"Up! Up!"
I stared down into him from my standing position without any falter in my unamused gaze.
"No."
"Up!" He commanded.
"No." I repeated.
He looked at me with frustration, and breathed in deeply through his nose.
"Up." He repeated with new determination.
I cracked a smirk and crossed my arms.
"No." I repeated smugly.
He stared into my own lavender eyes with the most bravado he could possibly muster. When I didn't break his gaze, he began to falter and quickly admitted defeat—he started crying.
"What's wrong, Kazui-kun? Okaa-san will be right there!" I could hear Orihime calling from the other room.
"Dammit," I muttered. This was why I shouldn't be left with kids.
I picked up the toddler swiftly, and balanced him against my right hip as I held him up with my right arm. I narrowed my eyes at him as he sucked in gasps from crying.
"Happy now?" I asked him.
He wiped his eyes and looked around, then looked back at me and grinned as if he wasn't just crying two seconds ago. He giggled loudly and wiggled around in excitement before putting both of his hands on my face.
"Kazui," I growled in warning.
He grabbed both my cheeks and began pulling my face in excitement.
"Oi! Knock it off!" I glared.
He didn't get the memo from my irritated tone—he just giggled and pulled more. I was so terrible with kids…all adult mentality was thrown away in an instant.
"Fine! Two can play at this game, gaki!" I slurred through my partially opened mouth.
I pulled his cheek out with my free hand—to which the kid only smiled more. I thought that maybe he'd let go when it started to get painful, but the damn gaki was only having more fun with it! The kid's open mouth was an escape route for drool to drip down on me.
"O-Oi! Suck it up, gaki!"
Only laughter as a response. The drool dripped onto me.
"Kami! Why are you being gross?" I growled at the kid.
"Aren't you the spitting image of maternal affection,"
I looked up from the Kazui's face to see Hitsugaya leaning up against the entryway; a snicker threatening to escape him. I blushed and grunted from the situation, but before I could make my rebuttal, Kurosaki walked in from behind Hitsugaya and spotted the scene Kazui and I were making.
"Kazui! That's not very nice!" Kurosaki scolded lightly as he marched over.
He took the boy from my arms and held him up at his own eye level as I wiped the kid's drool from my sleeve.
"Kazui, apologize." He ordered sternly.
Kazui looked back at me, and we stared at each other intensely before his smile disappeared.
"S-Sowie," he looked away.
I squinted at him in a scrutinizing fashion. "Yeah, yeah, apology accepted." I crossed my arms with a held back pout.
"There's a good boy, Kazui," Kurosaki smiled and positioned the boy comfortably. "Lets go get Okaa-san so that we can say goodbye,"
Kurosaki turned back toward the entryway he came from, and right as he passed through it, Kazui turned back to look at me over his shoulder and stuck his tongue out at me.
"You little—!"
I childishly pulled down an eyelid and stuck my tongue out back at him. It wasn't until Hitsugaya chuckled that I remembered he was even there. I sucked back my tongue and turned around toward the window behind me in embarrassment.
"Say one word, Hitsugaya, I dare you." I threatened.
"I think I'll save it for later," the male replied with tease lacing his words.
"Wonderful. Just wonderful." I huffed internally.
Hitsugaya's footsteps approached me, and since I heard the cushion of the nearby couch softly exude air, I assume he sat down.
"So what's the next destination, chauffeur?"
"Since we're back in the area, Urahara's. Now that you're healed, it'll be easier to work with you since you aren't in so much pain. Who knows, maybe Urahara already figured something out." Hitsugaya shrugged.
"I see." I commented back.
Hopefully there would be something he could go off of to get this damn thing off me. The longer I had it on, the more anxiety it gave me. Going along with that, the longer we stayed at Kurosaki's, the more I actually began to worry. They had a three year old—I didn't want the kid to die because of me. I'm sure that Kurosaki and his wife would be fine, but putting their child in unnecessary danger was completely unfair.
"Kiteyama-san! Toushirou-kun! I have your things ready for you!" Orihime called.
Hitsugaya grimaced at the name, and I of course had to chime in on it for my character's sake.
"What's wrong, Toushirou-kun?" I smirked.
