This Light, the Will of the Heart, I See
"I'm going to kill the bastard that betrayed us. The bastard who is my so-called father, Sosuke Aizen." –Aizen "Higashi" Amaya
NOTE: This is the second revision of this fanfic. If you have been reading it before, ya might wanna go back through an' look through it again…
Inspiration: My friend Mandi and her dyslexia (condensation and condoms, lol), Beauty and the Beast by Nightwish (best band evah!)
Chapter Rating: PG-15 for language.
Spoiler Warnings: None that I can think of.
Chapter Warnings: Language and mentions of condoms xD
"These are normal thoughts."
These are thoughts that Sakana sends and receives.
This is one's Zanpakuto.
Chapter 5: Revealed
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"So? You did, didn't you?"
Shit. Shit shit shit. If Amaya knew, it would not stay silent. By morning the whole Seireitei would know. Sakana averted her gaze and looked at her feet.
"…I Plead the fifth."'
"I AM the fifth. (Dun own that joke: I stole that from Kaori's Naruto Shinobi's guide fanfic) Now tell me. Did you or did you not sleep with Toshiro?" Amaya snapped. Sakana shuffled her feet, her face slowly turning red.
"…Um…well… hai…" Sakana said softly. Amaya gasped.
"What? But I thought he lost his memory?!" she exclaimed. Sakana turned an unnatural shade of red.
"…I can't go into detail about it, Amaya." She said. Amaya grabbed Sakana by the front of her Shinigami uniform.
"Why can't you admit anything to your own friend?" She snarled, and for the first time, Sakana felt truly afraid. When Amaya threatened her before, it didn't really bother her. She simply accepted her old vice-captain's abuse. But now… she felt her resolve breaking.
"Amaya… There's a reason I can't tell you. I'll tell you later." Sakana said, brushing her hand off and shunpo'ing away. Amaya stood there, a frown present on her face.
"Sakana… this isn't like you…"
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Later, when Sakana woke up, she felt stiff. She stretched and yawned, still not fully rested. She took a much-needed shower (every time she was about to shower she was interrupted; she was determined to finally take a shower) and left for the captain's meeting.
At the meeting, Shunsui greeted his daughter with a tackle glomp. Sakana yelped as the full weight of her father landed on her. She still must have been exhausted from last night; she didn't even sense his reiatsu coming up behind her.
"Shunsui, what the hell?!" She shouted, making failed attempts at pushing Shunsui off of her.
"I heard you weren't feeling well, so I thought a hug was in order, kawaii musume!" Shunsui said. Sakana sighed and stopped flailing about, allowing Shunsui to pick her up and hug her. When Sakana was finally released, she looked at Toshiro. He seemed to be angrier than usual. He caught her gaze and stalked over to her.
"What the hell were you doing at my house last night?" he asked. Sakana blinked in mock confusion.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sakana replied flatly, her heart aching. She hated to talk to him like this, because it tormented her; no wonder his house was a mess…
"Then explain this!" Toshiro snarled, throwing something at her feet. Sakana recognized it as her taichou haori. She tried to remember; had she really left it at his house? She had remembered throwing on her clothes, but not her taichou haori. She cursed herself for being so careless. She wordlessly picked up her haori, brushed some dirt off of it, and donned it again. She turned and began walking back to her spot; when Sakana was sleep deprived, something (most likely a building) would be incinerated, so she wasn't in the mood to fight now. She had almost reached her spot when she felt the air behind her drop ten degrees. Sakana growled in the back of her throat and turned around to greet Toshiro's sword at her face.
"Tell me. What the fuck were you doing at my house?" Toshiro growled. Sakana noticed that the edges of his reiatsu were black. Soifon's warning came back to the forefront of her mind, and she knew what she had to do.
She had to restore Toshiro's memory, or the black reiatsu would take over.
"Toshiro," she pleaded, backing away from him, "Don't. You can't release your Zanpakuto here."
"Then tell me what you were doing!" Toshiro roared, lunging forward. Sakana backpedaled, tripped, and fell backwards. She got back up and began running.
She knew she couldn't outrun him forever. He would eventually catch up to her, and it would be over. He would kill her. He wouldn't hesitate now. He had reason.
