"For someone who doesn't remember right from left—you sure are a cocky one, Kiteyama-san,"
She extended her right arm and opened up her palm; on cue of the full extension of her fingers, a black concentrate of reiatsu appeared in her palm—in a blink taking shape of her weapon. She took hold of the darkened silver scythe with vigor and emphasis on the control—spinning the weapon in a harsh slash in front of her.
"You're trying to act tough, but you and I both know you don't remember how to fight. You don't stand a chance against me. I'll tell you what's going to happen; I'm going to take both your arms for crossing me, then I'll drag the rest of your unconscious corpse back. Befitting for someone who crosses a Kami, no?"
A Kami? This bitch was so full of herself it hurt.
She was right partially however—I knew the basics of hand-to-hand, but I had no idea how to tackle someone with a weapon like hers. Luckily the two Trench Knives in my hands were comfortable, and a type of weapon I was used to handling—literally one of the only upsides to this situation.
I glanced behind myself; before anything, I needed to make sure to drag this battle elsewhere. If we stayed positioned here, then Tou—
"You don't have time to worry about him," Koizumi whispered in my ear.
When…did she…
"Move!" my zanpakutou shouted.
I jutted forward to barely miss her downward swipe at me—part of the sheath on my back taking the brunt of the attack. I quickly spun on my heel to attempt a horizontal slash—which she countered immediately.
"Fool!"
"Is that all?" she grinned as she pushed her scythe against me. My hand shook at the tremendous force behind the guard, and I grit my teeth trying to push her back.
"Stop this now, Akinoyo! You can't win against her!"
"If you're not going to say anything useful," I began; quickly throwing my left hand down and opening my palm. "Then shut up and stay the fuck out of my way!"
I heaved as hard, and as fast as I could; commanding the wood beneath the ground to mold to my will, and shoot up to take her out. The roots complied, and shot out of the ground to my right and at her; hardened and spiked as I'd intended. She pushed off me to escape, and I commanded the roots to keep pursuit.
"Stop it now, Akinoyo!" my zanpakutou urged to my deafened ears.
I quickly dipped my left forefinger into the reservoir of blood at my side from my self-inflicted wound, and used it to draw the same symbol on my other wrist.
"Don't! It's already too much as it is!"
I turned to Toushirou and brought down both my hands, using every fiber of my being to pull more timber to my aid. The earth trembled tremendously as the concrete below shot a boulder-filled dust cloud in defiance; the massive wooden fortress enclosing around Toushirou. The amount of concentration and reiatsu control needed to tackle the feat was so immense that I lost all feeling in my limbs. Although the action became grimmer each second that ticked by—I wasn't going to give up. If I could at least make—
All at once, the reiatsu I'd poured into the silent organism resisted me; the half-dome I'd begun to create by reconstructing and maturing the roots convulsing ferociously. Within seconds, the entity I failed to control revolted; shooting back all my reiatsu at me while completely ripping apart everything around me.
I screamed from the immense pain of the absorption, but I didn't have time to let myself react in any other way. Roots shot up from all over like kraken tentacles searching for a meal—the feeling of each of them rushing into me at once enough to make me start losing the last bit of control I had.
"You're slipping!"
Koizumi swiped at me at almost point-blank range, and I already knew it was too late for me. By the time I'd finished processing her sentence, the reaper already had me in her clutches.
My right arm lifted on its own—pumped full of reiatsu that penetrated through each pore painfully; reiatsu I hadn't called upon myself. The uncontrolled arm blocked the attack in the nick of time, and sent me flying back to tumble against the pavement.
"You imbecile! You're in the middle of a fight, and you don't even guard yourself? You lose control as I forewarned—causing additional damage to yourself—nearly destroy the entire area, and leave yourself wide-open for attack! You would've been dead if it weren't for me!" my zanpakutou screeched. As I coughed from the impact, my zanpakutou continued to reprimand me.