He huffed as he got up. "For years, I've been telling these people that it's Hitsugaya-Taichou, but it never seems to actually leave an imprint."
"Well, when did they first meet you? Was there something different about you then than there is now?" I asked.
"Never mind it." He said lowly as he started walking off.
"Uh oh, did I hit a nerve?" I grinned.
"No." Hitsugaya shot back.
"Bull! I'll find out what it is sooner or later, Hitsugaya!" I came up behind him.
He shook his head with a sigh and passed through the entryway toward the clinic section of the house.
"Good luck."
We approached the front clinic doors to see the storybook-perfect family standing in front of us with smiles on their faces and a general sensation of warmth emanating from them. Was this what normal people were like?
"Here's your clothes, Kiteyama-san; I've also packed each of you some snacks in case of an emergency. I know that the two of you will be travelling a lot, so I figured that giving you something in case would be a good idea." Orihime smiled.
I took the clothes and packs she made and shoved them in my purse.
"Thanks, I appreciate it, Orihime," I bowed.
"Yes, thank you," Hitsugaya joined me.
"N-Not a problem at all! No need to be so formal!" Orihime giggled.
"Toushirou, keep me in the loop." Kurosaki said seriously.
Hitsugaya nodded, and then we both bowed. "See you guys, thanks again," I threw a hand up lazily.
"See ya!" Kurosaki and Orihime replied.
As I turned to walk away, something warm and partially squishy seized my calf. I looked down to see Kazui looking up at me with tears welling in his little eyes.
"See ya later, kid." I said to him.
Clearly it didn't suffice—he started crying.
"O-Oi! What happened? Why are you crying?" I stuttered as a tight-lipped stiffness followed.
"Oh, sorry Kiteyama-san!" Orihime giggled. "Kazui-kun seems to be attached to you," she smiled.
"How? I only watched him for five minutes!" I shook my leg to get him off.
"Kids like who they like," Kurosaki grinned.
My eye twitched as I raised my leg up in a crunch.
"Oi. I have to go." I told him—he shook his head violently as a response. This was getting irritating. "What's it gonna take for you to let me go?" I bargained.
"Up!" He stopped immediately and looked at me seriously.
I sighed.
"How did I know?" I stared blankly.
I picked him up and held him on my right side again, and the deep frown he had flipped to a bright smile.
"Happy now?" I asked as I narrowed my eyes.
He nodded and wrapped his arms around my neck.
"Bye bye, Nee-chan!" He said.
Orihime let out a huge 'Aww' as I blushed profusely.
"O-Oi! I'm not your 'Nee-chan!'"
Kazui giggled before Orihime came to get him.
"Sorry, Kiteyama-san, looks like you're going to have to come back to visit soon!" she grinned.
I huffed and looked away.
"Yeah, yeah, bye kid."
I shoved my hands in my pockets to keep myself in line, but as we walked through the door, I turned back to see the smiling gaki. He waved at me, and I let a wave and smile slip from over my shoulder.
"You two seem to really like each other—your personalities seem in sync," Hitsugaya commented as the door shut.
"Shut it, Toushirou," I blushed in embarrassment as I shot back at him.
"Oi—"
"Come on then, let's go." I smirked as I cut him off.
He glared at me, and I glared right back at him.
"Bakayaro," he muttered under his breath.
As I leaned back to look at the sky victoriously, he swooped me up without warning and took off.
I cowered into him as I'd grown accustomed to doing, but this time I let one hand go to punch him lightly in the shoulder. What a freaking jerk! I wasn't a Kami-damned ragdoll!
Before I knew it, we were at Urahara's, and when Hitsugaya set me down, I walked away in the sassiest way I could pull off without falling.
"I'm not apologizing for that punch! You deserved it!" I hollered over my shoulder before knocking on the door in front of us.
"You call that a punch?" Hitsugaya teased.
I craned my neck to look back at him with an icy glare. He chuckled and patted my shoulder as he opened the door in front of me.
"After you," he smirked.
"Ladies first," I motioned, shooting an annoyed smirk back at the jerk-wad.
"Kiteyama-san! You're back! Wonderful!" Urahara said from inside the hallway.
I huffed and walked in.
"Nice to officially meet you," I held out a hand.