She felt his icy reiatsu behind her, and she sped up. She mentally calculated her chances. She would have to shunpo somewhere that she normally wouldn't go. Setting her destination, she disappeared into thin air. Toshiro growled, and followed the fiery taichou.
Sakana knew Toshiro was following her. She started as she felt the rush of air from Toshiro's Zanpakuto behind her. Sakana felt exhaust tugging at her, and knew that she wouldn't last much longer. She had to stop this.
Sakana stumbled over her own feet and went down. The flame captain watched in horror as Toshiro's Zanpakuto lunged for her heart. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable to happen. It was over.
…
Sakana flinched as she heard metal hit metal. Opening one eye slightly she saw Ukitake with his Zanpakuto drawn, blocking Toshiro's own sword. Sakana was frozen as Ukitake managed to get Toshiro to back off.
"I'm sorry. I was dropping off some sweets and I had Sakana's haori with me, because she left it at her desk. I must have dropped it." Ukitake apologized. Sakana's eyes widened.
"He's taking the blame…," she thought, her racing heart slowing slightly.
"Humph." Toshiro snorted, sheathing his Zanpakuto and shunpo'ing away. Sakana relaxed slightly and fell back on her back with a thump.
"Are you okay, Sakana-chan?" Ukitake asked. Sakana sat up and grimaced.
"He attacked me…" she mumbled.
"Huh?"
"He attacked me… without even a second thought. Didn't even hesitate. Didn't care…" Sakana said. Her entire body was shivering. Juushiro helped her to her feet and gently hugged her.
"It's okay. It's not your fault, nor his."
"Wait… you know what happened?!" Sakana exclaimed, her face turning a bright shade of red as she subconsciously read the thoughts in Juushiro's mind.
"I know what conspired between you two, yes. Don't worry, I won't tell." Juushiro said, smiling. Sakana heaved a sigh of relief.
"Thank you."
"Now, let's get to the meeting." Juushiro said gently. The two taichou then left for the meeting once more.
When they arrived, Amaya had picked up Sakana's cloak and dusted it off for her. Sakana took the cloak from Amaya with thanks and donned it before she stood back in her spot next to Unohana.
"Erhem!" Yamamoto said, and everyone went quiet.
"There has been hollow activity in the northern section of Karakura town. We think it's the work of Aizen. Kurosaki-san even said himself that they are quite a handful. After careful consideration—" here he looked at Unohana and Ukitake,"—we have decided that Hitsugaya-taichou and Satoshi-taichou will be assigned to that area."
"NANI?!" Toshiro roared, extremely pissed. Sakana could feel his rage, and she growled a little bit in the back of her throat. It wasn't like she liked it, either. Not like this… Toshiro was too irritable. No… she just couldn't deal with it at the moment.
But this was the conclusion they had to come to.
"You will complete this mission." Yamamoto said, glaring at the two. Sakana sighed and gazed levelly back at the soutaichou.
"When will we leave?"
"You will be leaving tomorrow morning. Prepare yourselves tonight." Yamamoto said, "You all are dismissed."
Toshiro was the first to leave, shunpo'ing angrily out the door. Sakana yawned hugely, rubbing her eyes. She was still tired from last night. She was even more exhausted than when she had to pull an all-nighter doing paperwork. She plodded out of the meeting hall and slowly began meander her way back to her division.
Her senses destabilized from exhaustion, she didn't sense Amaya running after her. The taichou felt a hand on her shoulder, and she freaked out.
"GAAH!" she shouted, accidentally firing a Shakkahou at her. Amaya dodged it and it hit a tree.
"Oh, Amaya-chan, I'm so sorry!" Sakana exclaimed, making sure her friend was alright.
"Whoa. Well, you seem a lot better, spiritual power-wise anyways." Amaya said, running a hand through her bright orange hair.
"huh? Whaddya mean?" the shorter taichou asked, cocking her head to the side.
"Well, a couple of days ago you wouldn't be able to do that." Amaya commented wryly. Sakana snorted.
"Yeah, I guess so. So, why'd you sneak up on me anyways?" Sakana asked, praying to Cheezuz (1) that Amaya didn't want to talk about last night.