"Listen, you need to get out of here before it's too late! She'll leave him alone and go after us; more than likely dropping her control of time and going after us instead of finishing off Hitsugaya—let me—"
"No! I already said I'm not leaving him here! You're not a fucking mind reader—you don't know what she's going to do! She could very well kill him to have a better chance at me later! I'm staying whether you like it or not!" I argued back.
Koizumi's presence spiked above me, and as soon as I snapped my head to look up at the smirking reaper, she plunged in for the attack.
"Fine, but at a cost,"
That feeling of her taking over; the penetration of every pore at once with her massive reiatsu—I screamed just from how bad it hurt me. Amidst my screaming and nosebleed as my skin felt like it was ripping apart, she rolled me forward to my feet, and drew out more of the controlled fibers beneath me. They came up faster than I expected; countering Koizumi's attack mid-descent, toppling her enough to control the direction of their impact, and utilizing that advantage to smash her into the ground like an insect.
She rose me to my feet; cracking my neck, and stretching out my arms and legs by swiping the air in a controlled range.
"What are you doing?" I screeched internally—control of my actual vocal chords awarded to the possessor.
She wiped the blood trickling out of my nose on my sleeve before raising a single hand to regain control of the berserk entity that reprimanded me for excessive use. After she'd settled all the ones aside from the main offense, she decided to utilize my vocal chords to respond aloud.
"You've already squandered your chances of escaping with minimal damage from utilizing me; since you won't allow me to run, you leave me no choice but to make you stay alive."
"So you're taking the reigns?"
"Although that much should be obvious—let me spell it out for you: I'm taking over this fight whether you like it or not. Pay attention and you might learn something useful,"
Koizumi's reiatsu spike along with loud hacking noises had our attention. As the wood sputtered in each direction in chunks, she rose up to the sky, cracking her neck as she grinned down at me.
"You've changed—is this how you choose to utilize it?" Koizumi asked.
"Utilize it? What is that supposed to mean?"
My zanpakutou didn't grace her with an answer, instead she took charge. Using flash-steps, she went in with a speed that gave her such an immense momentum it was unreal. Rather than using the bladed part of the knives, she went in with the golden-brass knuckles; the extra reiatsu super-charging my right arm for a severe blow to the stomach.
Koizumi countered of course; the mid-section of the scythe's handle causing the metal to damage my knuckles with the impact. While she held the block, my other hand maneuvered for a swipe beneath the defense of her handle. She saw it coming of course—the clearly experienced murderous opponent evading it as quickly as possible. Koizumi pushed off me, and missed the full extent of the blow, but not all of it. My hand grazed over her lower torso; crossing over the slash Toushirou left earlier and causing her blood to splatter out.
My zanpakutou wasted no time in chasing her; immediately speeding toward her and attempting hand-to-hand. I began with a low-kick, and followed with a right-hooked knuckle-shot to the face—blocked by the back of the scythe's blade below, and parried by the tip of the handle above. Koizumi laughed that sickening laugh from earlier as she struck me in the face with the hilt, and I flew down with the head-shot through the atmosphere.
She appeared beneath me; ready to slice with her sickle unrepairable damage. My zanpakutou caught wind of this, and flipped me around to dive-bomb her with her next attack; calling upon the forces above ground to come at Koizumi from behind as she guarded with my left, and repositioned the right Trench Knife for a stab.
Koizumi was smarter than this though, and quickly flashed away to evade both attacks. As I dove in toward the sharp spikes of the wood, my zanpakutou concentrated her reiatsu in the nick of time; phasing us through her own attack to come out unscathed. She materialized my feet to get a good base for a leap, and back-flipped to materialize my body out of the timber to stand atop it. She quickly turned me to meet the overly-excited reaper; her tongue licking her lips sadistically as I parried her strike.
"Whatever this is—I'm loving it! It's been a while since I've had the pleasure of fighting someone that doesn't die within seconds!" she pushed off me to spin into her next attack; my panic fluttering internally at the entire bout.