"Hai hai, nice to meet you too; Urahara Kisuke." the shady man smiled.
"A pleasure," I took my hand back.
"Please, come right this way," the man turned and walked ahead of us down the hallway.
I looked back at Hitsugaya who returned my irritable gaze with one of amusement.
"This isn't over." I turned forward.
He let out just a single chuckle. "Hai, hai,"
He followed a few steps behind me, and Urahara led us both to a room garnished with scientific equipment. He had random things scattered about, and a couple contraptions I couldn't even begin to explain that looked like they'd explode at any given moment. He slid some paperwork to the side of the desk pushed against the wall, and pulled out the chair that was tucked in.
"Kiteyama-san," he motioned to the seat.
I walked over and sat down, placing my wrist atop the table as I did. Urahara took a stool with wheels and wheeled it over to me before stepping to the cabinet and fiddling through the objects inside.
He grabbed a few things and set them on the table, then proceeded to sit down and wheel himself in. He took the pair of goggles from the table and put them on, reminding me of a mad scientist getting ready to completely dissect some poor unfortunate soul for the Hell of it. I stifled a shudder and repeatedly told myself that it was just for the damn bracelet rather than the veins that ran through my wrist.
He took my wrist in his hand and hunched over for a better view. He then took a screw driver to the lock and poked around, making a few 'hmm's' and 'ah's' as he scraped the metal around. He removed the screw driver and grabbed a thin, sharp blade next. He tried to wedge the blade underneath a small rectangular panel, then when he was able to finally do it, he took a pair of tweezers and grabbed the propped up piece of metal to pry it off cautiously. Once the panel was delicately removed, the technology beneath it was revealed; a type of circuit-board that was encased with some weird type of white material. He held my wrist up to his eyes, and gently turned it so that he could get a full visual before proceeding.
"Looks like a variation of Seki-seki so far," he mumbled.
"That would make sense," Hitsugaya commented.
I didn't notice that Hitsugaya was hovering over me to get a visual on what was happening. He was so close again that I had to bite my lip, look away, and think angry thoughts to calm myself.
"It does, but there's something else to it aside from just Seki-seki; even with Seki-seki we still should've been able to separate her from the gigai," Urahara moreover said to himself.
He set my wrist back down on the table, and grabbed the small blade again.
"I want to see what's under the circuit-board; maybe there's a—"
As soon as he tried to pry the circuit-board off, my body shot back in convulsions. It was like I was being shocked and stabbed with needles while being unable to move all at the same time.
"Kiteyama!" I thought I heard.
Someone grabbed my shoulders to try and hold me still while someone else tried to examine my face. I couldn't stop shaking or even move my eyes from the spot on the ceiling they were glued to. My vision wavered in and out, and by that point I couldn't tell what was happening anymore. All that I saw when my vision decided to grace me with partial cooperation was the brown wooden ceiling and stars shooting from my periphery toward the center focal point. All I could hear was high-pitched ringing that literally drowned out even my own heartbeat. It felt like hours had gone by, yet the actual electrocution must've only been for a few seconds.
Once my muscles ceased their stiff spasm, I felt myself slump forward, and my eyes shut from exhaustion. I felt hands on me, and my head landed on something soft rather than hard. My breathing was staggered and uncoordinated, and my heartbeat was racing—I began to panic internally with the thought that if I didn't calm down, my heart would rupture inside my chest.
As the ringing dissipated, I started hearing mumbles, and focused every fiber of my being concentrating on them.
"H-How…how m-much…"
I paused to listen, but the rest of the sentence didn't reach me.
"How much? How much what?"
I began to try and move, and when I did I felt a swift current of air in front of me, as if someone knelt down to level with my seated position. I opened my eyes and finally focused on Hitsugaya's worried ones in front of me. Right when I thought I was going to be okay, it felt like a heavy weight thumped down within me; as if someone dropped a bowling ball off the top of a building.
I gasped harshly, and started panicking in my conscious and moveable state.
"Kiteyama, breathe," Hitsugaya urged.
I had no idea what was even happening, but I went into full-on panic attack because of it. My chest heaved in pain and I couldn't catch my own breathe. I had to calm myself down, I had to think of somet—
"Kiteyama," Hitsugaya called gently.