"I wanted to give you this." Amaya said in a serious tone (ish), handing Sakana a small box, Perplexed, the taichou shook the box, hoping to hear what was inside of it. Then she tried to read Amaya's thoughts; it was relatively easy, unlike trying to read Unohana's thoughts. But Amaya didn't leave any clues to what was in the package.
"Go ahead, open it. It's not going to kill you." Amaya said. As Sakana [doubtfully] opened the box, a smile grew on Amaya's face.
"…O.O AMAYA! WHAT THE HELL?!"
Amaya fell over laughing. "I'm sorry! Unohana had me do it!" Amaya laughed, tears streaming down her face. Sakana growled and searched for Unohana. She felt apology coming from Unohana, and she calmed down, but only a smidgen.
"I'm sorry, Sakana-san, but I had to see if someone can block your ability to read thoughts. It seems possible." Unohana said. Sakana relaxed, but still glared at Amaya.
"But why a box of condoms?" Sakana said in her dangerously soft voice that usually came before a spazz and then a coughing attack.
"That was Amaya-san's idea." Unohana admitted. Amaya herself was still rolling on the ground laughing. Sakana threw the box of condoms at Amaya's head and shunpo'ed off, most likely to think of ways to kill her friend.
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With Hana off on a date with Kuchiki-sama (2), the house was quiet. Sakana sighed and lay back on her bed. Just this time last night she had been making love with Toshiro, and now a yearning gnawed at her insides. She needed him, but she couldn't go to him, because he would need rest for the next day as well. It was going to be tough on both of them to be as close as they would be, but they would have to pull through. Sakana closed her eyes, exhaust pulling at her, drawing her into sleep. Hopefully she could get a good night's rest…
"Psst! Sakana?"
Sakana opened one eye, drowsily looking at whoever called her name.
"…Toshiro?"
Toshiro smiled, "Oh, did I wake you?"
Toshiro gently laid a hand on Sakana's. Sakana's skin felt flushed to him; was it because of him? He felt Sakana shiver against his hand.
"Naw, I was just about to fall asleep though. Your hands are cold, Shiro-chan." She murmured. Toshiro shrugged in apology, climbing in all the way through the open window and next to Sakana.
"I'm sorry."
Sakana snuggled against his chest as he gently stroked her back and hair. Suddenly he let out a small chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Sakana asked.
"I don't know why but… I think I heard your thoughts. Something about Amaya and a box of condoms…" he muttered, kissing Sakana on the top of her head. Sakana grumbled, but remained still.
"Are you feeling alright? You feel really warm." Toshiro said. It was a statement, not a protest. Sakana loved the feeling of Toshiro's cold hands on her back, and Toshiro loved the feeling of her hot body against his.
Sakana wished the moment could last forever.
They were together, his arms wrapped around her in a protective way. The sun was setting, casting orange and red rays of light onto the couple. Toshiro gazed at Sakana's face; it was filled with serenity and peace, like he wanted. He did not want her to be in pain. He did not want the moments they shared together to be ruined by something such as that. He gently kissed Sakana's eyelids, and her eyes flickered at the sensitive touch.
He did not want this perfect moment to end, either.
However, end it had to.
"You should go back." Sakana murmured, "And get some rest. You're gonna need it for tomorrow."
Toshiro mused. "Hm, maybe I should… but I want to stay with you."
Sakana gave him a "you had better go" look. Toshiro sighed and kissed his Sakana on top of her head.
"Alright. I guess… I'll see you tomorrow…ish." The snowy soul reaper said, opening Sakana's window and jumping out. Sakana watched him leap over the rooftops and disappear. As soon as Toshiro disappeared, Sakana began to feel lonely. But she needed to get him to get rest.
They certainly were going to need it for tomorrow.
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Translations and Kuso Like That:
NANI?! WHAT?! Toshiro is very outraged.
Shakkahou: That attack of a red blast of fire. Yeah. That.
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1) Cheezuz is the god of my friend's weird religion. When you die, you either go to her rendition of heaven, or her rendition of hell, which is the fondue pot. Mmm, fondue… (drool)
2) My friend named one of her stuffed animals Kuchiki sama, and ever since then I can't call him Byakuya out loud anymore.
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Wow, this chapter is shorter.
--MattsyKun the Epic Fail Alchemist