine," he explains, lowering his head closer to mine. At this moment I have to say that I totally mean this. My right hand draws back before slamming into his metal face. The sound echo's across the street, heads turning to see what was happening.
"You do not own me you egotistical jack ass!" I hissed through my teeth, my hand falling back down to my side. My hand was throbbing slightly. More than slightly actually. I wasn't expecting his face to be that hard. I flex my fingers several times trying to get rid of the pain. It wasn't really working well. His face was obviously not damaged in any way and my hand was turning a lovely red color. I raise it slightly to look at it, turning it, observing the way it was feeling something. The sound was returning. People were murmuring and then there were some who were right out talking.
Then Mayuri seemed to realize what happened. His hand went to my hair, all but hoisting me up by it. As he begins to walk toward the Ninth division I try to get my heels to get some purchase in the ground. "You're no better than Haru," I mutter to him, my hands holding onto his wrist. There was no reply from him only Nemu's eyes on me, a soft glow behind them. Pity. That's what it was. She wasn't the only one feeling it right now. I knew I had tests that I had to do for Mayuri. It was my job here. I am a test rat.
My souls were unnatural and I was the first to have this done to. I needed to be monitored for others that they do this to. I was here to deal with the pain and the emotions so others wouldn't. No hollow wanted this. We may want feelings and the feeling of emptiness to be gone but this didn't fix it. It just didn't. I could feel my stomach wrenching almost the time. The guilt was terrible. I had killed so many people. I had done so many bad things. I was a terrible person and-
"Gah!" I yell as Mayuri gives me a hard yank by my hair, trying to get me to move faster. Getting pulled by your hair actually hurts. My finger nails dig into his wrist, trying to get him to let go. It wasn't working very well.
"Captain!" a voice yelled out to the man pulling me by my hair. "The meetings going to start soon and your presence is requested!" the person said, their feet sliding to a stop next to the three of us. I hear the captain make a sound of disapproval before dropping me to the ground. I give a groan as I roll over to my stomach. I watch as Mayuri walks away, Nemu following him. I knew she was going to wait outside the meeting for him. It's what she did. She never had a true life it seemed. Neither did I though.
I heaved a heavy sigh, looking down at the ground. I watch as my hair pools on the ground under me. I feel a large hand on my arm, hoisting me up to my feet. I pull my fingers through my hair and get the dust out before finally looking up at who told Mayuri about the meeting. It was the red haired Lieutenant again. I give a roll of my eyes before dusting my body off. "Meetings not for another hour," he said crossing his arms and looking down at me.
"So you just made him madder? Thanks," I tell him, the thanks dripping with sarcasm. This was great. Now on top of being mad for my insolence he'd also take it out on me or Nemu for him being an hour early for the meeting. Abari wasn't the sharpest sword in the Soul Societyapparently.
"You're going to be mad at me for getting him to drop you?" he asked, leering down at me. I nod my head with a sharp motion, regretting it when it made my scalp hurt. That was going to kill me later. I rub the top of my head slightly, hoping that would get it to reattach to my skull. "Last time I help you," he said throwing his hands up slightly before dropping them to his side.
"I never asked you to help me! I am capable of surviving on my own," I said with a shake of my head. The man rolled his eyes and turned walking the other direction. "Manashitsugmi," I said crossing my own arms. "That's my name for the record." With that I myself turned to start walking away. The ninth division was waiting for me along with several needles and a clip board filled with questions to my current well being. I figure the reason I told him my name was because I really hate being called Mayuri's white girl, or Mayuri's other girl. Even the all terrible, "Hey you! Over there! The short one!" I missed people calling me by my name. Only one person would call me by my name now but Haru was gone.
Matsukis POV
I see a man with black hair, green eyes, and a skull on his head. His white hand was stretched out towards me. Black fingernails shine in the dim light before he starts to disappear. I reached out towards him but by the time my hand reached where his was, he was gone.
Suddenly I jerked awake to the feeling of something cold on my forehead. Looking up I see a person with brown eyes and black hair that was braided around her neck. I tried to speak but my voice came out in a squeak. She seemed to notice that I wanted to speak because she handed me a glass full of water.
"Where am I?" I asked after I had taken a drink. My voice sounded like a little kids just like my body said I was.
"You are in the fourth division infirmary." She stated.
"Fourth division?" I asked softly looking around the white room.
"In the soul society. Can you tell me your name?" She asked me as she started to feel my neck and looked into my eyes.
"It's Matsuki." I stated doing as she asked and breathing deeply.
"Where are you from?" She inquired.