My panicked, shifting eyes stopped and focused on him immediately. He was calm and collected, yet seriousness edged his features—he knew that he had to be cautious and precise.
"Breathe with me, okay?"
I stared into him and was in such a panic that I had no choice but to take him on his offer.
He removed his left hand off my shoulder, and slowly waved inward and up toward himself with the inhale, as if guiding the air into him. I followed suit, and tried my best to inhale with him—to little avail. He waved his hand down and out, and then repeated the process again with me. He did this several times until my breathing fell into sync with his own, and when it did, I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees.
"Thanks...I needed that." I muttered barely above a whisper.
I was so embarrassed now that I didn't have the gall to look up at him. How did he do it? How did Miyuki do it? How in the fiery depths of Hell did these two people know just how to scrape under the surface? It hadn't even been a full day, and yet within the past few hours Hitsugaya had proven to me that he had what it took to be my next Miyuki—as selfish as that sounded. The problem was…I just couldn't bring myself to let him in.
"Don't worry about it," he responded back.
He took his hand that was still on my shoulder and gave me a quick pat before standing back up. I felt like such a weakling from the fact that I had to be babied like that—it twisted my gut in a completely dissatisfied emotion.
"You sure scared us, Kiteyama-san," Urahara began. "Please, let me have a quick look at you,"
I looked up at him while pointedly refusing to make eye contact with Hitsugaya as he inspected my retinas.
"Your eyes aren't dilated anymore; you seem to be okay for the time being." He smiled softly. "Could you please tell me what exactly it was that you felt just now please?"
"It felt like I was being electrocuted mostly, and it felt like something hit me toward the end of it. Other than that, when I broke out of it I was left in a state of disarray from what happened." I explained half-heartedly.
"'Like something hit you?' Could you explain that a bit more thoroughly?" Urahara asked.
"I don't really know how to phrase it other than feeling like something heavy crashed into me internally—maybe like a heavy ball being thrown at you that you weren't prepared for that ended up knocking you down like a bowling pin? That's the best I got." I shrugged.
No one said anything as they both tried to understand just what I meant by the statement. It was weird enough as it was, and I felt like if I tried to explain it any more I'd come off as crazy. Then again, wasn't that my life now?
"Your soul was more than likely trying to escape the gigai, but was shot back at you by the unknown element—a rebound if you will," Urahara explained.
"That sounds like what happened." I agreed—it made total sense.
"I feel as if there's something else to it aside from the substance." Hitsugaya folded his arms.
"I feel the same. For the moment, any more inspection is out of the question. If it had that reaction from that miniscule amount of tampering, any more could really hurt Kiteyama-san. I want to perform a quick—harmless—scan lastly however; I should at the very least be able to find out some more about it from that." Urahara concluded.
Urahara walked back toward his cabinet of mysterious toys and dug around until he found a taser-like wand. He pressed a button in it, and it emitted a green beam of light from one conductor to the other. He held out his hand for me to supply my wrist, and I delivered before turning away and cringing like I was about to get a shot.
Urahara chuckled. "Don't worry, Kiteyama-san, this scan won't activate the defensive mechanism—I assure you,"
"Yeah, well, I'm not taking any chances," I muttered.
"I'm already done—see? That didn't hurt, did it?" the man grinned as he returned my wrist to my lap.
I pursed my lips and folded my wrist in as I crossed my arms and looked up at him.
"Give me the rest of the night to go over the data, and I'll hopefully have something we can work with." The undercover genius said.
"Thanks, Urahara," Hitsugaya told him.
"Yeah, thanks for helping me out. I appreciate it." I bowed curtly.
"Oh! I love this sort of thing—I should thank you for helping me. It's been a little boring around here lately," he grinned.
"Fancy that, even Shinigami get bored," I smirked as I got up.
"When you live as long as we do, you start running out of things to do," Urahara returned my smirk.
I turned to Hitsugaya, and as I opened my mouth to speak, my stomach sounded—taking the words out of my mouth.
"Hungry?"
"My stomach beat me to the punch." I sighed.
-x-x-
"Wow. I didn't think the guy did all that." I commented.