While the façade my zanpakutou had was convincing, and even drove Koizumi to believe that we were on par; I knew by default that my zanpakutou was beginning to struggle. She had said that I wasn't ready for her, and I could tell that by the way my insides trembled—how much longer could I last with her in control?
"Not very much longer," she answered mentally before making me parry another attack, and run up along one of the branches she'd commanded. "Your body isn't accustomed to this type of strain; this isn't even all of my power, and yet, within an instant this body could collapse. I'm running out of time, Akinoyo."
I stopped, and she lifted up the roots under my feet to create a literal pedestal that lifted high above the ground. She did this last time as well; the ground-dweller having difficulty now that she'd established a center-point. Koizumi was chopping through the roots already shot her way like a Kami-damned lumberjack; more than likely stalling to get a grasp on whether or not I had other abilities. Luckily for me, it gave me time to come up with a strategy with my zanpakutou.
"If you say you're running out of time—then what is your game plan?" I asked as she shifted my weight for better control of the roots below.
"My 'game plan' is to figure out how to get her control to drop, and letting your 'guardian' take care of the rest. I've finally begun to slightly comprehend it; the familiar reiatsu she emits tells me that it's not going to be simple, but it's possible."
She stomped my foot down; sending a command through the shockwaves for the wood to make the ground beneath Koizumi's future path to cave upon arrival. As she prepped for the attack, I couldn't help but let my bubbling curiosity get the better of me.
"You find it familiar too? Then it's most definitely from the past rather than something I've recently picked up—what does that mean though? Did I have prior dealing with her specifically? She didn't seem like we were past acquaintances—thoughts?"
"She is not from the past I was a part of—she's from the time before I awakened. I can't say that you knew her, but from her reiatsu, I can say this: she isn't someone you would've particularly kept in your company."
Koizumi fell for the trap; sinking down to be caught by the roots beneath her—the ground separating in a fierce, precise moment to drag her down. We leapt down from the pedestal and raced toward her; the speed she used slower than usual due to the control she needed to have for the operation.
"What does that mean? Aside from the obvious threatening and monstrous aura she emits, why wouldn't I have kept her in my company? You're implying like there's more to it than you're letting on."
My zanpakutou didn't answer; hesitancy the aura about her, and an effort to try to pawn off the response by the attack she was about to make her only out. She closed in on Koizumi; ready to slice her head clean off in this moment of truth. She took the last step as a spring-leap; her blades with such a heavy intent to kill.
And I…
Flashes of blood on my hands; the entrancement of when I last took a life; the repetitive motion that soothed me…
I..couldn't…
"Don't!" I screeched.
The outburst caused enough falter in the attack for Koizumi's advantage.
Her eyes flicked to a glowing, vibrant amethyst, and in an instant, the strike was blocked with a weapon not belonging to her. Surrounding me were now several beings; their species unknown, all identical not only in appearance, but weaponry as well, and all ultimately with that same malicious reiatsu that scared me to my core.
The one that took my blow flung me back with its claymore, and it was then I realized just how immense their power was. I flew back and into one of the uprooted and hardened branches; the damage from the collision dislocating my shoulder so much I thought my entire arm would be lost in the mix.
"You dimwitted, imbecile! Why would you do that? We finally had her in our clutches, and you in turn cower at the opportunity to save your precious Hitsugaya! What is wrong with you?" my zanpakutou shouted.
"I-I-I'm sor—"
"Don't you even dare try apologizing to me! Do you realize how costly your actions are? Without my full arsenal of techniques, we're now strolling into our slaughter! You ruined the only chance we had!"
She was right.
Her anger was called for.
I fucked up so tremendously by giving into my feeble tendencies that now this situation was hopeless. Toushirou was going to die, my limbs were going to be lopped off—leaving me completely incapacitated when they take me back—and ultimately, everyone was going to die because of me.
"Come to that conclusion all on your own?" my zanpakutou rhetorically asked aloud.
