Chapter Eighteen
The hot springs of Las Noches were somewhat of a heaven to me, especially because hot baths were something I missed dearly and couldn't seem to get enough of in the white palace, given that Usagi always seemed busy and asking Grimmjow was simply awkward. Thankfully, he had suggested getting all of the blood off of our bodies himself.
Of course, that had been before I recalled that the hot springs were not, in fact, separated by gender because, apparently, gender was over looked in Las Noches. That, or women weren't exactly a majority in Hueco Mundo and therefore did not need to be segregated in the hot springs.
"Ya know, I think I'll just wait elsewhere until you're done," I suggested gently, both hands curled around the strap of my messenger bag. Inside of it was a fresh, new, un-stained pair of clothes identical to the ones I was wearing.
"Nice fucking try, but no." I averted my eyes when he began to remove his hakama, tightening my grip on the strap of my messenger bag. "I am not going to wait around for you. Now strip and get in."
I frowned, digging the toe of my shoe into the ground as I heard a splash.
"Not doing it," I mumbled. "Nope, no way, no how." I crossed my arms tightly over my chest, switching my gaze from the ceiling to the ground instead.
So now you choose to be disobedient, Kaori? I would expected it out of you earlier, but I suppose it's better now than never.I shuddered at the stark harshness of the voice, increasing the strength of the grip I had on my sides. Especially since he could drown you in there and claim it as an accident. At this point, a dead Kaori would be just as good as no Kaori. It makes no difference to me.
I was a disobedient creature by nature, but it had been ingrained in my bones that my obedience was necessary if I wanted the voice to go away—in the beginning, I had refused to consume the pills at first on the grounds that they tasted terrible, but I had wanted the voice to go away oh, so badly. So I began to listen to my mother, and strove to be the most obedient being possible.
I uncrossed my arms and set my bag on the ground, kicking off my sneakers as I did so.
He's not going to kill me. Else wise, he would have already, idiot, I thought bitterly, reaching for the hem of my shirt and slipping it over my head. Before coming to Las Noches, stripping in front of others was something I would have never done—but things do tend to change when one is tossed into foreign situations.
What are you doing, Kaori? He will drown you. And then there were two voices, each of them whisper-screeching "drown you" in various tones of urgency.
"I don't care," I mumbled, tossing my bloodstained shirt to the side and reaching for the waist of my shorts. I shimmied out of them quickly and tossed them to the side, too. Another thing the people of Hueco Mundo didn't really seem to believe in was underclothing; for better or for worse, I wasn't entirely sure yet. "He hasn't killed me yet, so there's no sense in him killing me now."
The air near the hot springs was moist and humid, and I was already anticipating how great it would feel once I was encased in the warm water. Grimmjow was sitting with his back to me, arm out of the water and stretched out across the floor.
Drowndrowndrowndrown.
Or maybe you could kill him first. He only has one arm now and he looks so relaxed. Filling his lungs with water would be easy.
I slipped into the hot springs with barely a splash, quickly moving to get my body completely under the water. Thankfully, the steam was thick enough so that nothing was really visible beneath the surface of the springs.
"I was beginning to think I'd have to fucking drag you in." I moved so that I sat a good five feet away from the one-armed man, water coming up to my neck.
"Yeah, well, I do tend to listen on occasion. Especially if it's beneficial to my health." I only got a snort for an answer from Grimmjow.
"I highly doubt that sitting in a hot spring with a naked man is "beneficial" to your health." Unfortunately, that was not Grimmjow. The shadows hadn't even flickered, my vision hadn't wavered; nothing had hailed his appearance. The white haired vision that was identical to the voice stood atop the water on the opposite of the springs, scarred arms crossed over his chest. "Really, Kaori. You get stuck with him and you go downhill so quickly. It's disgusting."
Instead of listening to him berate me more about my "downhill spiral," I dipped my head below the water. Even if I could just get my hair a little wet, the tangles would be easier to come out if Usagi would lend me her hair brush.
Could be, I thought humorously.