Kurosaki evidently saved Soul Society's ass a few times now; the oranged-haired, Shinigami-Quincy didn't look to me like he could pull any of that off, but at the same time, I wasn't that surprised when I really thought about it. Everything that I've been told for the last few hours sent an initial shock, but now I was starting to just take everything with a grain of salt rather than letting it frazzle me to no end. Well, that went for information anyway—who knows how I'd take seeing all these things come into play.
"As much as he doesn't look it, Kurosaki is one of the most powerful men I've ever met—its been proven again and again as time goes by. Lately it's been fairly quiet however, and with his family, he's slowed down even more. Now with what's happening with you, he seemed excited to assist us." Hitsugaya explained.
Hitsugaya had merged with his gigai, and we went out to eat at a restaurant a few towns over by bus. We now currently were on our way to some other town further away to keep the organization off our trail. Overall it'd been around four hours since we left Urahara's, and if I had to take a guess, it was around 22:00 already. We had gone over a few things about the Soul Society during this infernal bus ride, and I felt that I was finally starting to piece things together productively—taking bits of information and tying them into others rather than just accepting the facts flatly. My main concern that I kept to myself was what would happen to me once I returned to the Seireitei—would I go right back into working with Squad 13? Would I be discharged because I don't know how to do anything anymore? Where would I live? How would I get by? I left it alone since there was already a lot we were dealing with.
Silence fell between us after the extended explanation; my thoughts only wrapped around the 'what if's', while Hitsugaya focused on the miniscule amount of stars he could see out the window. Everything just felt so rushed that I mentally felt like I couldn't keep up even with my understanding. Physically, I walked the walk, and talked the talk, but overall my anxiety level for the past few days has been steadily rising—much to my dismay.
I started drifting in and out of sleep after a few more moments of silence. My mind's wheels constantly turning resulted in enough mental exhaustion that I was actually ready to knock out against the bus window. When the bus finally came to a stop, Hitsugaya nudged me gently with his elbow to signal that we were getting off. I flinched awake, and quickly stood up with him to exit the bus.
We walked down a couple blocks, until we came to an Inn. I furrowed my brows as I followed behind Hitsugaya into the Check-in lobby.
What was this suddenly? Of all places to take me? Hotels are only meant for one thing—I'd thought that he didn't want that.
"Hai; just one bed is fine," he answered the receptionist.
I'd been so naïve; thinking he wasn't like all other men. But hey, I guess even Shinigami didn't work for free—silly me. I should've known better than to assume that he actually was Price Charming...
I sighed.
Hitsugaya took the key for the room, and then turned toward me to signal he was ready to make our way over there.
"Is it at least smoking?" I asked as we walked.
"No, but I did ask about it for you. She said that you can stand on the balcony outside the room and smoke there instead. Here," he handed me an ashtray before pressing the up arrow on the elevator. "You should really think about kicking that habit—you can end up with so many health problems, Kiteyama."
The elevator light above the doors lit up in yellow before making a loud bing-noise. We stepped in, and Hitsugaya pressed the button for the third floor.
"Yeah, well at least it'll help put an end to me quicker; Hell, maybe it'll take me out before things get crazier than they already are." I tapped the ashtray with a nail to make some type of sound that was above the level of background music.
"Pessimism is something you should work on too," he smirked.
"Can sarcasm be the next one? Because I'd just fucking love to be able to be a functioning member of society without mocking people to thrill my sick sense of humor." I smirked.
He shook his head with a light smirk on his face. The elevator stopped and we walked out of it and down the hallway.
"You're such a card—that's for sure." He sighed as he inserted the key into the door.
"Only if it's the Ace, or the Jack. The King and Queen are too snooty for my preference." I smirked.
He ushered me inside, and as I proceeded into the room, he turned on the lights before continuing our conversation.
"I'm shocked; I figured you'd have settled for the Queen and nothing less," he took off his coat and set it over the padded wooden desk chair along the wall.
"Why would I ever want to be the laziest, demanding, and pompous woman out there? I mean, the only one in the deck that makes up for it is the Queen of Hearts—if I had to be one it'd be her since I'm already skilled in the art of tugging on men's heart-strings. Other than that, no deal." I smirked as I sat on the plush mattress.