I didn't answer, or rather—I couldn't answer; the guilt of my poor decision escalated by the second, and I just felt like giving up. There were countless human-like entities created by Koizumi spread across the playing field now; all armed and ready, all headed straight for—
A wave of ice crashed against the mass in front of me; taking out several and pushing them back momentarily.
"Akinoyo!"
Warm, strong arms plucked me from the shredded fibers and broken timber that cradled me, and with incredible speed ascended skyward. I was so happy in that moment that if I had control of my tear-ducts they'd be put to work. He stopped mid-air; enough to give us a small gap in time before the horde was on our tail.
"Akinoyo, what happened?" he asked me almost frantically.
I wanted to just wrap my arms around him and let myself breathe for just a moment, but unfortunately both of us got the short end of the stick.
My zanpakutou pushed me out of his grasp harshly—even with the dislocated shoulder—and spaced herself from him. He was shocked at the action, but as soon as she opened my mouth to speak, that shock dissipated.
"Your beloved imbecile already told you; Koizumi Fumiko has manipulation over time—she froze time and attacked." She answered as she took my limp arm and inhaled deeply.
She turned my head away to look at the swarm gathering below while taking a deep breath for what she was about to do.
"Her ability isn't to stop time," Toushirou readied himself for the enemy entities on their way. "It's to slow it down tremendously; I was able to process some of what was happening, however I was unable to react."
In a swift motion, she shoved my shoulder back into place—I screamed internally from the pain, while on the outside all she did was grit my teeth. She took another deep breath, and cracked my neck to return her composure.
"That would explain the nearly paralytic state your imbecile was in. However, since you've graced us with your presence, it appears that Koizumi cannot control her armada and time at once; as much as I hate to do this—I don't have an option if you want Akinoyo to stay amongst the living,"
One of Koizumi's minions appeared above me; claymore above its head and ready to slash down at me. Toushirou got to him first; warding off the blow with ease.
"Hado 31: Shakkaho!" With his other hand, he launched off an energy blast that killed the enemy on contact; the human-like creature dissipating into nothing.
"I'm running out of time, Hitsugaya; Akinoyo's current physical state cannot handle the full extent of my power. I could lose control of her at any moment, so while there's two of us, here's my suggestion: I'll keep the masses at bay while you take down Koizumi Fumiko. With the two of us, she won't have a chance to withdraw the armada—it's the only chance Akinoyo has of getting out of this alive. Deal?"
Toushirou looked into my eyes in an effort to pass through her and look straight into me. In just the look, I could tell he didn't want to involve me any longer, but knew my zanpakutou was right.
"It seems like there isn't much choice; the others should be here soon—don't overdo it."
"I owe you," she began, only to be interrupted before she could finish.
"Consider keeping Akinoyo alive your payment. Thank you for keeping her safe in my absence."
She looked at him; inspecting his appreciative eyes before letting out a small chuckle of a laugh.
"I'll never understand you Shinigami," she looked away.
With that, she took off toward the horde below, her determination back as she sped. I was honestly a little surprised at her reaction; the stoic Queen displaying even a miniscule emotion toward him a new sight to see.
"Thank you," I told her in earnest. "I know you don't like him, but I appreciate the measures you're taking for me."
She dove at one of the entities; her upper-cut strike at them precise, but not nearly powerful enough to finish it off. It took the blow, and retaliated with its golden-handled claymore. She parried the strike, but as she did, several others surrounded me and prepared for the execution.
She slashed off the strike she parried, and made quick footwork with precise arm positioning to cut all three in a single spin. At the slight pause from the strike, she quickly flashed us out of there and back toward the pedestal she'd created earlier.
"With the fact that my soul is shared with yours, I don't really have much of a choice—do I?"
She looked in Toushirou's direction; watching as the Ice King fought valiantly against Koizumi. I'd never actually seen him fight one-on-one before, or with his bankai; even from this distance, I could tell that he was a force to be reckoned with. The way he was executing the attacks had such a fierce, piercing aura to them; they made me want to shudder, but the fact that I knew he would never hurt me with those techniques caused the reaction to dissipate before taking over fully.