"No. All I know is my name." I said looking up at her as she 'Hmed'. She turned and walked out of the room, leaving me to wonder where she was going and if she knew anything about me.
I decided to walk around cause my legs were starting to go to sleep. I looked down the halls on either side of my door before picking the one to my right. As I walked down the hall I heard some people shouting before a group of people came running down the hall almost knocking me over. I ended up huddled against the wall.
"Excuse me? Are you ok?" I heard a stuttering voice ask. I looked up to see a skinny man that looked like he hadn't had a good night sleep.
"I'm fine." I stated softly as I stood and ran away from him. I didn't like him. I don't know why but he scared me. I ran out of the building and into the crowded street almost running into people as I weaved my way through the thick crowd.
"Hey where do you think you're going?" I heard a deep voice ask. I kept on running too scared to do anything else. My heart pounded in my ears as I ran into a dark ally and was stuck at a dead end. Looking around I see a small crate and crawled in trying to hide from everything. I saw a dark shadow block the little light that did get into the ally before a pink haired girl popped up at the entrance of my hiding place.
"Hey Kenny I found her." She said smiling. I tried to press myself further into the cage but I was already at the back. I tried to find an escape, but when I found none I just stayed put hoping they would give up on me.
"Yachiru, back up. You're scaring her." The deep voice said again. The girl who I now know is named Yachiru backed up with a small frown before looking up and smiling.
"How are we going to get her out then Kenny?" She asked. I heard him sigh before a large hand scooped up the girl and heavy footsteps started to lead away from me. I sighed before I decided to go to sleep in the crate.
Mana's POV-
Several hours had passed since I had the run in with the lieutenant that looked like he had a pineapple tuck on the top of his head. I had spent a good hour wandering around, all but wallowing in my self pity and guilt. Soon enough the meeting had let out and Mayuri had found me. He was mad. As I had figured. Nemu had held him off from dragging either of us down the street. We traveled back to the Ninth Division headquarters, not stopping in any room before disappearing into the depths of the building.
I lay my body back on the table, taking a deep breath as I do so. I had changed clothes as Mayuri and Nemu had prepared everything. My old Espada clothes served as good clothes for his experiments he did on me now a days. The top left most of my body bare and from where there had been a bit of a scuffle a couple weeks ago between me and him the legs of it were ripped off. Nemu had hemmed them when Mayuri wasn't paying attention. The truth is everytime I lay back on this table I get terrified.
I close my eyes, trying to focus on a memory to ignore the poking and prodding from the man. If I was lucky I fell asleep. That's what I am trying to do. I close my eyes, biting my full bottom lip roughly. His hands weren't exactly the warmest things to have poking around on a body. Memory. Memory. What was the last good one I had? Ah. There it was. I let out a slow breath focusing everything on that one moment in my mind.
I was dancing. It wasn't a rare thing back when I was in Hueco Mundo. It took up time that I used to spend killing things or devouring other hollows. My bare feet spun gracefully on the cold tile floor of the throne room that was once used by Aizen. My long white hair was pulled into a braid that hung down over my right shoulder, bumping into my arm every so often as I spun. I was humming softly to myself, giving me something to move to. I could hear the footsteps of other people in the building.
There were the light footsteps of Nel, the heavier more aggravated ones of Grimmjow, then the most familiar ones. They were heavy but gentle. The thumps they made were never longer than a millisecond long. I Felt a pair of arms wrap around my body, a familiar action. I felt the mouth against my neck, completely bypassing any gentle kisses that most would leave. Instead it brought a set of teeth into the soft skin leaving a moment of searing pain before having it soothed with the soft feeling of his lips. "You're mine." At that point in my life I didn't mind those words. They always made some sense of feeling come up. I knew the way he meant them. It wasn't love, it was possession at it's purest form. Haru got mad if I even so much touched or was touched by anyone. IT didn't matter if it was innocent or a bit less innocent.
I didn't want to leave him. Which was why I all but followed him to my undoing. Our relationship had been what one could call normal until we figured out, or more he figured out being together staved off the empty feelings. The others did the same things. I grew accustomed to waking up with scratches on my back and bruises on my body from those same teeth that had just sunk into my neck. They were so familiar, which was why I didn't make any noises when he did what he did. "Always," I muttered, the same exchange that had happened so many times before.
His right hand moved from my waist to run down my, digging his fingers into the flesh for a moment before letting go of me completely. "Don't forget it," He ordered before turning and walking back out the way he came in. I raised my hand to trace the bruise forming on my neck. I had to say they weren't the greatest thing in the world. Especially since compared to everywhere else my neck was my weak point. It was where I actually felt pain. Standing there in the throne room I should have realized that the calm that the entire world of Hollows was experiencing would only last for so long.