The room itself was above the standard filth I was used to, and I was honestly the slightest bit impressed. It had a pretty spacious western-style bed dressed with a scarlet duvet cover that had simple, yet elegant patterns stitched throughout it. The pillows looked extremely comfortable rather than worn out with tattered cases as well. I hadn't seen the bathroom yet, but I already assumed that if the bed was nice, then the bathroom would be right up in that same alley.
Hitsugaya wandered over to the sliding glass door that separated the room from the balcony, and opened it up to let the brisk night air in before returning to the table and taking some belongings out of his pockets. He unbuttoned the barrel cuffs on his long sleeved shirt, and I accepted that as a signal it was actually going to happen.
I took a deep breath, and began to fiddle through my purse in search of my usual supplement.
"Just let me have a cigarette first." I muttered.
He gave me a questioning look. "If a cigarette is first, then what are you implying comes second?"
I stopped mid-stride and narrowed my eyes in returned confusion. "What do you mean?"
"That's what I'm asking you."
"Right, and I'm in turn asking you."
"But what is it that you're even asking?"
"Clearly what you meant by your statement."
He chuckled and let one corner of his lips turn up.
"Okay. Let's try this again; I'm confused by why asked to have a cigarette first. It seemed as if you were implying that something was about to happen and you wanted to postpone it for a moment." He explained.
"Well yes—that's exactly what I meant." I replied mirroring the same amused facial expression.
"Okay. So, in return to your request, I asked what it is you're thinking comes after you finish your cigarette."
"To which I asked you what you meant because you're the one that brought me here."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
I rolled my eyes and chuckled.
"Okay—let me just elaborate the obvious. You brought me to a hotel, which means that you're asking for payment for the help you've given me for the past few nights. So, before I pay you, I'm going to have a cigarette first since its been a few hours since I last had one." I explained with sass.
"Payment? When did I ask you for payment?" he questioned.
"When you brought me here—clearly." I chuckled.
"No, not clearly. What kind of payment do you think I'm asking you for?" he questioned seriously; the smile from his face gone.
"Sex. What else? Why would you bring me to a hotel in the first place? Unless you're travelling far abroad, when a man takes a woman to a hotel, it usually all pans out to being for that reason. Aside from that, you already put two and two together and figured out I don't have a lot of money—why not just have me perform to pay you? It makes sense; I'm a fucking whore anyway, minus well use me for what I'm experienced at." I turned away and chuckled, walking out the door as I readied my cigarette.
"Besides; I don't like owing anyone anyway. I can pay fo—"
His hand took my shoulder lightly, and I turned around to look up at the man peering down at me.
"Kiteyama, I would never ask you to do something like that for me. I didn't bring you here so that you could pay me back sexually; I brought you here so that you could sleep somewhere comfortably for a few hours. You've been through a lot the past few days, and were even falling asleep on the bus; I brought you here so you can relax for a short while. I'm not helping you because I expect something in return; I'm helping you because you don't deserve to be treated as you have, or to continue to live that way. There's much more to life than that, and it isn't fair that the life you had was taken from you. I'm fulfilling my obligation not only as a Taichou, but as a decent man; I'm not going to just standby and watch as someone is broken down to pieces in front of me."
He stopped to see if I would say anything, but all I could do was stare blankly. I couldn't even process just what the Hell even happened. Someone doing something for no payment—just what fuck was this guy?
He took his hand back, and turned to look at the distance with an emotion I could only make out as irritation. "Please don't ever think that I would even think of treating you that way. That type of horrendous behavior is something I would never take pride in—for anyone to treat someone like that is completely unacceptable."
He looked back at me to see me still suck in my surprised stupor; cigarette in my frozen raised hand.
"Got it?" he asked.
I slowly nodded my head. He turned back around and walked forward to lean against the rail. A few moments of chirping crickets passed while I remained in my awestruck void, and then finally I broke out of the stillness and leaned beside him.
I lit my cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled slowly.
I placed my own hand on his shoulder, to which he turned to look me in the eye. I smiled up at him, gazing into his kind orbs with sincere appreciation—something it seemed more and more that I was going to have to get used to.
"You really are a Prince Charming,"