Chapter 16: An explanation owed.
Zaraki sat atop the tallest rock as did I on another, and listened to what he had to say.
"What did you need to talk to me about…sir." I asked, brushing dirt from my shihakushō.
"Look, you don't have to say 'sir' now, just when we're on duty. Anyway, I wanted to congratulate you…you deserve it, especially after what you've been through." The last comment made me gasp as though something icy had pierced my skin. Zaraki noticed my sudden change and looked at me, worried.
"Sorry, I just…I was a bit surprised that's all." We sat in silence for a bit and watched the river flowing through the rocks; listening to the 'whoosh' of the water calmed me and made me want to dive deep into it.
"Was there anything else you wanted to talk to me about…Zaraki." Saying his name felt better – 'sir' just didn't suit him at all. I saw Zaraki flinch slightly and his expression changed on his face.
"Ah, yes…there was something else, but I'm still unsure whether I should tell you. Miss Unohana said I should, but perhaps it's too soon – I think we should wait until you've settled in properly, with your new Company…and that aristocratic snob, Kuchiki." he spat.
"Don't hold up (!) That's my Captain you're talking about, so you might want to be careful in future." I laughed, as did Zaraki. "Don't you like him? I know what he's like, but still."
"Kuchiki is a noble…and I'm a commoner who lived in the worst parts of Rukongai. Do you see? We're too different to get on well, and our ways of thinking are totally different. We constantly argue, but we have to be careful for obvious reasons." he looked up at the sky and twisted his long hair on his finger. The bells at the ends tinkled and shone in the sunlight.
Several minutes later, I stood up to stop myself from getting too stiff and kicked my sandals off. As I jumped onto the cool grass and sat down and dipped my feet in the water: the water felt like it was holding onto my feet. I touched the water with my fingers and dragged it upwards to create a spike and froze it. I curled my hand round and felt the ice connect with me and threw it upwards before Zaraki noticed what was going on. The ice turned to water inched from my head and rained down on me. Zaraki looked surprised at what happened and dipped his feet in too.
"Jeez, that's cold! Can't you feel it?" I shook my head as I made objects with the water by turning it to ice. I wondered why I could do this and thought it might be related to Taura, my zanpaku-tō.
"I overheard Kuchiki talking to the Captain-General at the meeting today about you." He said as he kicked water at me but I turned it to ice and stopped it.
"It's not good to eavesdrop, you know." I laughed. "What did he say?"
"Apparently, he met you a few weeks ago at night here, when you were practising your funny tricks with water. And that you walked with him…and that he had high hoped for you, which is highly unusual for him to say. He said that the tricks you did were extremely impressive and that he hoped you became his Assistant Captain. For some reason he seemed different when he talked about you – he was politer and didn't look down on you like you were dirt."
"Zaraki, you've got to be politer about him since I am his Assistant Captain now. Anyway, all he did was ask me to take a walk with him through the forest over there." I pointed, but suddenly realised that somebody was watching us from across the field. I squinted to get a better sight of them, but they were well hidden, however they hadn't noticed I spotted them. I pulled on my sandals and picked up Taura and slung her across my back.
"Where are you going?" Zaraki asked.
"There's somebody over there. I'm going to look." I set off, but Zaraki stopped me.
"Wait. Let me go with you – it might be a Vamp." He quickly pulled his sandals on and grabbed his zanpaku-tō. We flew to the other side of the field, but the person noticed and ran into the forest.