She turned my head back to face the destination; unintentionally prompting me to continue the conversation.
"Not really, but nevertheless, I still appreciate it."
She arrived at the bottom of the pedestal; three entities hot on our tail. As we ascended, she commanded sections of the pedestal to strike at them; one successfully stabbed clean through, while the other two evaded to continue toward us. She summoned a large branch to form out directly ahead of us, and she used it as a base to spring back down from—her knives pointed out and ready for stabbing.
They rose both claymores to defend the attack, and with a simple wave of her finger, she commanded the branches to take hold of their arms, preventing any other movement from either of them. With a slight readjustment, she aimed straight for their foreheads; plunging the blade through both, and watching as they immediately dissipated from the blow. While the downward strike was a slight setback, she quickly turned it around and headed back up to the top.
Once we arrived at the top, she took a quick breath before closing my eyes, and focusing her entirety in what she was about to do. In that moment, I felt such a strong connection with her; as if I were hearing her heart beat, and her lungs fill with oxygen for the first time. It was weird, but surprisingly comforting to feel her—like we were actually one and the same person. With her in this state, every footstep, every collision, and every presence could be felt beneath my feet; like pulsations that had a mind of their own—a sort of calling to us.
My eyes opened, and when they did, the strangest feeling came over me—a powerful one that boosted my downtrodden confidence. She gracefully rose my arms up like a ballerina signaling the beginning of her performance, and with that same elegance, she brought them down to mid-level, and spread them out horizontally—the preliminary action to sealing the fate of all enemy entities. The roots came up all at once around each enemy, forming a wooden version of an iron maiden. In that same moment, she brought my hands together in a clap—instructing the wooden caskets shut around each enemy. Within the spiked coffins, I was able to feel when each reiatsu ceased to exist—if I had control of lips I'd be grinning at the success of the maneuver.
"That was fucking amaz—"
My knees buckled, and I immediately went barreling down the side of the pedestal.
"O-O-Oi! What's happening? Zanpakutou!"
No response.
This was bad—this was very, very, bad.
"Zanpakutou!" I screeched.
My eyes were closed, yet I could still feel the two Trench Knives in my hands, and the heartbeat of the Woodland Queen. She was still in control, but with all the effort she put into that last attack, she could no longer manage even standing. I needed to take control, and I needed to do it now. The only problem was that I hadn't the slightest clue how.
I had to focus; maybe if I zeroed in on her heartbeat and focused my reiatsu the way she focused hers, I could break out of this.
"Come on,"
I felt her heartbeat along with mine; hers a completely different rhythm than my own, and her breathing off from mine. Maybe if I started mirroring her breathing I would be one step closer to—
Someone crashed into me from my left; taking hold of me tightly, and rushing through the atmosphere. While the fact that someone I couldn't see had me in their clutches made falter, I continued my focus; mirroring my breathing with my zanpakutou's, and utilizing this new panic to match her fast-paced heartbeat from exhaustion.
I kept repeating in my head that I needed to take control; that I needed to break from this bond temporarily in order to save us. With that repetition and focus, my own eyes fluttered open upon the landing.
"You're awake," a familiar female voice said.
She put me down, and I blinked rapidly to regain my vision, along with trying and assess just where I'd heard that voice before. Once I'd regained my vision, I looked up to the crouching woman beside me and let out a breath of relief before easing myself by saying her name.
"Shihouin Yoruichi,"
She looked at me with her amber eyes and a small smirk on her face; that purple hair of hers as vibrant as ever.
"Looks like you really did a number on those guys—good job, Kiteyama." She put her hand on my head with a pat.
While I strangely just wanted that comforting gesture to continue, a spike of reiatsu scared me out of that comfort, and snapped my head in the direction.
Outnumbered by the now surrounding Shinigami, Koizumi summoned more of her entities to combat the new players. I looked to see Toushirou spread his wings above her; the aura that he had the upper hand in this battle clarified when I looked down to see Koizumi.
