WestSide Story From Hell
Chapter 11
I had a voice nagging me at the back of my mind. It kept telling me all the possible things that could happen if I didn't get there in time. Adding in the horrible air my lungs kept bringing in, I was starting to get a headache.
With my feet pounding on the cement, I tried pushing myself faster. My legs felt like lead and my feet were cramping. It felt like my lungs were about to burst and my face was being attacked by cold air. I could see the park in the distance, I just hoped I would be there in time.
I stood behind a tree trying to calm my breathing. They stood in front of the sign, next to their cars. Gin had Rangiku behind him, glaring at Ichigo. Beside Gin was Lilynette and Starkk; who were both injured. Starkk was holding onto his arm, which was bleeding, and Lilynette had dried blood under her nose while clutching her hand to her chest. In front of them was Grimmjow and Ichigo, who were battling it out. Both Ichigo and Grimmjow were decked out in bruises and cuts. Grimmjow was wiping his mouth on his sleeve when Ichigo started shaking. Rukia, who had cuts all over her clothes and her bloodied hair sticking to her face, held onto his shoulder trying to calm him down. She turned to Grimmjow and started yelling at him.
One of the car doors opened from the parking lot, and Ulquiorra walked out. He started talking , trying to calm them down. Ulquiorra had a huge bruise on his cheek and a scratch over his eye. Rukia, forgetting about Grimmjow, turned to Ulquiorra and started screaming at him.
Getting out from behind the tree, I tried getting closer to them. Once out of the safety of the tree though, everyone seemed to realize that I was there. They all turned to look at me and I took it as a invitation to be in it.
"Why are you here?" Ulquiorra asked me in monotone, when I got close enough.
"Rangiku called me." I replied softly. He turned to glare at Rangiku, only to have Gin glare at him.
"Where's Nel?" I asked Rangiku, who looked ill.
"Ulquiorra put her in the car." She spoke softly as if scared to have her voice heard.
"Is it true?" Rukia asked, interrupting the staring contest me and Rangiku were having.
"Is what true?" I asked bewildered.
"What I saw! What's about to happen! Is it true?" She asked on the brink of tears.
"I can't answer you, if I don't know what you're talking about Rukia!" I replied, slightly irritated.
"About you…" She trailed off to look at Ulquiorra, "and them." She finished with a sneer.
"What about them?" I asked hesitantly taking a step closer.
"Are you…?" She asked, holding her temples.
"Am I what?"
"Do I really need to spell this out for you?" She snapped at me.
"You're totally spot on about whatever you're going on about." Grimmjow interrupted, crossing his arms.
"Why don't you ever know when to shut up?" Ichigo snapped at him, his hair losing its orange color –turning into white. As Grimmjow opened his mouth to speak, Ulquiorra put his hand on his shoulder and pulled him back.
"Are you working for them?" Rukia asked me with utter serious-ness in her eyes.
"No? Rukia? Why would I–?"
"Of course she is, didn't you know?" Grimmjow interrupted with a smirk, only to be shoved by Ulquiorra.
"No! It's not like that!" I said, hoping she'd believe me. "Think about it. Would I really turn my back on you?" I asked softly.
"Yeah, Rukia," Grimmjow said, drawing out his 'yeah', "Would she turn her back on you? On someone who's almost never there?"
"Stop it, Grimmjow!" I shrieked. I could see it in her eyes, she believed him.
"Hey, the truth hurts." He responded with a shrug.
"But that's not true!" I whisper as I grab onto her hands. "It's not true." She stares at me for a second, before pushing me away.
"Not true? I don't care if it's not true. You're going to prove it, right now." She said in a serious tone, as she clenched and unclenched the sides of her shirt.
"How?" I ask shakily, before turning my eyes to Ichigo. He was holding his now white haired head.
"I don't care if you're siding with them, but Grimmjow? You're working with Grimmjow. That's makes me so sick, and then I realize. Orihime, working with someone that despicable? That can't be right, they're forcing you. It's the only explanation. What are they holding against you?" Ichigo yells at me with his voice slowly getting softer.
"I –," I choke out, "I… they're… it's not… I'm sorry…" I say, I don't know what to say. "I'm really not working for them though, you've got to believe me." I whisper, glancing at Gin. He sits laid back up against his car with Rangiku –who's furiously wiping her eyes.