I was woken up by a swift shove, my body ending up on the cold floor. I had in fact fallen asleep and slept through the procedures. I push myself up to my knees and take a deep breath. I place my hand on my neck, feeling the thick bandage that rested at the base of it, covering part of my shoulder. Nemu was the only one left in the room seeing as Mayuri was done with me. "I am supposed to find what you eat again," the girl explained softly. It wasn't like a meek thing. She knew what was going to happen and it was. I'm not about to disagree with her.
I quickly change back into my uniform, wincing slightly as the fabric runs up against the bruises that some of the other needles and god knows what else had left. The fabric did cover them all, save for the large bandage placed on my neck. I Follow Nemu out of the room, staying quiet for our walk. I hated having to use Haru to ignore things. I hated it. I didn't want to think about him. I wanted to erase him from my mind completely. Obviously it wasn't working.
The thing about the food was simple. Mayuri was tired of me losing weight and him having to all but cram food down my throat. The different divisions usually had different types of had already exhausted the Ninth, the Fourth, the Third and the tenth. They had all told him not to come back with me unless it was just me and Nemu. So that's what we had been doing. Today was the eleventh. I found little enjoyment out of all of this. Compared to souls and hollows…food was empty. It was terrible. There was nothing to it.
I follow Nemu into the Eleventh headquarters and listen to the voices. "He was dragging her down thes street by her hair and she gets mad at me," a familiar voice says. Fabulous. Pineapple head was here too. I roll my eyes as Nemu and I make it into the room. "Is every person in the Ninth Division a loon?"
A man with black hair and feathers sticking up off of the corner of one of his eyes looks over at me and Nemu. My eyes hold no glare, they hold nothing for him to get any emotion from. I'm not feeling anything, nothing other than the usual guilt and boredom. "Sit and eat Renji. Before you dig yourself a bigger hole," the guy says giving me the last part to the Lieutenants name. I wait for the division to sit down before me and Nemu find a place to sit. My body plops itself down next to the man with black hair and the feathers. The captain is sitting at the end of the table, a crate settled next to him. I ignore it for the most part.
I fiddle with the hem of my sleeve while Nemu grabs things off of plates a look of disgust on her features at times. I glance over to her only to catch the eye of the insufferable pineapple haired boy again. He looks away quickly, returning to his conversation with a rather bald man. A plate is set down in front of me with several different things of food sitting on it. They were only enough for one bite of each. They still didn't seem appetizing at all.
First something simple-ish. A grape. That would work. I pick it up and take a small bite out of it, only to plop it back down on the plate, my nose scrunched up with disgust. "I can't do this Nemu," I say quietly to the girl sitting next to me. "Just tell Chameleon boy that I ate," I plead with her. She shakes her head. I Knew it. I actually have to find something I can eat. I give a tiny groan, causing the boy next to me to turn and look at me. When I look up at him he turns back to his conversation, only a moment of eye contact between us.
Fifteen minutes later I had forced myself to swallow the test that was bread. Just no. No. I couldn't eat this. Give me a soul or something! C'mon, I wasn't made to eat this stuff. I place my boney fingers on my temples and move them in circular motions. I feel a small thump on my shoulder to see it's the pretty boy next to me. He's holding some form of pretzel stick out that's covered in chocolate. I tentatively take it out of his hand, almost as though I'm worried it would burn me. I chip a small piece off and don't have the urge to spit it out. I take another small bite off of the end and scrunch up my eyebrows. I sit it down on the plate and look over to him. He was looking away. I was used to the taste of skin and souls and…This was a terrible idea.
I take his face in both of my hands and pull his face down to my level, running my tongue up the side of his face slowly. I was comparing the tastes between the two items. The thing he handed me was actually better. Though he tasted better than the rest of the food on my plate. I plop back down with a pleased smile on my face and pick the stick back up. Nemu looks over at me and jots down a single word on a note book. 'Pocky.' Whatever that was….I break a piece of the stick off and look back over to the guy next to me again. His face was a shade that matched blood. "Thanks for this," I say waving the stick around, not totally sure what to call it. "It tastes much better than you, you know," I explain settling into my seat munching on the last of it.
"I told you, loons," Renji mutters from his spot before shutting his mouth up with a piece of bread. He was still looking at me from the corners of his eyes. After I finish the stick I run my toungue over my lips. I hadn't had anything that good since the first soul I devoured. This had to be good. It had to.