"Where'd you get all of those fucking bruises?" I stopped mid-motion, blush rising to my cheeks and the top of my ears, hands on the hem of the shirt I had just barely managed to pull down past my breasts. My hair was soaking wet and a mess of tangles, towel resting on top of my messenger bag at my feet.
"Why are you staring at me when I'm putting my clothes on?" I knew exactly what bruises he was referring to—the large multicolored one that took up a majority of my abdomen, courtesy of Usagi, as well as the smaller ones on my hips, left via my fingertips.
They hurt terribly with every move I made.
I jerked the rest of the shirt down to my waist, bending over to pick up my towel to begin with attempting to dry my hair.
"Because I need help?" I finally looked up at him, prepared to close my eyes again rather quickly because even if I had gone into the hot springs with him, I was not fond of naked people.
I did not get the eyeful that I expected, though—he had averted his eyes, but he was still facing me, holding up the waist of his hakama with his only hand.
Pitiful, really, the voice whispered tome. Lose an arm when you're a warrior, and you lose everything.
"Why didn't you ask for help, then?" I demanded, righting myself and wrapping the towel up over my damp locks. "Staring is creepy."
"Yeah, well, sometimes my fucking mouth doesn't have a filter and when I see things I point them the fuck out." He still wasn't looking at me; it was almost like he was nervous, really, with the way he kept readjusting his grip on the waist of his hakama and pointedly not looking at me.
"So you just happened to look up, see the bruises, and open your mouth?" I picked up my messenger bag before I began to walk towards him.
"Yes." I rolled my eyes and heaved a sigh; I was already standing next to him. He jumped at the proximity of the noise and nearly stepped away, but I already had my hands on his hakama.
"Sure," I said sarcastically. We fell into a silence as I tied his hakama properly, hands deftly going through motions that had been learned from tying Mizuri's before she went to kendo.
When I was done, I took a large, quick step backwards and away from Grimmjow, my hands subconsciously returning to grip the strap of my messenger bag. He glanced sideways at me, then pulled on a new, yet still ragged looking, white jacket identical to the one that he had been wearing pre-amputation.
Hardly a second after the jacket was securely on his body, he reached out and plucked the towel off of my head, causing all of my hair to drop straight into my face and block my vision.
"How did you get the bruises, though?"
Right. The bruises.
"They were a group effort."
Two hours later saw me standing out in the middle of a desert, Las Noches no where in my vision and a rather delicious burrito in my hand. I didn't know who made the food for me or where they managed to get their recipes, but goodness gracious it was delicious—especially since it wasn't soup.
"Wh't 're we even doin' our h're?" I asked around a mouthful of burrito. While the food was fantastic, I was rather confused about why we were standing out in the middle of a desert, especially since it was scorching hot. He had insisted that I wear the hood that was on my shirt, but it hung so low into my eyes that I could only see about half of what I should have.
I swallowed my bite of burrito before saying, "I mean, shouldn't we be back in Las Noches? Did you even tell Usagi where we were going?"
"That bitch doesn't need to know all of our fucking actions," Grimmjow responded brazenly. He was standing next to me, hand resting on the hilt of his katana. "And it's not like she wanted to talk to me anyways."
"What you're basically saying is that if you die, no one is going to know I'm out here and I will eventually starve to death and resort to consuming your dead body and my own urine to stay alive." I took another bite out of my burrito, savoring the taste of it in my mouth.
"I'm not going to fuckin' die out here." I swallowed the bite.
"Why are we here, anyway?" I asked, wiping the area around my mouth with my hand. The skin of my exposed arms felt like it was going to burn and melt off of my bones if I stayed out in the sun any longer.
He glanced down at me, but didn't answer.
He's going to kill you, Kaori. He probably would have done it earlier, but you were naked.
I took another bite out of my burrito.
You guys are great ;-; I love you all so much. My schedule has cooled a little (no more May Day practice/performances, community service, or speeches I have to give to parents and/or students!), but I still have two (or three) essays to write, a presentation to finish, a presentation to prepare/give, a birthday to celebrate, and a graduation to attend. I'm also out of buffer chapters (I only have a bit of Friday's written at the moment), so please don't come with pitch forks if I don't update on time, because I will try my best to.
Thank you!