Movement catches the corner of my eye, Grimmjow runs towards Ichigo with a big smile. Ichigo, seeing him, stands up a little straighter, giving me and Rukia a glance. I take a step back in fear; that wasn't Ichigo…his eyes were yellow. Rukia, realizing this too, runs to Ichigo and stands in front of him with her back to his front.
"Stop it, Grimmjow! He's not –," She starts yelling, only for Grimmjow to throw her to the ground, where she lands on the gravel part of the playground –having multiple stones assault her , especially one relatively sharp rock that pierces the soft spot of her arm on the other side of her elbow and taking some gravel right above the eyes and the temple. Grimmjow, not caring at all of what had just happened, proceeds to tackle Ichigo. Rukia rolls over and cries at in pain. Her left arm is bleeding and is completely limp, I note as she stands up. Ichigo, finally letting go of his body, lets Hichigo take over. He smiles wide, and wrestles a little bit with Grimmjow before straddling him and punching the daylights out of Grimmjow's face. Grimmjow, trying to deflect his punches, tries to knee him, only for Hichigo to pin his leg with his foot. Hichigo goes in for the throat, and starts strangling Grimmjow. Grimmjow rolls on his back, pulls Hichigo's shirt closer to him, and propels him off as he does a backwards summersault.
"This is your fault." Rukia tells me, grabbing my attention. She's bleeding really bad and is stumbling. She reaches into her back pocket and pulls a gun out. "My vision, told me everything. What would happen tonight, that I would have a gun." She says, her eyes blurring. "I listened to Ichigo and the others, thinking maybe I got it wrong. But I still brought it, just to be safe, you know? I didn't think I'd use it." She continues, her voice breaking. "It's time for you to pick now." She raises her voice. "Are you going to help me and Ichigo?" She yells, pointing the gun at Ulquiorra, "Or him?" She pulls the trigger.
Ulquiorra, who at the time was watching Grimmjow and Ichigo, notices the gun right as it goes off. He moves a little bit, but it still hits him in his chest. He holds onto his t-shirt before dropping to his knees and falling.
I was going to regret this decision, I think before running to him. I didn't turn around to see that look of betrayal on Rukia's face. All I knew was the gun was still ringing in my ears, and I wasn't going to let Ulquiorra die.
Pushing him over on his back, I take a look at the wound. It was close, really close to killing him. His eyes were dilating and his breaths were short, quick, and harsh. I push his t-shirt up, he was losing too much blood. Folding my hands over him, I close my eyes. Would this work? The bullet was still in there, would it stay in there? Should I get it out first?
Opening my eyes, I looked at Rangiku. Her face was drained, and her eyes lost their light. The yellow glow formed around the wound, slowly getting bigger to cover his whole body. Would I be able to heal it in time?
Suddenly, everything around me was quiet. Grimmjow and Hichigo were still at each other's throats; Rukia had dropped to the ground from blood loss as well. Lilynette, Starkk, Gin, Rangiku –they were all in shock, it seemed. But everything was quiet; I couldn't hear any angry roars, Rangiku's sniffles, even Ulquiorra's breathing. I could only hear myself. I looked down at Ulquiorra, his wound was slowly sealing itself up, and the bullet was rising –it looked like. The blood had stopped too. My eyes traveled up to his tattoo on his chest, the giant number 4. Resisting the urge to trace it, I continued upwards, meeting his eyes. He was looking at me, but not at me. His eyes were blurred and in a trance. I watched as his eyes widen before he blink and came back to reality. My healing yellow glow soon was out, but I stayed still as he continued to stare.
I opened my mouth to speak, but instead I was met with a loud crash. It was like something banged against my temples, before having all the sounds come back to me.
"What was…that?" I asked him, hoping he'd have the answer.
"I could do it." He tells me. Next to me, I hear someone gasp.
"Come on, let's go." Rangiku says while pulling me up to my feet.
"I could see it." He tells me again, as he tries to sit up. Shaking Rangiku off of my arm, I try and walk back to him.
"See what?" I asked, genuine-ly curious.