She was bloodied and barely hanging in there; that ferocious reiatsu was still behind her, but ultimately diminished by the strength of the icy ruler. She rose her hand to him, and in one foul swoop, he took her down with a frontal slice from collarbone to hip. She fell forward; her face planting on the bloodied pavement in a thud that I could still feel from my intertwined reiatsu to the life beneath the dirt.
Toushirou looked in my direction; his shirt bloodied along with parts of his face from the finishing move. His eyes were cold, yet a cold that wasn't as scary as it was worrisome. I knew that he didn't want to have done that just with his look; the guilt that dwelled beneath his aquatic colored hues hinting at an even deeper dread.
His head snapping to my right alarmed me; the quick movement of Shihouin Yoruichi saving me from the ghoulish figure that attacked out of nowhere re-igniting that panic I'd just swallowed. She set me down, and countered Koizumi's remnant entity with such a merciless reiatsu behind her punch that I couldn't help but swallow my tongue at the shock of her in general. She followed with a high kick to its head, and successfully severed it off to roll along the pavement. As the creature's severed head and body dispersed into the atmosphere, a person I wasn't expecting arrived before us.
"I'm here from Squad 4 to take the injured, please let me assist you!" Miyuki bowed her head quickly before running to my side.
I stared into those worrisome hazel eyes as they approached me; relieved that she wasn't in the middle of the battle, but on edge that she was even here to begin with.
"I leave her to you—stay put, Kiteyama!" Shihouin told me before she flashed stepped back to the battle.
"Kiteyama-san, please tell me where all of your injuries are!" Miyuki started uniting my obi at the sight of my bloodied side.
Toushirou appeared before us in that instant, and my head snapped up to the man provoking tears to escape my eyes. He'd dropped his bankai, yet kept his zanpakutou Hyourinmaru drawn and ready to take down any entity that dared come our way.
"Hitsugaya-Taichou," Miyuki bowed before completely sliding the obi off me.
"Kiteyama," He called my name formally.
I nodded; thinking that maybe he thought my zanpakutou was still in control. He bent down next to me, and looked me over—seeing the wounds that I inflicted, and the ones Koizumi got in; a deep glaze passing over his eyes as he saw the blood seeping through my shihakushou.
"I-I'm okay, Hitsugaya-Taichou! Thank you for coming to my aid!" I tried to sound formal.
He looked directly into my eyes, and I tried to flash a smile through my quivering jaw as best as I possibly could.
"There will be more Squad 4 members arriving shortly, Hitsugaya-Taichou—I will get to you as soon as I have another member here to assist me," Miyuki told him; eyeballing his light wounds as I did.
"Thank you for coming, Nankai," he told her before standing back up, and looking back at the battlefield.
"Of course, Hitsugaya-Taichou," she responded as she maneuvered me to take off my kosode.
I felt so terrible. Toushirou was blaming himself for everything that happened again. The worst part about it was, we were in public, and he couldn't say what I already knew he wanted to say to me—especially since Miyuki was here and I was already on edge. I tried to suck back the saline gathering in my eye lids for a while longer—if I slipped now, I'd only intensify the guilt that already plagued him.
"Hitsugaya-Taichou," I called with falsified bravado straight from my past—my courage worked up to try to be tough even though all I wanted to do was cry.
He looked back at me, and I managed a small smirk.
"Go help the others so we can all recuperate. The faster you do, the faster we can all call it a day." I hinted.
He did his utmost to pierce through my façade, but for once in these crazy weeks, I was doing my utmost to be strong, and pull myself together for his sake.
"She's right, Hitsugaya-Taichou; we will be okay here if you feel like going to help the others." Miyuki added.
I wasn't sure if she could tell what the true reason behind my words were, but something told me that she was on to something—and I wasn't sure how I felt about it.
He didn't avert his gaze from mine, and I held myself together as much as I possibly could. After another moment, Miyuki began untucking my blood-stained white shitagi, and she halted for just a moment to see what Toushirou was going to do.