As we dodged the trees, we noticed that we were getting further and further away from the main part of the Seireitei and that we would be getting closer to Rukongai. Suddenly, the person crashed down to the ground but quickly stood up and ran away again. I picked up speed and climbed up a tree and bounded from branch to branch. Zaraki knew to stay on the ground and act as a decoy but to also keep track of the intruder. I was quickly gaining speed and closing the gap until he realised I was directly behind him and raised his staff to attack, but I grabbed his shirt and pulled him to the ground where I unsheathed Taura; the person scrambled away and crouched, ready to attack. Zaraki was well out of the way, up in the trees, as I bared my teeth and growled quietly. The intruder stepped back and gulped. He suddenly looked scared and looked back, but not before I leapt into the air and brought Taura down. Right at the moment the sword was about to touch his skin, he rolled away and brought his staff up to counter. The boy was slightly shorter than me, although he was extremely muscular and his swing was powerful. He lunged for another attack, but I shunpo'd behind him and stabbed him through his stomach. The boy fell slowly and clutched his staff tightly as he hissed and groaned. There was a 'whoosh' of wind and suddenly another person slammed into the ground and guarded him; I crouched and bared my teeth like he did and hissed loudly. The second boy (more a man) stumbled but hissed back – what was going on? I felt different – my vision felt slightly distorted and as though something was fighting me inside. I dodged the attack by the second boy and ran up the tree before he had time to realise I was gone and jumped down onto him. He flipped forwards, throwing me off balance and punched me in the gut hard. Something snapped inside me and erupted. The two boys sensed my change and looked at me as I crouched, holding Taura outwards and growled viciously. Something felt as though it was creeping over my head and over my eyes. Zaraki looked on in horror as the second boy that turned up picked the other one up and ran away. I hissed and shot off after them like a lightning bolt, but Zaraki jumped down and held his hand out to stop me. My shoulder slammed into his hand and I was knocked off balance, but bounced back up and howled at him – what was I doing? I felt as though I had no control over my body and lunged to attack Zaraki…NO! I was screaming inside my head, over and over again, but thankfully Zaraki escaped in time. My vision went blurry for a second and I collapsed and blacked out…
I opened my eyes. I saw a snake looking down at me as my eyes adjusted. Taura? What was she doing here? Actually, where was I? I sat up and saw something that looked like a mirror, only, there was something in it, moving by itself. It was me…only…I was wearing a red shihakushō and a something that looked like a hollow mask covered the right side of my face. I stared at it as it seemed to be shouting something and howling. The snake nudged me and whispered in my ear.
"Be careful. Don't provoke it." Taura said gently, her voice resonating.
"Wha…what is it? Where am I?" I asked her, still staring at the thing.
"Don't you remember? Surely you should recognise your world?" the snake looked puzzled for a moment as brief memories flashed back.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot for a moment Taura! But, that still doesn't explain what that is." I said pointing to the thing that was quite clearly going crazy.
"Oh dear, it doesn't look like you know yet. That's the Hollow that's been trying to take over you – this barrier has been here for 36 years. I built it to try and protect you as the Hollow managed to get through and briefly take over your body. I managed to repel it, but it's becoming strong again, and I'll need help this time." Taura had a somewhat sad look on her face as she looked across at the violent…wait, a Hollow? A Hollow in this world? Wha…it…it…it was trying to…take over me…what the hell is going on?
"What do you mean Taura? A Hollow? How can that thing be here?" everything was fading again, but Taura managed to say one last thing.
"Go back! They'll explain everything, even if you don't remember, and come back when you know what it is." Her voice echoed as I fell into the black abyss once again.
My eyes flashed open only to see Zaraki staring down at me.
"Zooi! What the hell do you think you were doing?! Never mind that, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" Come to think of it, everything hurt. My limbs ached and creaked as I sat up and my neck crunched. I remembered nothing of how I got here, except that I was chasing somebody.
"I'm sorry Zooi. I shouldn't have let you fight; I never thought this would happen." Zaraki whispered sadly. "It was too irresponsible of me and you nearly got out of control." He stood up and looked away at me.
"Wait, would do you mean? What happened? Stop avoiding it, and just tell me! You need to explain, right now before anything happens. I don't even know what just happened!" I said desperately. Zaraki turned round and nodded in agreement.
"True, I must to tell you now. Let's go back, and I'll explain everything. Can you stand?" I nodded and stood with him. We flew through the trees again, avoiding anybody that we passed until we reached the river again. It was mid-afternoon and sun scorched the grass; we sat atop the rocks again and Zaraki looked somewhat pained.
"Please Zaraki…what's going on? Why do I keep going like this? What's happening to me?" I asked quietly and looked at the sunlight that danced across the river.