"Everything." He whispers as he gets up to his feet. Taking a step forward, I was pulled away again from behind.
"Orihime, we have to leave now." She says and she shoves me towards her car. My eyes flicker to Rukia, who was laying on the ground.
"What?" I try to ask her, before she opens the car door, and shoves me almost on top of Nel in the back seat. She comes around the car to the driver's door, and before I can speak, she speeds out of the parking lot and away into the night.
I looked over at Nel in the back seat, she was sweating up a storm and her nose was slightly bleeding. Reaching over her, I put her in a more comfortable position and dabbed at the blood with my sleeve.
"Why the rush?" I asked Rangiku as I glanced over at her in the rear view mirror. When my voice reached her ears, she sat up a little straighter.
"You heard him, didn't you?" She said, trying to even out her voice to sound confident.
"Yes, but how does that –?"
"When you healed him, he was able to read your mind." She pointed out bluntly. My barrier must've went down, I thought to myself.
"So?" I inquired.
"So he saw your memories from back in the 6th grade. He reached into the deepest reaches of your mind and put two and two together." She finished with a sigh.
"But if he reads my mind, he'd only be able to see the things that I see. I don't remember anything. What would he have there to read?" I asked, feeling the combination of anxiety and curiosity swirl in the pit of my stomach.
"He could've gone off of anything. A dream can be a hidden memory, or a desire. A past conversation, maybe he saw something you didn't notice before." She said, turning into the library, tapping the steering wheel with her pointer finger.
"I did have a weird dream the other night," I mumbled to myself. "If he saw something, I want to know. I want to know what he saw." I said, sitting up straighter as well to get my point across.
"No."
"But–," I started.
"No buts. If we wanted you to know about what happened before, we'd tell you."
"It's my memories, and I'm tired of not knowing." I said suddenly feeling tired.
"Well, it's going to stay that way." She said with a don't-defy-me attitude. She stopped the car, and turned around. "It's for your own good, Orihime. Some things are better off not knowing." She said gently.
Sighing, I got out of her car and walked to the library. Turning around, I watched as her car backed up and left me alone in the night.
Opening the door, I went back to the table were I left my book. Stopping in my tracks, I stared lazily at my seat. My book is gone, I thought to myself. My chair was pushed in, and the only thing left there was my bookmark. Everything but the book was there.
Shrugging it off, I headed upstairs. I wandered into my bedroom, to get my pajamas. Grabbing an old shirt on my stretchy pants, I headed to the bathroom. Something shined in the moonlight on the coffee table in my living room. Thinking of nothing it, I continued my way to the bathroom.
Right before entering the bathroom, I looked over my shoulder. My grip tightened on the door knob, and it soon became hard to breathe.
By the time you read this, I'll be dead was in the middle of the table, glaring at me. Why was it up here? I wasn't sure, but someone had been in my house.
Um...So, a little heads up! There probably won't be any updates next week at all -Spring Break and everything. Oh, and you probably won't like how the beginning of chapter 12 starts, because of it's..non-happiness? BUT IF YOU LOVE ULQUIHIME, which you probably kinda already do, YOU WILL EITHER WANNA STRANGLE ME OR HUG ME TO DEATH WHEN YOU READ THE END OF THE CHAPTER.
That all being said, if you are wondering why this has become more of weekly updates than every 3-4 days, I have soccer, tech for the play, and my band trip going on. Not that I'm complaining, I'm loving all this non-free time. I finally have something to do with it instead of glaring at my laptop for giving me unwanted writer's block after an hour of writing. :3
Thank you all who have favorited/alerted/reviewed. :D
splitheart1120 : Ulquiorra certainly is always one step ahead :)
StarKiss666 : Oops :3 This chapter didn't come fast enough at all... :D
ladycifer : I hoped I did good on them too. But my geometry teacher decided to surprise us with a Algebra assessment -the one math class I literally bombed, and got a...not so great score :) I like it when he flirts with her, too. It's adorable! :D
nicholee33 : Yeah, being left out of the group doesn't seem like much fun...
I SHALL WRITE A REALLY AWESOME CHAPTER 14 AND 15 TO MAKE UP FOR THE KINDA...disappointing?...CHAPTER THAT 12 IS.
Have a Happy Spring Break :D