He didn't want to, but he knew I was right. On top of this, the zanpakutou still out and ready to go told me that he himself just wanted to finish things quickly. He broke the eye contact; a frustration held back to keep his status in check.
"I'll send Matsumoto in my place; take care of her in the meantime, Nankai." He ordered.
"Hai, Taichou," she told him as she unlatched my corset.
He gave me one last look, to which I returned with a softened gaze to help promote ease. He wanted to say something, but instead turned on his heel and took off toward the battlefield.
"A concerned one—isn't he?" Miyuki broke me out of my thoughts.
I looked back at her and fought off a blush; the small warmth that exuded from her smiling lips only intensifying the amount of concentration I needed to abstain.
"You think so?" I questioned absent-mindedly.
"Indeed I do," she finished unlatching the corset. "I'd told you to keep this off, but it looks like in your case it actually prevented a good amount of damage," she slightly shook her head.
I hummed as my reply; stating into the brunette's golden waves that reflected from the sun. I still didn't know how to feel about her other than awkward. While I semi wanted to be her acquaintance, at the same time I didn't want anything to do with her anymore. The guilt from the past she had no recollection of hurt me every time she was in my presence, and I didn't know if I could bear it any longer.
I looked down at my left hand still garnished with the fierce trench knife; remnant thoughts of how much my zanpakutou sacrificed for my safety fresher than all the wounds I currently had. I'd really made a mess out of everything. I needed to talk to her and properly apologize to her; if it wasn't for my—
A shadow looming over us stopped all trains of thought.
My head snapped up to see the woman I'd thought was dead ready to reap her revenge.
Miyuki didn't flinch—she didn't see her.
Koizumi rose her scythe up high, ready to slice Miyuki to get to me.
I did everything without a second thought.
I pulled Miyuki behind me, and with a rush of reflexive reiatsu, permanently ended it all on accident—a spiked root from behind Koizumi piercing straight through her chest.
Her scythe dropped, and that malicious reiatsu that radiated from her dropped along with it. Miyuki screamed from what I'd done, and the sound of her vocal chords reverberating fear made me process what I'd just done. Immediately, I called back the root to the ground. That sick feeling rose in my throat for the second time in my life—my mind beckoning numbness as my only escape from what I'd done.
The violent, gurgled hacking erupted in a thick red that splattered against me. The heaved and strained attempt at retaining life became less appealing as the seconds went by; the will to keep going that sparkled through the darkness became a slow flickering lightbulb ready to plunge into that smooth, time-slowing fizz before fading out completely. While some parts of me envied that sweet, slow release, the other part of me was grateful for what I now had—the wedge in the door that kept it from shutting completely.
As she crashed forward into me and painted me like an obscure artist possessed with seizure-riddled insanity, I took hold of the forest-haired female; allowing her to crumble into me with her final breaths. It was my fault she was in this state to begin with; it was my fault that I'd reacted out of the pure instinct of a cornered animal. If it wasn't for Miyuki…I…I don't think I would've—
"O-Oi,"
The female in my arms called to me; Toushirou steadily approaching as Miyuki's cries faded into the distance—my attention solely focused on the female inching off the cliff-side.
"D-Do the r-r-right thing…"
Her head tilted upward just enough so that she could move her retinas to the tops of her eyelids to see me. Those identical lavender irises that stared into my own stiffened me in a way I never thought possible.
She curved her mouth into a small, weak smile—her blood-stained teeth only adding to the anxiety ready to take me down in unconsciousness. Her shaking hand rose up toward me; her bloodied index finger stretched out and pointing at me.
"T-Take your life…before you…t-take ev-everyone's..."
She collapsed in my arms.
All reiatsu gone.
All signs of life—gone.
Toushirou arrived immediately; taking her out of my grasp, and taking hold of my shoulders. All the sounds around me faded, and I stared up into the sky with blank eyes as that familiar, comforting numbness finally spread through me; one thought the only thing I could focus on as my lips turned up in an insanity-stemmed smile.
I'd taken another life.